Date: 1771

"That is, let not great examples, or authorities, browbeat they reason into too great a diffidence fo thyself: thyself so reverence, as to prefer the native growth of thy own mind to the richest import from abroad; such borrowed riches make us poor."

— Author Unknown

Date: 1772

"No inference can give a juster idea of Des Cartes's doctrine of automata, than Mr. Regis's comparison of some hydraulic machines, to be seen in certain grottos and fountains, that serve as ornaments to the splendid mansions of the great; where water exerts itself by the disposition of the pipes,...

— Anonymous

Date: 1773

"Think'st thou, had Fancy's mirror struck his sight, / And brought thy too degenerate deeds to light; / Had shewn thee curst to such a vicious race, / Whose very breath contaminates the place: / How would his manly heart with grief have died / T'have seen this fatal barrier to his pride?"

— Anonymous

Date: 1777

"The questions would seem to answer themselves, and may be left to Lord North himself, if he has not altogether abandoned the sterling currency of Idea and Language (the reverse of his conduct with regard to the coin) and has not folded up, for ever and for ever, the un-corporational rectitude an...

— Philadelphos, Theophilos (fl. 1777)

Date: 1778

"The mind of man has been by some authors called a tabula rasa, and compared to a sheet of clean paper."

— Author Unknown

Date: 1778

"One should imagine, that the human intellect, by its original constitution, easily admits and retains some impressions, as congenial to its nature, and faithful to their objects; whilst it repels others with aversion or disdain, as subversive of its happiness, and false to the things which they ...

— Author Unknown

Date: 1778

"Hence our frame, from its very origin, seems marked by the hand of nature with indubitable signatures of pre-eminence and distinction."

— Author Unknown

Date: 1779

"Let me exhort ye then to open the locks of your hearts with the nail of repentance: burst asunder the fetters of your beloved lusts, mount the chimney of hope, take from hence the bar of good resolution, break through the stone wall of despair, and all the strong holds in the dark entry of the v...

— Anonymous

Date: August, September, and October, 1779

"Thus it happened with me on the present occasion; and I found my ideas suddenly drawn from the sermon in my hand and (in their vagabond way) hurrying over the birth, parentage, education, and situation of the reverend penman."

— Anonymous

Date: August, September, and October, 1779

"At his entrance, his little deal desk mounted on his only table, stood invitingly before him: there was inspiration in the sight; he snatched wildly a cracked ink-horn from a shelf which contained nothing else, but a few mouldy crusts, and a few mouldy books; flourished his pen, looked up a mome...

— Anonymous