18th century

Explore 870 quotes from the 18th century

In all tyrannical governments, the supreme magistracy, or the right both of making and of enforcing the laws, is vested in one and the same man, or one and the same body of men; and wherever these two powers are united together, there can be no public liberty.

William Blackstone

Commentaries on the Laws of England

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Read Commentaries on the Laws of England, Book I at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Tyranny Separation of powers Government Political theory Politics

Author

William Blackstone

Source

Commentaries on the Laws of England

Medium

Treatise

Genre

Legal writing

Language

English

Time

1769 1760s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Blackstone, William. Commentaries on the Law of England: Book the First. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1765, ch. 2.

Current Citation

Blackstone, William. Commentaries on the Laws of England: Book I Of the Rights of Persons, edited by David Lemmings. Oxford University Press, 2016, ch. 2.

It is really mortifying, sir, when a woman possessed of a common share of understanding considers the difference of education between the male and female sex, even in those families where education is attended to... Nay why should your sex wish for such a disparity in those whom they one day intend for companions and associates. Pardon me, sir, if I cannot help sometimes suspecting that this neglect arises in some measure from an ungenerous jealousy of rivals near the throne.

Abigail Adams

More information about this quote

Topic

Gender relations Oppression of women Men and women

Author

Abigail Adams

Source

Letters of Abigail Adams

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1778 1770s 18th century

Era

American Revolutionary Period

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Adams, Abigail. Letter to John Thaxter. 15 Feb. 1778.

Current Citation

Adams, Abigail. "Letter to John Thaxter, 1778." The Adams Papers: The Adams Family Correspondence Volumes 1 & 2, edited by L. H. Butterfield. Anthenum, 1965.

It was at Rome, on the 15th of October 1764, as I sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol, while the bare-footed fryars were singing vespers in the temple of Jupiter, that the idea of writing the decline and fall of the city first started to my mind.

Edward Gibbon

Read Memoirs of My Life and Writings at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Inspiration Rome

Author

Edward Gibbon

Source

Memoirs of My Life and Writings Miscellaneous Works of Edward Gibbon

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1794 1790s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

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.

Current Citation

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

We must trust to nothing but facts: these are presented to us by nature and cannot deceive.

Antoine Lavoisier

More information about this quote

Topic

Facts Scientific method Science

Author

Antoine Lavoisier

Source

Elements of Chemistry

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

French

Time

1789 1780s 18th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Lavoisier, Antoine. Elements of Chemistry, in a New Systematic Order, Containing All the Modern Discoveries, translated by Robert Kerr. William Creech, 1790.

Current Citation

Lavoisier, Antoine. Elements of Chemistry, translated by Robert Kerr. Dover Publications, 1965.

To put it in one word: I believe that Judaism knows nothing of revealed religion, in the sense in which this is understood by Christians. The Israelites possess divine legislation.

Moses Mendelssohn

More information about this quote

Topic

Christianity and Judaism Judaism

Author

Moses Mendelssohn

Language

German

Time

1783 1780s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Mendelssohn, Moses. Jerusalem oder über religiöse Macht und Judentum [Jerusalem, or on Religious Power and Judaism]. Berlin: Friedrich Maurer, 1783.

Current Citation

Mendelssohn, Moses. Jerusalem: Or on Religious Power and Judaism, translated by Allan Arkush. Brandeis University Press, 1983.

Slovenliness is no part of religion; that neither this, nor any text of Scripture, condemns neatness of apparel. Certainly this a duty, not a sin. "Cleanliness is, indeed, next to godliness."

John Wesley

More information about this quote

Topic

Clothes make the man Clothing

Speaker

John Wesley

Medium

Sermon Speech

Language

English

Time

1788 1780s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Wesley, John. "On Dress." c. 1788. Sermon.

Current Citation

Wesley, John. "On Dress." The Works of the John Wesley, edited by Albert C. Outler. Vol. 3, Abingdon Press, 1986.

A man is not necessarily intelligent because he has plenty of ideas, any more than he is a good general because he has plenty of soldiers.

Nicolas Chamfort

More information about this quote

Topic

Intelligence Ideas

Author

Nicolas Chamfort

Source

Maximes et Pensées

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

French

Time

1796 1790s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Chamfort, Nicolas. Maximes et Pensees. c. 1796, no. 29.

One of the greatest geniuses that ever existed, Shakespeare, undoubtedly wanted taste.

Horace Walpole

More information about this quote

Topic

Shakespeare

Author

Horace Walpole

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1764 1760s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Walpole, Horace. Letter to Christopher Wren. 9 Aug. 1764.

Current Citation

Walpole, Horace. "Letter to Christopher Wren." Horace Walpole's Correspondence. Vol. 40, Yale University Press, 1980.

If you have great talents, industry will improve them: if you have but moderate abilities, industry will supply their deficiency.

Joshua Reynolds

More information about this quote

Topic

Self-improvement Personal development

Speaker

Joshua Reynolds

Source

Discourses on Art

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1769 1760s 18th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Reynolds, Joshua. "Discourse II." 11 Dec. 1769, Royal Academy of Arts, London, England, UK. Lecture.

Man alone consumes and engulfs more flesh than all other animals put together. He is, then, the greatest destroyer, and he is so more by abuse than by necessity.

George Louis Leclerc

More information about this quote

Topic

Human destructiveness Man and animals

Author

George Louis Leclerc

Source

Histoire Naturelle

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

French

Time

1753 1750s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Leclerc, Georges-Louis. Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du Cabinet du Roi [Natural History, General and Particular, with a Description of the King's Cabinet]. Paris: Imprimerie royale, c. 1753.