Date: 1783

"I shall only remark, that too much study will in time shatter the strongest nerves, and make the soul a prey to melancholy. "

— Beattie, James (1735-1803)

Date: 1783

"I weave nets for insects; and if I suit my toil, for my game am I to be derided?"

— Fenn [née Frere], Ellenor (1744-1813)

Date: October, 1784

"They who take self-love for their guide, ride in the paths of partiality, on the horse of adulation, to the judge of falsehood; but he who prefers the mandate of reason, rides in the way of probability on the courser of prudence."

— Anonymous

Date: October 1784

"She grows up, and of course mixes with those who are less interested: strangers will be sincere; she encounters the tongue of the flatterer, he will exaggerate, she finds herself possessed of accomplishments which have been studiously concealed from her, she throws the reins upon the neck of fan...

— Murray, Judith Sargent (1751-1820)

Date: March 29, 1785; 1793

"Do, mother, put your hand upon my heart, it springs like a bird in my breast with joy."

— Pilon, Frederick (1750-1788)

Date: 1785

"BOSWELL. 'But, sir,'tis like walking up and down a hill; one man will naturally do the one better than the other. A hare will run up a hill best, from her fore-legs being short; a dog down.' JOHNSON. 'Nay, sir; that is from mechanical powers. If you make mind mechanical, you may argue in that ma...

— Boswell, James (1740-1795)

Date: 1785

"Besides, so great a mind as his cannot be moved by inferior objects: an elephant does not run and skip like lesser animals."

— Boswell, James (1740-1795)

Date: 1785

"I was surpriz'd, taken unawares, passion ran away with me like an unbroke horse: but I have got him under now; I can govern him with a twine of thread."

— Cumberland, Richard (1732-1811)

Date: 1786

"Like caterpillars dangling under trees / By slender threads, and swinging in the breeze, / Which filthily bewray and sore disgrace / The boughs in which are bred the unseemly race, / While every worm industriously weaves / And winds his web about the rivell'd leaves; / So numerous are the follie...

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1787

"Your heavy fat, I will maintain, / Is perfect birdlime of the brain; / And, as to goldfinches the birdlime clings-- / Fat holds ideas by the legs and wings."

— Wolcot, John, pseud. Peter Pindar, (1738-1819)