Date: 1775

"This is the true nature of the human mind; the greater evil always swallowing up the lesser, as the rod of Moses did the other serpents."

— Griffith, Elizabeth (1720-1793)

Date: 1777

"As it is the character of Genius to penetrate with a lynx's beam into unfathomable abysses and uncreated worlds, and to see what is not, so it is the property of good sense to distinguish perfectly, and judge accurately what really is."

— More, Hannah (1745-1833)

Date: 1778

"Our sense of right and wrong, proves that we are immortal--for we cannot suppose that the Almighty would have wantonly tortured us with stings of conscience, any more than he has, the beasts of the field, if we, like them, were to perish"

— Caulfield (fl. 1778)

Date: March, 1778

"An antient philosopher indeed, full of real or pretended honesty, declared it to be his wish that there were a window in his breast that every body might see the integrity and purity of his thoughts. It would be truly be very pretty and amusing if our bodies were transparent, so that we could se...

— Boswell, James (1740-1795)

Date: 1779, 1781

"When Horace says of Pindar, that he pours his violence and rapidity of verse, as a river swoln with rain rushes from the mountain; or of himself, that his genius wanders in quest of poetical decorations, as the bee wanders to collect honey; he, in either case, produces a simile; the mind is impr...

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: 1779, 1781

"The most heterogeneous ideas are yoked by violence together; nature and art are ransacked for illustrations, comparisons, and allusions; their learning instructs, and their subtilty surprises; but the reader commonly thinks his improvement dearly bought, and, though he sometimes admires, is seld...

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: 1779, 1781

"The good and evil of Eternity are too ponderous for the wings of wit; the mind sinks under them in passive helplessness, content with calm belief and humble adoration."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: 1780

"His face is ever before my eyes, and his voice still sounding in my ear; for, as the comic poet says, he left a sting in the minds of his hearers."

— Francklin, Thomas (1721–1784); Lucian (b.c. 125, d. after 180)

Date: 1780

"The best way therefore is, whilst the mind of the historian is on horseback, for his style to walk on foot, and take hold of the rein, that it may not be left behind."

— Francklin, Thomas (1721–1784); Lucian (b.c. 125, d. after 180)

Date: 1782

"For conscience like a fiery horse, / Will stumble if you check his course; / But ride him with an easy rein, / And rub him down with worldly gain, / He'll carry you through thick and thin, / Safe, although dirty, to your Inn."

— Sancho, Charles Ignatius (1729-1780)