text,updated_at,metaphor,created_at,context,theme,reviewed_on,dictionary,comments,provenance,id,work_id
"There is nothing that more betrays a base, ungenerous Spirit, than the giving of secret Stabs to a Man's Reputation. Lampoons and Satyrs, that are written with Wit and Spirit, are like poison'd Darts, which not only inflict a Wound, but make it incurable. For this Reason I am very much troubled when I see the Talents of Humour and Ridicule in the Possession of an ill-natured Man. There cannot be a greater Gratification to a barbarous and inhuman Wit, than to stir up Sorrow in the Heart of a private Person, to raise Uneasiness among near Relations, and to expose whole Families to Derision, at the same time that he remains unseen and undiscovered. If, besides the Accomplishments of being Witty and Ill-natured, a Man is vicious into the bargain, he is one of the most mischievous Creatures that can enter into a Civil Society. His Satyr will then chiefly fall upon those who ought to be the most exempt from it. Virtue, Merit, and every thing that is Praise-worthy, will be made the Subject of Ridicule and Buffoonry. It is impossible to enumerate the Evils which arise from these Arrows that fly in the dark, and I know no other Excuse that is or can be made for them, than that the Wounds they give are only Imaginary, and produce nothing more than a secret Shame or Sorrow in the Mind of the suffering Person. It must indeed be confess'd, that a Lampoon or a Satyr do not carry in them Robbery or Murder; but at the same time, how many are there that would not rather lose a considerable Sum of Mony, or even Life it self, than be set up as a Mark of Infamy and Derision? And in this Case a Man should consider, that an Injury is not to be measured by the Notions of him that gives, but of him that receives it.
(I, 97)",2013-03-22 15:43:42 UTC,"""It is impossible to enumerate the Evils which arise from these Arrows that fly in the dark, and I know no other Excuse that is or can be made for them, than that the Wounds they give are only Imaginary, and produce nothing more than a secret Shame or Sorrow in the Mind of the suffering Person.""",2013-03-22 15:43:42 UTC,"","",,"",On the violence of satire.,"Searching ""mind"" in Project Gutenberg e-text. ",19992,7342
"I cannot recollect the Author of a famous Saying to a Stranger who stood silent in his Company, Speak that I may see thee: But, with Submission, I think we may be better known by our Looks than by our Words; and that a Man's Speech is much more easily disguised than his Countenance. In this Case, however, I think the Air of the whole Face is much more expressive than the Lines of it: The Truth of it is, the Air is generally nothing else but the inward Disposition of the Mind made visible.
(I, 366)",2013-03-22 16:57:44 UTC,"""In this Case, however, I think the Air of the whole Face is much more expressive than the Lines of it: The Truth of it is, the Air is generally nothing else but the inward Disposition of the Mind made visible.""",2013-03-22 16:57:44 UTC,"","",,"","","Searching ""mind"" in Project Gutenberg e-text. ",20006,7353
"There is not, in my Opinion, a Consideration more effectual to extinguish inordinate Desires in the Soul of Man, than the Notions of Plato and his Followers upon that Subject. They tell us, that every Passion which has been contracted by the Soul during her Residence in the Body, remains with her in a separate State; and that the Soul in the Body or out of the Body, differs no more than the Man does from himself when he is in his House, or in open Air. When therefore the obscene Passions in particular have once taken Root and spread themselves in the Soul, they cleave to her inseparably, and remain in her for ever, after the Body is cast off and thrown aside. As an Argument to confirm this their Doctrine they observe, that a lewd Youth who goes on in a continued Course of Voluptuousness, advances by Degrees into a libidinous old Man; and that the Passion survives in the Mind when it is altogether dead in the Body; nay, that the Desire grows more violent, and (like all other Habits) gathers Strength by Age, at the same time that it has no Power of executing its own Purposes. If, say they, the Soul is the most subject to these Passions at a time when it has the least Instigations from the Body, we may well suppose she will still retain them when she is entirely divested of it. The very Substance of the Soul is festered with them, the Gangrene is gone too far to be ever cured; the Inflammation will rage to all Eternity.
(I, 380-1)",2013-03-22 17:06:51 UTC,"""The very Substance of the Soul is festered with them, the Gangrene is gone too far to be ever cured; the Inflammation will rage to all Eternity.""",2013-03-22 17:06:51 UTC,"","",,"","","The very Substance of the Soul is festered with them, the Gangrene is gone too far to be ever cured; the Inflammation will rage to all Eternity.",20010,7354
"Women in their Nature are much more gay and joyous than Men; whether it be that their Blood is more refined, their Fibres more delicate, and their animal Spirits more light and volatile; or whether, as some have imagined, there may not be a kind of Sex in the very Soul, I shall not pretend to determine. As Vivacity is the Gift of Women, Gravity is that of Men. They should each of them therefore keep a Watch upon the particular Biass which Nature has fixed in their Mind, that it may not draw too much, and lead them out of the Paths of Reason. This will certainly happen, if the one in every Word and Action affects the Character of being rigid and severe, and the other of being brisk and airy. Men should beware of being captivated by a kind of savage Philosophy, Women by a thoughtless Gallantry. Where these Precautions are not observed, the Man often degenerates into a Cynick, the Woman into a Coquet; the Man grows sullen and morose, the Woman impertinent and fantastical.
