Date: 1745

"For it is no real dishonour or fault in a man to have but a small ability of mind, provided be hath not the vanity to set up for a genius (which would be as ridiculous, as for a man of small strength and stature of body to set up for a champion), because this is what he cannot help."

— Mason, John (1706-1763)

Date: 1745

"As in the humours of the body, so in the vices of the mind, there is one predominant which has an ascendant over us, and leads and governs us."

— Mason, John (1706-1763)

Date: 1745

"The wounds of the conscience, like those of the body, cannot be well cured till they are searched to the bottom; and they cannot be searched without pain."

— Mason, John (1706-1763)

Date: November 6, 1746

"She [Desdemona] saw, as the truly valuable Part of the Sex do, Othello's Visage in his Mind; she was too innocent and resigned to be guarded against the Wiles of envious and designing Men; and thus, while basking in the Sunshine of Love, and sporting in the Splendor of its divine Emanations, she...

— Horsley, William (attrib.)

Date: 1748, 1777

"Man is a reasonable being; and as such, receives from science his proper food and nourishment."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1748, 1777

"And though these researches may appear painful and fatiguing, it is with some minds as with some bodies, which being endowed with vigorous and florid health, require severe exercise, and reap a pleasure from what, to the generality of mankind, may seem burdensome and laborious."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1748, 1777

"Obscurity, indeed, is painful to the mind as well as to the eye; but to bring light from obscurity, by whatever labour, must needs be delightful and rejoicing."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1748, 1777

"It is remarkable concerning the operations of the mind, that, though most intimately present to us, yet, whenever they become the object of reflection, they seem involved in obscurity; nor can the eye readily find those lines and boundaries, which discriminate and distinguish them."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1748, 1777

"But a late Philosopher has taught us, by the most convincing Arguments, that Morality is nothing in the abstract Nature of Things, but is entirely relative to the Sentiment or mental Taste of each particular Being; in the same Manner as the Distinctions of sweet and bitter, hot and cold, arise f...

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1748, 1777

"Our mental vision or conception of ideas is nothing but a revelation made to us by our Maker."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)