Date: 1760, 1761

"Reason, collected in herself, disdains / The slavish yoke of arbitrary chains"

— Churchill, Charles (1731-1764)

Date: 1760, 1850

Friendship is "The indissoluble tie that binds, / In equal chains, two sister minds."

— Hamilton, William, of Bangour (1704-1754)

Date: 1761

"I have been a slave to a hopeless passion too long; I am now resolved to struggle with my chains: you, Madam, must assist me in breaking them intirely; and I make no doubt but that time, joined to my own efforts, and aided by your sweetness of disposition, your tenderness, and admirable sense, w...

— Sheridan [née Chamberlaine], Frances (1724-1766)

Date: 1761

"To one genius it is necessary to give wings, and to another shackles; one should be spurred forward, another reined in; one should be encouraged, another intimidated; sometimes it should be checked, and at others assisted."

— Rousseau, Jean-Jacques (1712-1778); Kenrick, William (1729/30-1779)

Date: 1762

"For a perfect Knowledge in these, and a proper Attention to Emphasis, will not only lead to, but, at last, actually produce what includes them all, such a masterly Elocution, as can hold the Passions captive, and surprize the Soul itself in its inmost Recesses."

— Buchanan, James (fl. 1753-1773)

Date: 1762-3

"Opinions should be free as air; / No man, whate'er his rank, what're / His qualities, a claim can found / That my opinion must be bound, / And square with his; such slavish chains / From foes the liberal soul disdains; / Nor can, though true to friendship, bend / To wear them even from a friend."

— Churchill, Charles (1731-1764)

Date: 1762

"Ils sont sourds, en effet, à la voix intérieure qui leur crie d’un ton difficile à méconnaître: Une machine ne pense point, il n’y a ni mouvement, ni figure qui produise la réflexion: quelque chose en toi cherche à briser les liens qui le compriment; l’espace n’est pas ta mesure, l’univers entie...

— Rousseau, Jean-Jacques (1712-1778)

Date: 1762

"Pourquoi mon âme est-elle soumise à mes sens & enchaîné, ce corps qui l’asservit et la gêne? je n’en sais rien: suis-je entré dans les décrets de Dieu?"

— Rousseau, Jean-Jacques (1712-1778)

Date: 1762

J’aspire au moment où, délivré des entraves du corps, je serai moi sans contradiction, sans partage, & n’aurai besoin que de moi pour être heureux; en attendant, je le suis dès cette vie, parce que j’en compte pour peu tous les maux, que je la regarde comme presque étrangère à mon être, & que tou...

— Rousseau, Jean-Jacques (1712-1778)

Date: 1762

"Ne’er did thy Voice assume a Master’s Pow’r, / Nor force Assent to what thy Precepts taught; / But bid my independent Spirit soar, / In all the Freedom of unfett’red Thought"

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)