(II, 8)",2013-03-22 17:49:00 UTC,"""Women in their Nature are much more gay and joyous than Men; whether it be that their Blood is more refined, their Fibres more delicate, and their animal Spirits more light and volatile; or whether, as some have imagined, there may not be a kind of Sex in the very Soul, I shall not pretend to determine.""",2013-03-22 17:47:22 UTC,"","",,"","A kind of ""sex in the soul"" — See Schiebinger.","Searching ""mind"" in Project Gutenberg e-text. ",20017,7361
"If Writings are thus durable, and may pass from Age to Age throughout the whole Course of Time, how careful should an Author be of committing any thing to Print that may corrupt Posterity, and poison the Minds of Men with Vice and Error? Writers of great Talents, who employ their Parts in propagating Immorality, and seasoning vicious Sentiments with Wit and Humour, are to be looked upon as the Pests of Society, and the Enemies of Mankind: They leave Books behind them (as it is said of those who die in Distempers which breed an Ill-will towards their own Species) to scatter Infection and destroy their Posterity. They act the Counterparts of a Confucius or a Socrates; and seem to have been sent into the World to deprave human Nature, and sink it into the Condition of Brutality.",2013-06-17 17:45:30 UTC,"""If Writings are thus durable, and may pass from Age to Age throughout the whole Course of Time, how careful should an Author be of committing any thing to Print that may corrupt Posterity, and poison the Minds of Men with Vice and Error?""",2013-06-17 17:45:30 UTC,"","",,"","","Searching ""mind"" in Project Gutenberg e-text.
",20867,7453
"At the same time that I think Discretion the most useful Talent a Man can be Master of, I look upon Cunning to be the Accomplishment of little, mean, ungenerous Minds. Discretion points out the noblest Ends to us, and pursues the most proper and laudable Methods of attaining them: Cunning has only private selfish Aims, and sticks at nothing which may make them succeed. Discretion has large and extended Views, and, like a well-formed Eye, commands a whole Horizon: Cunning is a Kind of Short-sightedness, that discovers the minutest Objects which are near at hand, but is not able to discern things at a distance. Discretion, the more it is discovered, gives a greater Authority to the Person who possesses it: Cunning, when it is once detected, loses its Force, and makes a Man incapable of bringing about even those Events which he might have done, had he passed only for a plain Man. Discretion is the Perfection of Reason, and a Guide to us in all the Duties of Life; Cunning is a kind of Instinct, that only looks out after our immediate Interest and Welfare. Discretion is only found in Men of strong Sense and good Understandings: Cunning is often to be met with in Brutes themselves, and in Persons who are but the fewest Removes from them. In short Cunning is only the Mimick of Discretion, and may pass upon weak Men, in the same manner as Vivacity is often mistaken for Wit, and Gravity for Wisdom.",2013-06-17 19:07:48 UTC,"""Discretion has large and extended Views, and, like a well-formed Eye, commands a whole Horizon: Cunning is a Kind of Short-sightedness, that discovers the minutest Objects which are near at hand, but is not able to discern things at a distance.""",2013-06-17 19:07:48 UTC,"","",,Eye,"",Reading,20885,7464
"Ambition raises a secret Tumult in the Soul, it inflames the Mind, and puts it into a violent Hurry of Thought: It is still reaching after an empty imaginary Good, that has not in it the Power to abate or satisfy it. Most other Things we long for can allay the Cravings of their proper Sense, and for a while set the Appetite at Rest: But Fame is a Good so wholly foreign to our Natures, that we have no Faculty in the Soul adapted to it, nor any Organ in the Body to relish it; an Object of Desire placed out of the Possibility of Fruition. It may indeed fill the Mind for a while with a giddy kind of Pleasure, but it is such a Pleasure as makes a Man restless and uneasy under it; and which does not so much satisfy the present Thirst, as it excites fresh Desires, and sets the Soul on new Enterprises. For how few ambitious Men are there, who have got as much Fame as they desired, and whose Thirst after it has not been as eager in the very Height of their Reputation, as it was before they became known and eminent among Men? There is not any Circumstance in Cæsar's Character which gives me a greater Idea of him, than a Saying which Cicero tells us he frequently made use of in private Conversation, That he was satisfied with his Share of Life and Fame, Se satis vel ad Naturam, vel ad Gloriam vixisse. Many indeed have given over their Pursuits after Fame, but that has proceeded either from the Disappointments they have met in it, or from their Experience of the little Pleasure which attends it, or from the better Informations or natural Coldness of old Age; but seldom from a full Satisfaction and Acquiescence in their present Enjoyments of it.",2013-06-17 19:39:48 UTC,"""It may indeed fill the Mind for a while with a giddy kind of Pleasure, but it is such a Pleasure as makes a Man restless and uneasy under it; and which does not so much satisfy the present Thirst, as it excites fresh Desires, and sets the Soul on new Enterprises.""",2013-06-17 19:39:48 UTC,"","",,"","","",20895,4159
