Date: 1693

"Let Thirst of Glory meaner Souls inspire, / And haunt their Dreams! these, nobler Things desire; / Nor envy such as Bodies only bind, / While they in Truth's soft Chains secure the Mind."

— Wesley, Samuel, The Elder (bap. 1662, d. 1735)

Date: 1719-1720, 1725

"You see, my Lord, said he with a Sigh, that I have put it out of her Power to triumph over my Weakness, for I confess my Heart still wears her Chains; but e'er my Eyes or Tongue betray to her the shameful Bondage, these Hands should tear them out."

— Haywood [née Fowler], Eliza (1693?-1756)

Date: 1736

"To live without Restraint, is to live indeed, cry'd she, and I no longer wonder, that the free Mind finds it so difficult to yield to those Fetters, Priests and Philosophers would bind it in, and which were never forged by, nor are consistent with Reason."

— Haywood [née Fowler], Eliza (1693?-1756)

Date: 1739

"Long my imprison'd spirit lay, / Fast bound in sin and nature's night: / Thine eye diffused a quickening ray; / I woke; the dungeon flamed with light; / My chains fell off, my heart was free, / I rose, went forth, and follow'd Thee."

— Wesley, John and Charles

Date: 1739

"To usher forth the Virtues of the Mind! / From Nature's Chain, from Earthly Dross set free, / One only Appetite remained in Thee."

— Wesley, John and Charles

Date: Tuesday, May 22, 1750

"He saw that, instead of conquering their fears, the endeavour of his gay friends was only to escape them; but his philosophy chained his mind to its object, and rather loaded him with shackles than furnished him with arms."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: Tuesday, August 28, 1750

"An habitual sadness seizes upon the soul, and the faculties are chained to a single object, which can never be contemplated but with hopeless uneasiness."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: Saturday, 13 October 1750

"Those parallel circumstances, and kindred images, to which we readily conform our minds, are, above all other writings, to be found in narratives of the lives of particular persons; and therefore no species of writing seems more worthy of cultivation than biography, since none can be more deligh...

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: Saturday, April 6, 1751

"Austerities and mortifications are means by which the mind is invigorated and roused, by which the attractions of pleasure are interrupted, and the chains of sensuality are broken."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: Saturday, April 13, 1751

"It is therefore not less necessary to happiness than to virtue, that he rid his mind of passions which make him uneasy to himself, and hateful to the world, which enchain his intellects, and obstruct his improvement."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)