18th century

Explore 870 quotes from the 18th century

If you trap the moment before it's ripe,
The tears of repentance you'll certainly wipe;
But if once you let the ripe moment go
You can never wipe off the tears of woe.

William Blake

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Topic

Missed opportunities Timing

Author

William Blake

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1792 1790s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Blake, William. Poem written in his notebook. c. 1792.

Current Citation

Blake, William. "If you trap the moment before its ripe." William Blake: Selected Poems, edited by Nicholas Shrimpton. Oxford University Press, 2019.

The law is a sort of hocus-pocus science.

Charles Macklin

Love a la Mode

More information about this quote

Topic

Law

Speaker

Sir Archy

Author

Charles Macklin

Source

Love a la Mode

Medium

Play

Language

English

Time

1759 1750s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Macklin, Charles. Love a la Mode. c. 1759, Drury Lane Theatre, London, England, UK, act 2, sc. 1.

Such is the delight of mental superiority , that none on, whom nature or study have conferred it, would purchase the gifts of fortune by its loss.

Samuel Johnson

More information about this quote

Topic

Intelligence

Author

Samuel Johnson

Language

English

Time

1751 1750s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Johnson, Samuel. The Rambler. London: J. Payne and J. Bouquet, 24 Aug. 1751.

Extremes meet.

Louis Sebastian Mercier

More information about this quote

Topic

Horseshoe theory

Author

Louis Sebastian Mercier

Source

Tableau de Paris

Language

French

Time

1782 1780s 18th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Mercier, Louis-Sebastien. "Les Extremes se touchent." Tableau de Paris. Amsterdam, 1782, vol. 4, ch. 348.

Because half a dozen grasshoppers under a fern make the field ring with their importunate chink, whilst thousands of great cattle, reposed beneath the shadow of the British oak, chew the cud and are silent, pray do not imagine, that those who make the noise are the only inhabitants of the field.

Edmund Burke

Reflections on the Revolution in France

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Topic

Political agitation

Author

Edmund Burke

Source

Reflections on the Revolution in France

Genre

Political literature

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1790 1790s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Burke, Edmund. Reflections on the Revolution in France. London: James Dodsley, 1790.

Current Citation

Burke, Edmund. "Reflections on the Revolution in France." The Portable Edmund Burke, edited by Isaac Kramnick. Penguin, 2009.

None so blind as those that will not see.

Matthew Henry

Commentaries (Henry)

More information about this quote

Topic

Willful ignorance Ignorance Blindness

Author

Matthew Henry

Source

Commentaries (Henry)

Genre

Religious literature

Statement Type

Proverbs, aphorisms and adages

Language

English

Time

1706 1700s 18th century

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Henry, Matthew. Matthew Henry's Commentary. c. 1706, Jeremiah 20.

Current Citation

Henry, Matthew. Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible. Thomas Nelson, 2003, Jeremiah 20.

It is not a field of a few acres of ground, but a cause, that we are defending, and whether we defeat the enemy in one battle, or by degrees, the consequences will be the same.

Thomas Paine

The American Crisis

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Topic

American Revolution

Author

Thomas Paine

Source

The American Crisis

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1777 1770s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Paine, Thomas. The American Crisis: Number 4. Philadelphia: Styner and Cist, 1777.

Current Citation

Paine, Thomas. "The American Crisis, Number IV, September 12, 1777." Common Sense, The Crisis, & Other Writings from the American Revolution. Library of America, 2015.

All government, indeed every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter.

On Conciliation with America

More information about this quote

Topic

Political compromise Political theory

Speaker

Edmund Burke

Source

On Conciliation with America

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1775 1770s 18th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Burke, Edmund. "Speech on Conciliation with America." House of Commons. 22 Mar. 1775, Palace of Westminster, Westminster, London, England, UK.

Current Citation

Burke, Edmund. "Speech on Conciliation with the Colonies." The Portable Edmund Burke, edited by Isaac Kramnick. Penguin, 2009.

The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire.

Jonathan Edwards

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

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Topic

God's wrath God and man

Author

Jonathan Edwards

Source

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

Medium

Sermon

Genre

Religious literature

Language

English

Time

1741 1740s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Edwards, Jonathan. "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." 8 July 1741, Edwards Church, Northampton, MA, USA. Sermon.

Current Citation

Edwards, Jonathan. "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." Jonathan Edwards: Writings from the Great Awakening. Library of America, 2013.

Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well.

Lord Chesterfield

More information about this quote

Topic

Doing a good job

Author

Lord Chesterfield

Source

Letters of Lord Chesterfield

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1746 1740s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Stanhope, Philip Dormer. Letter to His Son. 10 Mar. 1746.

Every project has been found to be no better than committing the lamb to the custody of the wolf, except that one which is called a balance of power.

John Adams

More information about this quote

Topic

Constitutional theory Political theory

Author

John Adams

Source

Letters of John Adams

Medium

Letter

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1789 1780s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Adams, John. Letter to Roger Sherman. 17 July 1789.

Current Citation

Adams, John. "Correspondence with Roger Sherman and John Taylor." The Portable John Adams. Penguin Classics, 2004.

There is... Only a single categorical imperative and it is this: Act only on that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.

