Date: Saturday, November 9, 1751
"But it is generally agreed, that few men are made better by affluence or exaltation; and that the powers of the mind, when they are unbound and expanded by the sunshine of felicity, more frequently luxuriate into follies, than blossom into goodness."
preview | full record— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)
Date: November 15, 1751
"My life was divided between the care of providing topicks for the entertainment of my company, and that of collecting company worthy to be entertained; for I soon found, that wit, like every other power, has its boundaries; that its success depends upon the aptitude of others to receive impressi...
preview | full record— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)
Date: Tuesday, January 22, 1751
"The loose sparkles of thoughtless wit may give new light to the mind, and the gay contention for paradoxical positions rectify the opinions."
preview | full record— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)
Date: November 1752, 1791
"When up the imperceptible ascent / Of growing years, led by thy hand, I rose, / Perception's gradual light, that ever dawns / Insensibly to day, thou didst vouchsafe, / And teach me by that reason thou inspir'dst."
preview | full record— Smart, Christopher (1722-1771)
Date: Tuesday, March 10, 1752
"It is not sufficient to maintain the first vigour; for excellence loses its effect upon the mind by custom, as light after a time ceases to dazzle."
preview | full record— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)
Date: 1755
"That it will immediately become popular I have not promised to myself: a few wild blunders, and risible absurdities, from which no work of such multiplicity was ever free, may for a time furnish folly with laughter, and harden ignorance in contempt; but useful diligence will at last prevail, and...
preview | full record— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)
Date: 1755
"Thou, superior to the Frowns / Of Fate, can'st pour thy Sunshine o'er the Soul, / And brighten Woe to Rapture!"
preview | full record— Brown, John (1715-1766)
Date: March 1756
"The thought-kindling light, / Thy prime production, darts upon my mind / Its vivifying beams, my heart illumines, / And fills my soul with gratitude and Thee."
preview | full record— Smart, Christopher (1722-1771)
Date: 1759
"He compared reason to the sun, of which the light is constant, uniform, and lasting; and fancy to a meteor, of bright but transitory lustre, irregular in its motion, and delusive in its direction."
preview | full record— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)
Date: w. May, 1756; 1761
"For these, if I forget my patron's praise, / While bright ideas dance upon my mind, / Ne'er may these eyes behold auspicious days, / May friends prove faithless, and the Muse unkind."
preview | full record— Fawkes, Francis (1720-1777)