Date: 1774

"Voltaire must be criticised; besides, every man's favorite is attacked: for every prejudice is exposed, and our prejudices are our mistresses; reason is at best our wife, very often heard indeed, but seldom minded."

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

Date: 1777

"I retire to the family of my own thoughts, and find them in weeds of sorrow."

— Mackenzie, Henry (1745-1831)

Date: 1777

"There is a certain kind of trifling, in which a mind not much at ease can sometimes indulge itself. One feels an escape, as it were, from the heart, and is fain to take up with lighter company. It is like the theft of a truant boy, who goes to play for a few minutes while his master is asleep, a...

— Mackenzie, Henry (1745-1831)

Date: 1782

"It is, my dear M----, the same with the rest of our passions;--we have Reason given us for our rudder--Religion is our sheet anchor--our fixed star Hope--Conscience our faithful monitor--and Happiness the grand reward;--we all in this manner can preach up trite maxims."

— Sancho, Charles Ignatius (1729-1780)

Date: 1782

"Conscience, the high chancellor of the human breast, whose small still voice speaks terror to the guilty--Conscience has pricked her--and, with all her wealth and titles, she is an object of pity."

— Sancho, Charles Ignatius (1729-1780)

Date: 1782

"In regard to thy N----, thou art right--guard her well--but chiefly guard her from the traitor in her own fair breast, which, while it is the seat of purity and unsullied honor--fancies its neighbours to be the same--nor sees the serpent in the flowery foliage--till it stings--and then farewell ...

— Sancho, Charles Ignatius (1729-1780)

Date: 1782

"No! why then thou art a silly fellow--incumbered with three abominable inmates;--to wit--Conscience--Honesty--and Good-nature--I hate thee (as the Jew says) because thou art a Christian."

— Sancho, Charles Ignatius (1729-1780)

Date: November 28, 1783

"Our Maker has given us this faithful internal monitor [the conscience], and if you always obey it, you will always be prepared for the end of the world, or for a more certain event, which is death."

— Jefferson, Thomas (1743-1826)

Date: August 16, 1820

"My Imagination is a Monastery and I am its Monk--you must explain my metap^cs to yourself."

— Keats, John (1795-1821)

Date: w. 1821, 1840

"They may have perceived the beauty of those immortal compositions, simply as fragments and isolated portions: those who are more finely organized, or born in a happier age, may recognize them as episodes to that great poem, which all poets, like the co-operating thoughts of one great mind, have ...

— Shelley, Percy Bysshe (1792-1822)