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: 1780?

"Little Souls, like small Liquors, are the most easily sour'd."

— Walpole, Horatio [Horace], fourth earl of Orford (1717-1797)