Date: Saturday, November 3, 1750

"The philosophers having found an easy victory over those desires which we produce in ourselves, and which terminate in some imaginary state of happiness unknown and unattainable, proceeded to make further inroads upon the heart, and attacked at last our senses and our instincts."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: Saturday, November 3, 1750

"Yet it cannot be with justice denied, that these men have been very useful monitors, and have left many proofs of strong reason, deep penetration, and accurate attention to the affairs of life, which it is now our business to separate from the foam of a boiling imagination, and to apply judiciou...

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: Tuesday, November 20, 1750

"Yet, if we consider the conduct of those sententious philosophers, it will often be found, that they repeat these aphorisms, merely because they have somewhere heard them, because they have nothing else to say, or because they think veneration gained by such appearances of wisdom, but that no id...

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: Tuesday, November 20, 1750

"Of this kind is the well known and well attested position, 'that life is short,' which may be heard among mankind by an attentive auditor, many times a day, but which never yet within my reach of observation left any impression upon the mind."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: 1751

"Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid / Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire."

— Gray, Thomas (1716-1771)

Date: 1751

"Chill Penury repressed their noble rage, / And froze the genial current of the soul."

— Gray, Thomas (1716-1771)

Date: 1751

"He stood; content to bow to Custom's Throne, / So Reason mote not blush his sovran Rule to own."

— West, Gilbert (1703-1756)

Date: 1751

"And fettering on her Throne th' immortal Mind, / The Guidance of her Realm to Passions wild resign'd."

— West, Gilbert (1703-1756)

Date: 1751

"All the senses, like the family at Harlowe-Place, in a confederacy against that which would animate, and give honour to the whole, were it allowed its proper precedence"

— Richardson, Samuel (bap. 1689, d. 1761)

Date: 1751

"The eye, my dear, the wicked eye--has such a strict alliance with the heart--And both have such enmity to the judgment!"

— Richardson, Samuel (bap. 1689, d. 1761)