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: 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: 1773

"By accustoming yourself thus to conquer and disappoint your anger, you will, by degrees, find it grow weak and manageable, so as to leave your reason at liberty."

— Mulso [later Chapone], Hester (1727-1801)

Date: 1773

"Another method of conquering this enemy [the passions], is to abstract our minds from that attention to trifling circumstances, which usually creates this uneasiness."

— Mulso [later Chapone], Hester (1727-1801)

Date: 1774

"When they come to be a little better acquainted with themselves, and with their own species, they discover that plain right reason is, nine times in ten, the fettered and shackled attendant of the triumph of the heart and the passions; and, consequently, they address themselves nine times in ten...

— Stanhope, Philip Dormer, fourth earl of Chesterfield (1694-1773)

Date: 1774

"I will show your letter to Duval, by way of justification for not answering his challenge; and I think he must allow the validity of it; for a frozen brain is as unfit to answer a challenge in poetry, as a blunt sword is for a single combat."

— Stanhope, Philip Dormer, fourth earl of Chesterfield (1694-1773)

Date: 1777

"But it is their nature never to observe a neutrality; they are either rebels or auxiliaries, and an enemy subdued is an ally obtained."

— More, Hannah (1745-1833)

Date: 1784, 1804

"The apostle well knew that erroneous men would be busy in besieging their understandings, and that carnal objects would be labouring to engross their affections; vanity to entertain their minds, pleasures to attract their desires, and legality to entangle and govern their consciences."

— Huntington, William (1745-1813)

Date: 1784, 1804

"The apostle well knew, by his own experience, that Satan would lay strong siege to such souls; and he knew for a truth that, if one sin found acceptance and entertainment in the soul, that sin when it had engrossed the affections, would let in many more, and consequently leave a ga...

— Huntington, William (1745-1813)