Date: 1701

"Contemplation is but an Overture to Madness, a discontented Temper renders the World Odious; and Melancholy, like Sleep, steals insensibly upon our Spirits; and when Solitude has contracted our Thoughts into a too serious Meditation, we fall into a Labyrinth of foolish Notions, that quite craze ...

— Baker, Thomas (b. 1680-1)

Date: 1744

"The Preservation of Life, the defending the human Body from Decay, and of rendering it a fit Tenement for the Soul to inhabit, in that Season in which she is most capable of exerting her noblest Faculties, are grave and ferious Subjects; with which no trivial Matters ought to mingle."

— Campbell, John (1708-75)