"I was invited, methoughts, to the Dissection of a Beau's Head and of a Coquet's Heart, which were both of them laid on a Table before us. An imaginary Operator opened the first with a great deal of Nicety, which, upon a cursory and superficial View, appeared like the Head of another Man; but upon applying our Glasses to it, we made a very odd Discovery, namely, that what we looked upon as Brains, were not such in reality, but an Heap of strange Materials wound up in that Shape and Texture, and packed together with wonderful Art in the several Cavities of the Skull. For, as Homer tells us, that the Blood of the Gods is not real Blood, but only something like it; so we found that the Brain of a Beau is not real Brain, but only something like it.",2013-06-17 20:03:33 UTC,"""An imaginary Operator opened the first with a great deal of Nicety, which, upon a cursory and superficial View, appeared like the Head of another Man; but upon applying our Glasses to it, we made a very odd Discovery, namely, that what we looked upon as Brains, were not such in reality, but an Heap of strange Materials wound up in that Shape and Texture, and packed together with wonderful Art in the several Cavities of the Skull.""",2013-06-17 20:03:33 UTC,"","",,"","",Reading,20897,7470
"WHEN Labour was pronounced to be the Portion of Man, that Doom reached the Affections of his Mind, as well as his Person, the Matter on which he was to feed, and all the animal and vegetable World about him. There is therefore an assiduous Care and Cultivation to be bestowed upon our Passions and Affections; for they, as they are the Excrescencies of our Souls, like our Hair and Beards, look horrid or becoming, as we cut or let 'em grow. All this grave Preface is meant to assign a Reason in Nature for the unaccountable Behaviour of Duumvir, the Husband and Keeper. Ten Thousand Follies had this unhappy Man escaped, had he made a Compact with himself to be upon his Guard, and not permitted his vagrant Eye to let in so many different Inclinations upon him, as all his Days he has been perplexed with. But indeed at present he has brought himself to be confined only to one prevailing Mistress; between whom and his Wife, Duumvir passes his Hours in all the Vicissitudes which attend Passion and Affection, without the Intervention of Reason. Laura his Wife, and Phillis his Mistress, are all with whom he has had, for some Months, the least amorous Commerce. Duumvir has passed the Noon of Life; but cannot withdraw from those Entertainments which are pardonable only before that Stage of our Being, and which after that Season are rather Punishments than Satisfactions: For pall'd Appetite is humorous, and must be gratified with Sauces rather than Food. For which End Duumvir is provided with an haughty, imperious, expensive, and fantastick Mistress, to whom he retires from the Conversation of an affable, humble, discrect, and affectionate Wife. Laura receives him after Absence with an easie and unaffected Complacency; but that he calls insipid: Phillis rates him for his Absence, and bids him return from whence he came: This he calls Spirit and Fire. Laura's Gentleness is thought mean; Phillis's Insolence, sprightly. Were you to see him at his own Home, and his Mistress's Lodgings, to Phillis he appears an obsequious Lover, to Laura an imperious Master. Nay, so unjust is the Taste of Duumvir, that he owns Laura has no ill Quality, but that she is his Wife; Phillis no good one, but that she is his Mistress. And he has himself often said, were he married to any one else, he would rather keep Laura than any Woman living; yet allows at the same Time, that Phillis, were she a Woman of Honour, would have been the most insipid Animal breathing. [...]
(II, pp. 23-4; cf. I, pp. 378-9 in Bond ed.)",2014-03-02 19:12:11 UTC,"""There is therefore an assiduous Care and Cultivation to be bestowed upon our Passions and Affections; for they, as they are the Excrescencies of our Souls, like our Hair and Beards, look horrid or becoming, as we cut or let 'em grow.""",2014-03-02 19:12:11 UTC,"","",,"","",Searching in ECCO-TCP,23410,7804
"Reading is to the Mind, what Exercise is to the Body. As by the one, Health is preserved, strenthened and invigorated; by the other, Virtue (which is the Health of the Mind) is kept alive, cherished and confirmed. But as Exercise becomes tedious and painful when we make use of it only as the Means of Health, so Reading is apt to grow uneasy and burdensome, when we apply our selves to it only for our Improvement in Virtue. For this Reason, the Virtue which we gather from a Fable, or an Allegory, is like the Health we get by Hunting; as we are engaged in an agreeable Pursuit that draws us on with Pleasure, and makes us insensible of the Fatigues that accompany it.
(III, p. 159; cf. II, p. 331 in Bond ed.)",2014-03-02 19:59:17 UTC,"""Reading is to the Mind, what Exercise is to the Body.""",2014-03-02 19:59:17 UTC,"","",,"","",ECCO-TCP,23424,7815