Date: 1761

"Did not your master Plato maintain, that all the art of man, that all philosophy could not extract from the human mind what nature had not implanted there; as all the operations in chemistry are incapable of extracting from any mixture more gold than is already contained in it?"

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

Date: 1799

"Ignorance has set her stamp upon him--his mind seared to every virtuous impression--his heart flint, and his temper moved by the slightest breath"

— West, Matthew (d. 1814); Kotzebue (1761-1819)