Date: 1754

"Intellect, the artificer, works lamely without his proper instrument, sense; which is the case when he works on moral ideas."

— St John, Henry, styled first Viscount Bolingbroke (1678-1751)

Date: 1755

"Ideas of the same race, though not exactly alike, are sometimes so little different, that no words can express the dissimilitude, though the mind easily perceives it, when they are exhibited together; and sometimes there is such a confusion of acceptations, that discernment is wearied, and disti...

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: 1759

"Therefore dive deep into thy bosom; learn the depth, extent, biass, and full fort of thy mind; contract full intimacy with the Stranger within thee; excite, and cherish every spark of Intellectual light and heat, however smothered under former negligence, or scattered through the dull, dark m...

— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)

Date: 1759

"With what a gust do we retire to our disinterested, and immortal friends in our closet, and find our minds, when applied to some favourite theme, as naturally, and as easily quieted, and refreshed, as a peevish child (and peevish children are we all till we fall asleep) when laid to the breast?"

— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)

Date: 1759

"With regard to the moral world, conscience, with regard to the intellectual, genius, is that god within."

— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)

Date: 1763

"Perception cannot be made up of no perceptions; nor received by a number of atoms jointly, unless received by each of them singly [no more than] whispers heard by a thousand men can make together a [resounding] audible voice"

— Tucker, Abraham (1705-1774)

Date: 1763

"if the King were to incorporate six hundred men into a regiment, there would not be six hundred and one Beings therefore, one for the regiment, and one for each of the men [so] neither when a multiple of atoms is run together to form a human body, is there a Being more than there was before: nor...

— Tucker, Abraham (1705-1774)

Date: 1774

"I find by experience, that the mind and the body are more than married, for they are most intimately united; and when the one suffers, the other sympathizes."

— Stanhope, Philip Dormer, fourth earl of Chesterfield (1694-1773)

Date: 1774

"Voltaire must be criticised; besides, every man's favorite is attacked: for every prejudice is exposed, and our prejudices are our mistresses; reason is at best our wife, very often heard indeed, but seldom minded."

— Stanhope, Philip Dormer, fourth earl of Chesterfield (1694-1773)

Date: 1776-1789

"Without that artificial help the human memory soon dissipates or corrupts the ideas entrusted to her charge; and the nobler faculties of the mind, no longer supplied with models or with materials, gradually forget their powers: the judgment becomes feeble and lethargic, the imagination languid o...

— Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)