Date: 1727
"These abandon'd him to the Fury of an enrag'd Conscience, open'd the Sluices of the Soul, as I call them, and pour'd in a Flood of unsufferable Grief, letting loose those wild Beasts call'd Passions upon him, such as Rage, Anguish, Self-reproach, too late Repentance, and final Desperation, all t...
preview | full record— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)
Date: 1729
"We have a faint Image of these Operations in Hawking: For Memory may be justly compar'd to the Dog that beats the Field, or the Wood, and that starts the Game; Imagination to the Falcon that clips it upon its Pinions after it; and Judgment to the Falconer, who directs the Flight, and who governs...
preview | full record— Dennis, John (1658-1734)
Date: 1729
"Among the helluones librorum, the Cormorants of Books, there are wretched Reasoners, that have canine Appetites, and no Digestion."
preview | full record— Mandeville, Bernard (bap. 1670, d. 1733)
Date: 1731
"And the serious Consideration hereof should make us very careful how we let the Reins loose to that Passive Irrational Part of our Soul, which knows no Bounds nor Measures, lest thereby we unawares precipitate and plunge our selves headlong into the most sad and deplorable Condition that is imag...
preview | full record— Cudworth, Ralph (1617-1688)
Date: 1704-5; 1731
"Most men seem to place it in being allowed to let loose the Reins to all their Appetites and Passions without controul; to be under no restraint either from the Laws of Men, or from the Fear of God."
preview | full record— Clarke, Samuel (1675-1729)
Date: 1732
"But the free-thinker, with a vigorous flight of thought, breaks through those airy springes, and asserts his original independency."
preview | full record— Berkeley, George (1685-1753)
Date: 1732
"He that wants the proper materials of thought, may think and meditate for ever to no purpose: those cobwebs spun by scholars out of their own brains being alike unserviceable, either for use or ornament."
preview | full record— Berkeley, George (1685-1753)
Date: 1733
"I own it is much easier to confute than establish, and I should not be very Sanguin about the Non-existence of animal Spirits, but that I have observ'd the dwelling so much upon them, has led Physicians too much to neglect the mending Juices, the opening Obstructions, and the strengthening the S...
preview | full record— Cheyne, George (1671-1743)
Date: 1741
"I Might give another plain Simile to confirm the Truth of this [mnemonic method]. What Horse or Carriage can take up and bear away all the various, rude and unweildy Loppings of a branchy Tree at once? But if they are divided yet further so as to be laid close, and bound up in a more uniform Man...
preview | full record— Watts, Isaac (1674-1748)
Date: 1745
"Why should you study to conceal or excuse it, and fondly cherish that viper in your bosom?"
preview | full record— Mason, John (1706-1763)