Date: 1745

"Forgive my Heat. / My rankled Mind, by Injuries inflam'd, / May be too prompt to take and give Offence."

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

Date: 1745

"Nought now has Charms or Terrors to my Breast, / The Seat of stupid Woe!"

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

Date: 1745

"The conscious Mind is its own awful World."

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

Date: 1746

"Deep to the root / Of vegetation parch'd, the cleaving fields / And slippery lawn an arid hue disclose, / Blast Fancy's bloom, and wither e'en the soul."

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

Date: 1746

"For lofty sense, / Creative fancy, and inspection keen / Through the deep windings of the human heart, / Is not wild Shakespeare thine and Nature's boast?"

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

Date: 1748

"[B]ut now that I looked upon myself as a murderer, it is impossible to express the terrors of my imagination, which was incessantly haunted by the image of the deceased, and my bosom stung with the most exquisite agonies, of which I saw no end."

— Smollett, Tobias (1721-1777)

Date: 1748, 1777

"An artist must be better qualified to succeed in this undertaking, who, besides a delicate taste and a quick apprehension, possesses an accurate knowledge of the internal fabric, the operations of the understanding, the workings of the passions, and the various species of sentiment which discrim...

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1748, 1777

"And if we can go no farther than this mental geography, or delineation of the distinct parts and powers of the mind, it is at least a satisfaction to go so far."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1748, 1777

"Chaced from the open country, these robbers [i.e., superstitions] fly into the forest, and lie in wait to break in upon every unguarded avenue of the mind, and overwhelm it with religious fears and prejudices."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1748, 1777

"In our more serious thinking or discourse, this is so observable, that any particular thought, which breaks in upon the regular tract or chain of ideas, is immediately remarked and rejected."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)