Date: 1722

"This honest friendly way of treating me, unlock'd all the Sluces of my Passions: He broke into my very Soul by it; and I unravell'd all the Wickedness of my Life to him: In a word, I gave him an Abridgement of this whole History."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1724

"So possible is it for us to roll ourselves up in Wickedness, till we grow invulnerable by Conscience; and that Centinel once doz'd, sleeps fast, not to be awaken'd while the Tide of Pleasure continues to flow, or till something dark and dreadful brings us to ourselves again."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1724

"These were the Original Springs, or Fountain-Head, from whence my Affectionate Thoughts were mov'd to assist this poor Woman."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1741 [1740]; continued in 1741

"She pours out all her Soul in [Soliloquies and little Reasonings] before her Parents without Disguise; so that one may judge of, nay, almost see, the inmost Recesses of her Mind"

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

Date: 1741 [1740]; continued in 1741

The mind may be a "pure clear Fountain of Truth and Innocence."

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

Date: 1741 [1740]; continued in 1741

"While the Banks of Discretion keep within their natural Chanel the proud Waves of Passion, all calm and serene, glides along the silver Current, inlivening the adjacent Meadows, as it passes, with a brighter and more flowery Verdure"

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

Date: 1741 [1740]; continued in 1741

"But if the Torrents of sensual Love are permitted to descend from the Hills of credulous Hope, they may so swell the gentle Stream, as to make it difficult, if not impossible, to be retain'd in its usual Bounds."

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

Date: 1741 [1740]; continued in 1741

"Why, the Trees of Resolution, and the Shrubs of cautious Fear, whose intertwining Roots had contributed to support the frail Mound, being loosen'd from their Hold, they, and the Bank itself, will be seen floating on the Surface of the triumphant Waters."

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

Date: 1741 [1740]; continued in 1741

"I'm sure, said he, my Heart's turn'd into Butter, and is running away at my Eyes."

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

Date: 1743

Reason "doth not foolishly say to us, be not glad, orbe not sorry, which would be as vain and idle, as to bid the purling River cease to run, or the raging Wind to blow"

— Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)