Date: 1734

"These three Operations of numbering, weighing, and measuring, seem to answer to the several Exercises of Reason; and so 'tis compared sometimes to a Ballance, sometimes to a Line."

— Forbes of Pitsligo, Alexander Forbes, Lord (1678-1762)

Date: 1734

"Reason then must fall into the grossest Mistakes, when it meddles in things beyond its Line, or out of its Sphere: in this case 'tis like an incompetent Judge, and the Conclusions must be absurd."

— Forbes of Pitsligo, Alexander Forbes, Lord (1678-1762)

Date: 1734

"Buchanan's Paraphrase on the seventy-third Psalm is very applicable to this purpose. It mistakes also in things within its Sphere, when it is imposed upon by the Affections, like a Judge that's corrupted."

— Forbes of Pitsligo, Alexander Forbes, Lord (1678-1762)

Date: 1734

"At present, we are supposing Reason to be entire, so far as it goes, without considering the narrowness of its Limits, nor the Clogs that are upon it, nor whether these Clogs are most owing to the Appetites or the Passions. All such Discussions are endless."

— Forbes of Pitsligo, Alexander Forbes, Lord (1678-1762)

Date: 1734

"Taking Reason therefore only for the natural Light of the Mind, we may well enough conclude, that natural Truths, or Principles, belong to it, as visible Objects belong to the Eye."

— Forbes of Pitsligo, Alexander Forbes, Lord (1678-1762)

Date: 1734

"Beside the advantage of a good Memory, as it serves for making a figure in Conversation, it is still valuable upon better Reasons; since it may be made a Storehouse of the most profitable and agreeable things."

— Forbes of Pitsligo, Alexander Forbes, Lord (1678-1762)

Date: 1734

"If it is for the most part but a Magazine of Trash, the Gift itself is still to be esteemed; and a Man has his own bad choice to blame, for making such a Collection."

— Forbes of Pitsligo, Alexander Forbes, Lord (1678-1762)

Date: 1734

"The Memory is not only a Register of Tales, and Names, and Fictions, (the Materials of common Discourse) but may be called a Register of every thing that enters into the Senses and the Imagination."

— Forbes of Pitsligo, Alexander Forbes, Lord (1678-1762)

Date: 1734

"But what shall we think of this strange Sieve, which lets some things pass through, and retains others; and often retains the most unprofitable?"

— Forbes of Pitsligo, Alexander Forbes, Lord (1678-1762)

Date: 1734

"But what shall we think of this odd Treasury, which retains things during a certain time, and then loses them, even before the Infirmities of Age come on? We say a thing has dropt out of our head: (where does it drop?) and it drops in again when we least expect it. What Corners do those Images l...

— Forbes of Pitsligo, Alexander Forbes, Lord (1678-1762)