Date: 1764

"In the arts and sciences which have least connection with the mind, its faculties are the engines which we must employ; and the better we understand their nature and use, their defects and disorders, the more skilfully we shall apply them, and with the greater success."

— Reid, Thomas (1710-1796)

Date: w. 1764, 1953

"My mind is like an air-pump which receives and ejects ideas with wonderful facility."

— Boswell, James (1740-1795)

Date: 1765

"That is, a sentient or thinking being is not a mechanical thing like a watch or a mill: one cannot conceive of sizes and shapes and motions combining mechanically to produce something which thinks, and senses too, in a mass where [formerly] there was nothing of the kind--something which would li...

— Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm (1646-1716)

Date: 1766

"My dear Louisa, your watch and your passions keep pace; it wants some minutes of seven; but I cou'd wish from my heart, that almost any accident might prevent this meeting"

— Griffith, Elizabeth (1720-1793)

Date: w. prior to April 1770; 1785, 1837, 1875

"The wise look further, and the wise can see / The hands of Sawney actuating thee; / The clock-work of thy conscience turns about, / Just as his mandates wind thee in and out."

— Chatterton, Thomas (1752-1770)

Date: 1771

"He observed, that her ladyship's brain was a perfect mill for projects; and that she and Tabby had certainly engaged in some secret treaty, the nature of which he could not comprehend"

— Smollett, Tobias (1721-1777)

Date: 1772, 1788

"Roast Beef quantum suff. and take tantum Red Port, / They steel the main-spring of the Heart."

— Stevens, George Alexander (1710?-1784)

Date: 1772

"No inference can give a juster idea of Des Cartes's doctrine of automata, than Mr. Regis's comparison of some hydraulic machines, to be seen in certain grottos and fountains, that serve as ornaments to the splendid mansions of the great; where water exerts itself by the disposition of the pipes,...

— Anonymous

Date: 1773, 1810

"The bard enjoys ethereal bliss to-day; / Bright are his thoughts, and vigorous is his lay: / To-morrow brings a melancholy scene; / Relaxed, untuned is all the fine machine;"

— Stockdale, Percival (1736-1811)

Date: 1773

"Strong Passions draw, like Horses that are strong, / The Body-Coach of Flesh and Blood along; / While subtle Reason, with each Rein in Hand, / Sits on the Box, and has them at Command; / Rais'd up aloft, to see and to be seen, / Judges the Track, and guides the gay Machine."

— Byrom, John (1692-1763)