18th century

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Ambition leads me not only farther than any other man has been before me, but as far as I think it possible for man to go.

James Cook

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Cook, James. Diary entry. 30 Jan. 1774.

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Cook, James. The Journals of Captain Cook. Penguin Classics, 2000.

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It is so far from being natural for a man and woman to live in a state of marriage, that we find all the motives which they have for remaining in that connection, and the restraints which civilized society imposes to prevent separation, are hardly sufficient to keep them together.

Samuel Johnson

Quoted in The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D, by James Boswell

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Johnson, Samuel. Quoted in journal entry, written by James Boswell. 31 Mar. 1772.

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Johnson, Samuel. Quoted in The Life of Samuel Johnson, written by James Boswell, edited by David Womersley. Penguin Classics, 2008.

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Be not the first by whom the new are tried,
Nor yet the last to lay the old aside.

Alexander Pope

An Essay on Criticism

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Pope, Alexander, [published anonymously]. "An Essay on Criticism." London: W. Lewis, 1711, pt. 2, l. 335.

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Pope, Alexander. "An Essay on Criticism." Alexander Pope: The Major Works, edited by Pat Rogers. Oxford University Press, 2009, pt. 2, l. 335.

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Our meddling intellect
Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things;
We murder to dissect.
Enough of science and of art;
Close up these barren leaves.

William Wordsworth

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Wordsworth, William. "The Tables turned; an Evening Scene, on the same subject." Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems. London: J. & A. Arch, 1798, I. 26.

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Wordsworth, William. "The Tables Turned." William Wordsworth: The Major Works: including The Prelude, edited by Stephen Gill. Oxford University Press, 2008, I. 26.

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We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over; so in a series of kindness there is at last one which makes the heart run over.

Samuel Johnson

Quoted in The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D, by James Boswell

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Johnson, Samuel. Quoted in journal entry, written by James Boswell. 19 Sept. 1777.

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Johnson, Samuel. Quoted in The Life of Samuel Johnson, written by James Boswell, edited by David Womersley. Penguin Classics, 2008.

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What female heart can gold despise?
What cat's averse to fish?

Thomas Gray

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Gray, Thomas. "Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes." Collection of Poems by Several Hands. Vol. 2, London, 1748. Originally sent in a letter to Horace Walpole, 1 Mar. 1747.

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Human life is everywhere a state in which much is to be endured and a little to be enjoyed.

Samuel Johnson

The Prince of Abissinia: A Tale

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Original Citation

Johnson, Samuel. The Prince of Abissinia: A Tale. London: R. and J. Dodsley/W. Johnston, 1759, ch. 11.

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Johnson, Samuel. The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia. Penguin Classics, 2007, ch. 11.

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Women and wine should life employ.
Is there ought else on earth desirous?

John Gay

The Beggar's Opera

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Gay, John. The Beggar's Opera. 1728, Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre, London, England, UK, act 2, sc. 1, air 19.

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Gay, John. "The Beggar's Opera." The Beggar's Opera and Polly, edited by Hal Gladfelder. Oxford University Press, 2013, act 2, sc. 1, air 19.

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The abbreviation of time, and the failure of hope, will always tinge with a browner shade the evening of life.

Edward Gibbon

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Gibbon, Edward. "Memoirs of My Life and Writings." Miscellaneous Works of Edward Gibbon, edited by John Sheffield. Vol. 1, London: A Strahan and T. Cadell Jun. and W. David, 1796.

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Gibbon, Edward. Memoirs of My Life, edited by Betty Radice. Penguin, 1984.

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That all who are happy, are equally happy, is not true. A peasant and a philosopher may be equally satisfied, but not equally happy. Happiness consists in the multiplicity of agreeable consciousness.

Samuel Johnson

Quoted in The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D, by James Boswell

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Johnson, Samuel. Quoted in The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D, written by James Boswell. Vol. 1, London: Charles Dilly, 1791, "1766," aetat. 57.

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Johnson, Samuel. Quoted in The Life of Samuel Johnson, written by James Boswell, edited by David Womersley. Penguin Classics, 2008.

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An injury is much sooner forgotten than an insult.

Lord Chesterfield

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Stanhope, Philip Dormer. Letter to his son. 9 Oct. 1746.

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What millions died-that Caesar might be great!

Thomas Campbell

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Campbell, Thomas. "Pleasures of Hope, Part II." The Pleasures of Hope; With Other Poems. Edinburgh: Jones Bull, c. 1800.

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Pride still is aiming at the bless'd abodes,
Men would be angels, angels would be gods.

Alexander Pope

An Essay on Man

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Pope, Alexander. "An Essay on Man." London: J. Wilford, 1733, ep.1, I. 125-126.

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Pope, Alexander. "An Essay on Man." The Major Works, edited by Pat Rogers. Oxford University Press, 2009, ep. 1, l. 125-126.

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The slave trade is contrary to the laws of God and to the rights of men.

David Hartley (the Younger)

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Harley, David. Speech before the House of Commons. 1776, Palace of Westminster, London, England, UK.

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Resolve not to be poor: whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is a great enemy to human happiness; it certainly destroys liberty, and it makes some virtues impracticable, and others extremely difficult.

Samuel Johnson

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Johnson, Samuel. Quoted in journal entry, written by James Boswell. 7 Dec. 1782.

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Johnson, Samuel. Quoted in The Life of Samuel Johnson, written by James Boswell, edited by David Womersley. Penguin Classics, 2008.

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Be wise with speed;
A fool at forty is a fool indeed.

Edward Young

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Young, Edward. Love of Fame, the Universal Passion. c. 1726, satire 2, I. 282.

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There is nothing perhaps more adverse to nature and reason than to hold in obedience remote countries and foreign nations in opposition to their inclination and interest.

Edward Gibbon

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

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Gibbon, Edward. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Vol. 3, London: Strahan & Cadell, 1781, ch. 49.

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Gibbon, Edward. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: Volumes 1-6. Vol. 3. Everyman's Library, 2010, ch. 49.

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For Satan finds some mischief still
For idle hands to do.

Isaac Watts

Against Idleness and Mischief

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Watts, Isaac. "Against Idleness and Mischief." Divine Songs Attempted in Easy Language for the Use of Children. London: M. Lawrence, 1715, I. 11.

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Executions, far from being useful examples to the survivors, have, I am persuaded, a quite contrary effect, by hardening the heart they ought to terrify. Besides the fear of an ignominious death, I believe, never deterred anyone from the commission of a crime, because, in committing it, the mind is roused to activity about present circumstances.

Mary Wollstonecraft

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Wollstonecraft, Mary. Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. London: Joseph Johnson, 1796, letter 19.

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Wollstonecraft, Mary. Letters written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, edited by Tone Brekke and Jon Mee. Oxford University Press, 2009, letter 19.

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Be just before you're generous.

Richard Brinsley Sheridan

The School for Scandal

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Sheridan, Richard Brinsley. The School for Scandal. Performed by John Palmer, Frances Abington, William 'Gentleman' Smith, and Jane Pope. 1777, Drury Lane Theatre, London, England, UK, act 4, sc. 1.

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Sheridan, Richard Brinsley. The School for Scandal. Dover Publications, 1991, act 4, sc. 1.

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