Date: 1708

"And he thought that Conversation did drive away evil Thoughts, and banish'd that Diversity of Opinions which offer'd themselves to his Mind, and kept him from the Suggestions of evil Thoughts."

— Ockley, Simon (bap. 1679, d. 1720)

Date: 1749

"but to me they [natural impressions of surprize and admiration] sensibly prov'd the power and full dominion of the sole passion of my heart over me, a passion in which soul and body were concenter'd, and left me no room for any other relish of life but love"

— Cleland, John (bap. 1710, d. 1789)

Date: 1751

"For partly the Recommendation of his Person, but chiefly the Profusion of his Expences made her think him a very desireable Lover; and as she saw that his ruling Passion was Vanity, she was too good a Dissembler, and too much a Mistress of her Trade, not to flatter this Weakness for her own Ends."

— Coventry, (William) Francis Walter (1725-1753/4)

Date: 1759

"You will easily believe that I was pleased with his courtesy; and finding that his predominant passion was desire of money, I began now to think my danger less, for I knew that no sum would be thought too great for the release of Pekuah."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: 1759

"He shewed, with great strength of sentiment, and variety of illustration, that human nature is degraded and debased, when the lower faculties predominate over the higher."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: 1759

"The way to be happy is to live according to nature, in obedience to that universal and unalterable law with which every heart is originally impressed; which is not written on it by precept, but engraven by destiny, not instilled by education, but infused at our nativity."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: 1759

"He shewed, with great strength of sentiment, and variety of illustration, that human nature is degraded and debased, when the lower faculties predominate over the higher; that when fancy, the parent of passion, usurps the dominion of the mind, nothing ensues but the natural effect of unlawful go...

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: 1759

"By degrees the reign of fancy is confirmed; she grows first imperious, and in time despotick."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: 1762

"His mind was so entirely enslaved, that he beheld nothing but in the light wherein she pleased to represent it, and was so easy a dupe, that she could scarcely feel the joys of self triumph in her superior art, which was on no subject so constantly exerted, as in keeping up a coldness in Sir Cha...

— Scott [née Robinson], Sarah (1720-1795)

Date: 1762

"They were received on their arrival by a maiden sister of Mr. Morgan's, who till then had kept his house, and he intended should still remain in it; for as through the partiality of an aunt, who had bred her up, she was possessed of a large fortune, her brother, in whom avarice was the ruling pa...

— Scott [née Robinson], Sarah (1720-1795)