Date: Saturday, February 2, 1751

"Much of the beauty of writing is of this kind; and therefore Boileau justly remarks, that the books which have stood the test of time, and been admired through all the changes which the mind of man has suffered from the various revolutions of knowledge, and the prevalence of contrary customs, ha...

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: Tuesday, February 5, 1751

"There are few books on which more time is spent by young students, than on treatises which deliver the characters of authors; nor any which oftener deceive the expectation of the reader, or fill his mind with more opinions which the progress of his studies and the increase of his knowledge oblig...

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: Saturday, February 9, 1751

"The general resemblance of the sound to the sense is to be found in every language which admits of poetry, in every author whose force of fancy enables him to impress images strongly on his own mind, and whose choice and variety of language readily supply him with just representations."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: Tuesday, February 12, 1751

"The disproportions of absurdity grow less and less visible, as we are reconciled by degrees to the deformity of a mistress; and falsehood by long use, is assimilated to the mind, as poison to the body."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: 1751

"She addressed herself to him with a familiar air, observing, that she had heard much of his great knowledge, and was come to be a witness of his art, which she desired him to display, in declaring what he knew to be her ruling passion."

— Smollett, Tobias (1721-1777)

Date: 1751

One may meet with an object that disputes the empire of one's heart with a beloved

— Smollett, Tobias (1721-1777)

Date: 1751

One may make a plan to make a conquest of a heart, which is "not very susceptible of tender impressions; but, on the contrary, fortified with insensibility and prejudice against the charms of the whole sex"

— Smollett, Tobias (1721-1777)

Date: 1751

"[H]e could not help gazing at her with desire, and forming the design of making a conquest of her heart"

— Smollett, Tobias (1721-1777)

Date: 1751

One may behave with such generosity as to make" an absolute conquest" of a woman's heart

— Smollett, Tobias (1721-1777)

Date: 1751

Love may reign in the breast

— Smollett, Tobias (1721-1777)