Date: 1778

"Do you think the public opinion, his various doubts of himself, and of her, the pride of his family, and the loud claims of avarice, his ruling passion 'till now, won't prove near an equipoise to his love?"

— Foote, Samuel (1720-1777)

Date: 1782

"Perish the barb'rous maxims of the East, / Which basely wou'd enslave the free-born mind, / And plunder it of the best gift of Heav'n, / Its liberty!"

— More, Hannah (1745-1833)

Date: 1784

Vanity is more a man's ruling passion than a woman's

— Cowley [née Parkhouse], Hannah (1743-1809)

Date: 1785

"I was surpriz'd, taken unawares, passion ran away with me like an unbroke horse: but I have got him under now; I can govern him with a twine of thread."

— Cumberland, Richard (1732-1811)

Date: 1787

Money may be a ruling passion

— Holcroft, Thomas (1745-1809)

Date: 1789

"A passion like mine, makes the heart rebellious--it will love on--it will hope, in spite of the rules cold reason dictates"

— Inchbald [née Simpson], Elizabeth (1753-1821)

Date: 1789, 1797

"Still in this breast shall dearest Emma reign, / Nor e'er my will your virgin choice shall sway."

— Berkeley, George Monck (1763-1793)

Date: March 8, 1790

"Love does all day the soul's great empire keep; / But Wine, at night, lulls the soft God asleep."

— Kemble, John Philip (1757-1823)

Date: 1795

In "the serious and reflective mind, love raises a despotic throne, and, like the burning sun of Africa, he pours his chiefest ardors upon slaves"

— Cowley [née Parkhouse], Hannah (1743-1809)

Date: April 17, 1795

"Like Britain's Monarch" an audience may "act [their] generous parts, /And fix [their] empire, in [actors] greatful hearts.

— Jerningham, Edward (1727-1812)