Date: September 15, 1759

"No man will read with much advantage, who is not able, at pleasure, to evacuate his mind, or who brings not to his Author an intellect defecated and pure, neither turbid with care nor agitated by pleasure."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: September 15, 1759

"If the repositories of thought are already full, what can they receive?"

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: 1759

"Mankind's the same to Beasts and Fouls / That Devils are to Humane Soules, / Who therefor, when like Fiends th' appeare, / Avoyd and Fly with equal feare."

— Butler, Samuel (1613-1680)

Date: 1759

"'Tis in the Culture of the Mind, as in that of the Earth; Precepts may be sown too thick together; so as to smother, and obstruct the Growth, and Product of each other, by encumbring the Soil, where they are sown; and by that Means frustrate the Labor of him, who sowes them."

— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)

Date: 1759

"Not Charms alone made the Fam'd Sisters great, / Both wedded, to high Titles, Wealth, and State; / But bland Complacence, and obsequious Art, / That could, with silken Bands, enthrall the Heart."

— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)

Date: 1759

"Ye Mothers! train your Daughter's infant Mind; / To practise, when Adult, what's here injoin'd; / With early Care, Seeds of Compliance sow, / As you first shape the Twig, the Tree will grow; / Good Education elevates our Souls, / Corrects the Passions, Appetites controls; / Refines our Nature, a...

— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)

Date: 1759

"In docile Youth, the Seed of Virtue sow, / E'er Weeds of Vice predominant can grow; / When ductile Nature is to bend inclin'd, / Then is the Time, to rectify the Mind."

— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)

Date: 1759

"Learn first, a Conquest, o'er yourselves, to gain, / That o'er our Sex, you may victorious reign."

— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)

Date: 1759

"Strive to extirpate Pride, that Hell-sprung Root, / Whence Anger, Malice, Strife, and Madness shoot; / If, in your Mind, that pois'nous Weed should grow, / In vain, the Seeds of Discipline, I sow; / Where that Weed grows, so barren in the Soil, / It is not worth my Culture, and my Toil."

— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)

Date: 1759

"Fair Nymph! oft inward turn your mental Eye, / Your Soul reflecting can herself descry: / By Self-examination, she will find / Each Blemish, in the Features of the Mind."

— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)