Date: 1751

"I proceeded therefore--That I loved Familiar-letter-writing, as I had more than once told her, above all the species of writing: It was writing from the heart (without the fetters prescribed by method or study) as the very word 'Cor-respondence' implied"

— Richardson, Samuel (bap. 1689, d. 1761)

Date: 1751

"Nothing of body, when friend writes to friend; the mind impelling sovereignly the vassal-fingers."

— Richardson, Samuel (bap. 1689, d. 1761)

Date: 1760

"A man this emptied and vacuated of self-conceit, these lines of natural pride, being blotted out, the soul is as a Tabula rasa, an unwritten table, to receive any impression of the law of God, that he pleases to put on it; and then his words are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to ...

— Binning, Hugh (1627-1653)

Date: w. 1782, 1786, 1816

"He consoled himself, however, for this intruding and unwelcome perception of his littleness, with the thought of being great in the eyes of others; and flattered himself that the light of his mind would extend beyond the reach of his sight, and extort from the stars the decrees of his destiny."

— Beckford, William (1760-1844)

Date: w. 1782, 1786, 1816

"'Drink then this draught,' said the stranger, as he presented to him a phial of a red and yellow mixture: 'and, to satiate the thirst of thy soul, as well as of thy body, know, that I am an Indian; but, from a region of India, which is wholly unknown.'"

— Beckford, William (1760-1844)

Date: w. 1782, 1786, 1816

"They very politely invited Bababalouk to be of their party; but his head was full of other concerns."

— Beckford, William (1760-1844)

Date: w. 1782, 1786, 1816

"The falling waters filled his soul with dejection, and his tears trickled down the jasmines he had caught from Nouronihar, and placed in his inflamed bosom."

— Beckford, William (1760-1844)

Date: w. 1782, 1786, 1816

"The unexpected arrival of the Caliph and the splendour that marked his appearance, had already filled with emotion the ardent soul of Nouronihar."

— Beckford, William (1760-1844)

Date: w. 1782, 1786, 1816

"All the stories of malignant Dives and dismal Goules thronged into her memory: but, her curiosity was, notwithstanding, more predominant than her fears."

— Beckford, William (1760-1844)

Date: w. 1782, 1786, 1816

"In the first ebullition of his fury, Vathek had resolved to rip open the body of Alboufaki and to stuff it with those of the negresses and of Carathis herself, but the remembrance of the Giaour, the palace of Istakar, the sabres, and the talismans, flashing before his imagination, with the simul...

— Beckford, William (1760-1844)