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: September 1, 1759.

"The mind cannot retire from its enemy into total vacancy, or turn aside from one object but by passing to another."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: 1762

"Combattu sans cesse par mes sentiments naturels qui parloient pour l’intérêt commun, & par ma raison qui rapportoit tout à moi, j’aurois flotté toute ma vie dans cette continuelle alternative, faisant le mal, aimant le bien, & toujours contraire à moi-même, si de nouvelles lumières n’eussent écl...

— Rousseau, Jean-Jacques (1712-1778)

Date: 1760-1761, 1762

"The soul may be compared to a field of battle, where two armies are ready every moment to encounter; not a single vice but has a more powerful opponent; and not one virtue but may be overborne by a combination of vices."

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)

Date: 1760-1761, 1762

"Reason guides the bands of either host, nor can it subdue one passion but by the assistance of another."

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)

Date: 1766

"Each of these words, implies, resistance; but, that of 'conquer', refers to victory over enemies; and is, generally, used in the literal sense: that of 'subdue', is more applicable to our passions; being, oftener, used in a figurative; and means, a bringing under subjection: that of 'overcome', ...

— Trusler, John (1735-1820)

Date: 1770

"When Reason invades the rights of Common Sense, and presumes to arraign that authority by which she herself acts, nonsense and confusion must of necessity ensue; science will soon come to have neither head nor tail, beginning nor end; philosophy will grow contemptible; and its adherents, far fro...

— Beattie, James (1735-1803)

Date: 1774

"By means of it, these ideas, like a well-disciplined army, fall, of their own accord, into rank and order, and divide themselves into different classes according to their different relations."

— Gerard, Alexander (1728-1795)

Date: 1774

"Opposite forces in mechanics tend to destroy one another. This is analogous to the case before us. The objects strictly connected with a passion are naturally fit for introducing ideas related to themselves; the passion acts in a contrary direction, and endeavours to keep the mind from running o...

— Gerard, Alexander (1728-1795)

Date: 1774

"As in madness, the senses, from struggling with the imagination, are at length forced to submit, so, in sleep, they seem for a while soothed into the like submission: the smallest violence exerted upon any one of them, however, rouzes all the rest in their mutual defence; and the imagination, th...

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)