Immanuel Kant

The Metaphysics of Morals

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Topic

How to behave Moral theory

Author

Immanuel Kant

Source

The Metaphysics of Morals

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Precepts and axioms Advice

Language

German

Time

1785 1780s 18th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Kant, Immanuel. Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten [Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals]. Riga: J. F. Hartknoch, 1785.

Current Citation

Kant, Immanuel. Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, translated by Mary Gregor and Jes Timmermann. Cambridge University Press, 2012.

The king, moreover, is not only incapable of doing wrong, but even of thinking wrong: he can never mean to do an improper thing: in him is no folly or weakness.

William Blackstone

Commentaries on the Laws of England

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Topic

Monarchy Legal theory

Author

William Blackstone

Source

Commentaries on the Laws of England

Medium

Treatise

Genre

Legal writing

Language

English

Time

1765 1760s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Blackstone, William. Commentaries on the Law of England: Book the First. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1765, ch. 7.

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. 7.

Of all the animals, with which this globe is peopled, there is none towards whom nature seems, at first sight, to have exercis'd more cruelty than towards man, in the numberless wants and necessities, with which she has loaded him, and in the slender means, which she affords to the relieving these necessities.

David Hume

A Treatise of Human Nature

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Topic

Acquisitiveness The human condition

Author

David Hume

Source

A Treatise of Human Nature

Medium

Treatise

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1739 1730s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Hume, David, [published anonymously]. A Treatise of Human Nature. London: John Noon, 1739, bk. 3, pt. 2, sect. 2.

Current Citation

Hume, David. "A Treatise of Human Nature." The Clarendon Edition of the Works of David Hume, edited by David Fate Norton and Mary J. Norton. Vol. 1, Oxford University Press, 2007, bk. 3, pt. 2, sect. 2.

The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power.

Alexander Hamilton

New-York Gazetteer

More information about this quote

Topic

Natural law

Author

Alexander Hamilton

Source

The Farmer Refuted New-York Gazetteer

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1775 1770s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Hamilton, Alexander. "The Farmer Refuted." New-York Gazetteer. New York: James Rivington, 23 Feb. 1775.

Current Citation

Hamilton, Alexander. "The Farmer Refuted &c., [23 February] 1775." Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-01-02-0057.

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time; for that's the stuff life is made of.

Poor Richard (Benjamin Franklin)

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Topic

Wasting time Time Nature of life

Author

Poor Richard (Benjamin Franklin)

Source

Poor Richard's Almanack

Medium

Almanac

Statement Type

Advice

Language

English

Time

1746 1740s 18th century

Era

Colonial America

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Franklin, Benjamin [published as Richard Saunders]. Poor Richard's Almanack. Philadelphia, 1746.

Current Citation

Franklin, Benjamin. "Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1746." Benjamin Franklin: Autobiography, Poor Richard, and Later Writings, edited by J. A. Leo Lemay. Library of America, 2005.

A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.

Alexander Pope

An Essay on Criticism

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Topic

Downsides of education Education Ignorance

Author

Alexander Pope

Source

An Essay on Criticism

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1711 1710s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Pope, Alexander, [published anonymously]. "An Essay on Criticism." London: W. Lewis, 1711, pt. 2, l. 215-218.

Current Citation

Pope, Alexander. "An Essay on Criticism." Alexander Pope: The Major Works, edited by Pat Rogers. Oxford University Press, 2009, pt. 2, I. 215-218.

Whatever St. Augustine may say, human creatures would not perform the work of generation if they did not find pleasure in it, and if there was not in that great work an irresistible attraction for them.

Giacomo Casanova

Histoire de Ma Vie

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Topic

Sex

Author

Giacomo Casanova

Source

Histoire de Ma Vie

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

Italian

Time

1791 1790s 18th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Casanova, Giacomo. Aus den Memoiren des Venetianers Jacob Casanova de Seingalt [From the Memoirs of the Venetian Jacob Casanova de Seingalt]. Vol. 2, Leipzig: Brodhaus, c. 1822, ep. 8, ch. 16.

Current Citation

Casanova, Giacomo. The Complete Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt. Simon and Schuster, 2013.

It may be said likewise in respect of perfect wisdom, which is no less orderly than mathematics, that if there were not the best among all possible worlds, God would not have produced any.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

Theodicy

More information about this quote

Topic

Theodicy

Author

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

Source

Theodicy

Medium

Essay

Genre

Philosopical literature

Statement Type

Problem of evil

Language

English

Time

1710 1710s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm. Theodicy: Essays on the Goodness of God and Freedom of Man and the Origin of Evil. 1710, pt. 1.

But pleasures are like poppies spread,
You seize the flow'r, its bloom is shed,
Or like the snow falls in the river,
A moment white - then melts for ever.

Robert Burns

Tam o' Shanter

More information about this quote

Topic

Pleasure The ephemeral

Author

Robert Burns

Source

Tam o' Shanter

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1791 1790s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Burns, Robert. "Tam O'Shanter." Edinburgh Herald/Edinburgh Magazine, Mar. 1791.

Current Citation

Burns, Robert. "Tam O'Shanter." Robert Burns: Selected Poems, edited by Carol Mcguirk. Penguin Classics, 1994.