Date: January 27, 1759.

"That it is vain to shrink from what cannot be avoided, and to hide that from ourselves which must some time be found, is a truth which we all know, but which all neglect, and perhaps none more than the speculative reasoner, whose thoughts are always from home, whose eye wanders over life, whose ...

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: September 1, 1759.

" Ideas are retained by renovation of that impression which time is always wearing away, and which new images are striving to obliterate."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: September 1, 1759.

"The incursions of troublesome thoughts are often violent and importunate; and it is not easy to a mind accustomed to their inroads to expel them immediately by putting better images into motion; but this enemy of quiet is above all others weakened by every defeat; the reflection which has been o...

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: 1760

"Whenever this shall be executed, it is to be looked upon as the work of true genius; but when fallen short of, as often happens, it is to be deemed the impotent effort of the hard-bound brains of low plagiaries, whose memory is filled with the shreds and ill-chosen scraps of other mens wit."

— Macklin, Charles (1697-1797)

Date: 1761

"By no forc'd laws his passions were confin'd, / For conscience kept his heart, and calm'd his mind / Peace o'er the world her blessed sway maintain'd, / And e'en in desarts smiling Plenty reign'd."

— Telescope, Tom [pseud.]

Date: 1761

The mind of the hearer might very well be a tabula rasa, free from every prejudice, and like soft wax, susceptible of every impression; and with all this, not yield to truth itself, proposed in the manner it is every day proposed, under the appearance of falsehood."

— Batteaux, Charles (1713-1780)

Date: 1762

"Accordingly, where the object is dangerous, or appears so, the sudden alarm it gives, without preparation, is apt totally to unhinge the mind, and for a moment to suspend all the faculties, even thought itself."

— Home, Henry, Lord Kames (1696-1782)

Date: 1762

"During his waking hours, amusement by intervals is requisite to unbend his mind from serious occupation."

— Home, Henry, Lord Kames (1696-1782)

Date: 1762

"After a fit of merryment, we are, it is true, the less disposed to the serious and sublime: but then, a ludicrous scene, by unbending the mind from severe application to more interesting subjects, may prevent fatigue, and preserve our relish entire."

— Home, Henry, Lord Kames (1696-1782)

Date: 1762

"The world we inhabit is replete with things not less remarkable for their variety than their number. These, unfolded by the wonderful mechanism of external sense, furnish the mind with many perceptions, which, joined with ideas of memory, of imagination, and of reflection, form a complete train ...

— Home, Henry, Lord Kames (1696-1782)