Date: 1731

"So if the Knowledge of Corporeal Things were but a Secondary and Derivative Result from Sense, (though it cannot be conceived that the Passion of Sense should ray upon the Intellect, so as to beget a Secondary Passion there, any more than one Shadow should cast another) then Knowledge would be m...

— Cudworth, Ralph (1617-1688)

Date: 1731

"Now I observe that it is so far from being true, that all our Objective Cogitations or Ideas are Corporeal Effluxes or Radiations from Corporeal Things without, or impressed upon the Soul from them in a gross Corporeal Manner, as a Signature or Stamp is imprinted by a Seal upon a piece of Wax or...

— Cudworth, Ralph (1617-1688)

Date: 1731

"But he that can believe that all human Knowledge, Wisdom, and Prudence, has no other Source and Original than the Radiations and Impresses of the dark Matter, and the fortuitous and tumultuous Jumblings thereof; it is justly to be suspected, that he is too near akin to those antient Theologues t...

— Cudworth, Ralph (1617-1688)

Date: 1731

"And I have in like manner in this antecedent Discourse, endeavoured to shew that Wisdom, Knowledge, Mind and Intellect, are no thin Shadows or Images of corporeal and sensible Things, nor do result secondarily out of Matter and Body, and from the Activity and Impressions thereof; but have an ind...

— Cudworth, Ralph (1617-1688)

Date: 1737, 1743

"Some Men’s Wit is like a dark Lanthorn, which serves their own Turn, and guides them their own Way; but is never known (according to the Scripture Phrase) either to 'shine forth before Men', or to 'glorifie their Father who is in Heaven'."

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)

Date: 1741

"The very Greek Heathens by the Light of Reason were taught to say, [GREEK CHARACTERS], and the Latins, A Jove principium, Musae."

— Watts, Isaac (1674-1748)

Date: 1745

"That lies veiled from the eyes of our mind; and the great God hath not thought fit to throw so much light upon it, as to satisfy the anxious and inquisitive desires the soul hath to know it."

— Mason, John (1706-1763)

Date: 1745

"However, let us make the best use we can of that little light which Scripture and reason have let in upon this dark and important subject."

— Mason, John (1706-1763)

Date: Tuesday, June 26 1750

"Yet as the errours and follies of a great genius are seldom without some radiations of understanding, by which meaner minds may be enlightened, the incitements to pleasure are, in those authors, generally mingled with such reflections upon life, as well deserve to be considered distinctly from t...

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: Tuesday, March 27, 1750

"The task of an author is, either to teach what is not known, or to recommend known truths by his manner of adorning them; either to let new light in upon the mind, and open new scenes to the prospect, or to vary the dress and situation of common objects, so as to give them fresh grace and more p...

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)