Date: 1678

"But Fancy, I think, in Poetry, is like Faith in Religion; it makes far discoveries, and soars above reason, but never clashes, or runs against it. Fancy leaps, and frisks, and away she's gone; whilst reason rattles the chains, and follows after."

— Rymer, Thomas (1641-1713)

Date: 1744

"That is to say, we think there is no Way hitherto laid down for preserving the Vigour of the Body, and thereby securing such a Supply of animal Spirits as may support the Dominion of the Soul in its full Extent and Activity, so feasible as this, which is suggested to be the Source of the Longevi...

— Campbell, John (1708-75)

Date: 1744

"The first Man knew them by his Reason; but it was this same Reason that blotted them again from his Mind; for having attained to this Kind of natural Knowledge, he began to mingle therewith his own Notions and Ideas."

— Campbell, John (1708-75)

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)

Date: 1744

"These are the Exercises of the Understanding, and in these, as in a Chariot, the Soul takes the Air; while I am capable of these, I don't give myself much concern about bodily Decays, I am always at the Command of my Friends attend the Service of the House frequently, and distinguish myself in D...

— Campbell, John (1708-75)

Date: 1794

"My own mind is my own church."

— Paine, Thomas (1737-1809)

Date: 1794

"I have always made it a rule to treat those voluntary visitors [that bolt into the mind of their own accord] with civility, taking care to examine, as well as I was able, if they were worth entertaining; and it is from them I have acquired almost all the knowledge that I have."

— Paine, Thomas (1737-1809)

Date: 1794

"Every person of learning is finally his own teacher; the reason of which is, that principles, being of a distinct quality to circumstances, cannot be impressed upon the memory; their place of mental residence is the understanding, and they are never so lasting as when they begin by conception."

— Paine, Thomas (1737-1809)

Date: 1794

"As to the learning that any person gains from school education, it serves only, like a small capital, to put him in the way of beginning learning for himself afterwards."

— Paine, Thomas (1737-1809)

Date: 1794

"It [Christianity] has put the whole orbit of reason into shade."

— Paine, Thomas (1737-1809)