Age of Enlightenment

Explore 215 quotes from Age of Enlightenment

Friendship is a disinterested commerce between equals; love, an abject intercourse between tyrants and slaves.

Oliver Goldsmith

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Topic

Nature of love Nature of friendship Love Friendship

Author

Oliver Goldsmith

Source

The Good-Natur'd Man

Medium

Play

Language

English

Time

1768 1760s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Goldsmith, Oliver. The Good Natur'd Man. 1768, Covent Garden Theatre, London, England, UK, act 1.

Current Citation

Goldsmith, Oliver. The Good-Natur'd Man. Cambridge University Press, 2013, act 1.

Methinks God has punish'd the Avaritious as he often punishes sinners, in their own way, in the very sin itself: the thirst of gain was their crime, that thirst continued became their punishment and ruin.

Alexander Pope

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Topic

Consequences of greed Greed

Author

Alexander Pope

Source

Letters of Alexander Pope

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1720 1720s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Pope, Alexander. Letter to the Bishop of Rochester. 23 Sept. 1720.

Current Citation

Pope, Alexander. "To Atterbury, Sept. 23, 1720." Alexander Pope: Selected Letters, edited by Howard Erksine-Hill. Oxford University Press, 2000, no. 61.

My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer;
Chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,
My heart's in the Highlands, wherever I go.

Robert Burns

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Topic

Scottish highlands Scotland Countries

Author

Robert Burns

Source

My Heart's in the Highlands

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1789 1780s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Burns, Robert. My Heart's in the Highlands. 1789.

Current Citation

Burns, Robert. "Farewell to the Highlands (My Heart's in the Highlands)." Robert Burns: Selected Poems, edited Carol Mcguirk. Penguin Classics, 1994.

To wake the soul by tender strokes of art,
To raise the genius, and to mend the heart;
To make mankind, in conscious virtue bold,
Live o'er each scene, and be what they behold:
For this the tragic Muse first trod the stage.

Alexander Pope

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Topic

Purpose of art Power of art Art

Author

Alexander Pope

Source

Prologue to Addison's Tragedy of Cato Cato

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1713 1710s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Pope, Alexander. "Prologue to Addison's Cato." Cato, written by Joseph Addison. 14 Apr. 1713, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, UK, I. 1-5.

Current Citation

Pope, Alexander. "Prologue to Mr. Addison's Tragedy of Cato." Pope: Poems (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets Series). Everyman's Library, 2018, I. 1-5.

Thought would destroy their paradise.
No more; where ignorance is bliss,
'Tis folly to be wise.

Thomas Gray

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Topic

Ignorance is bliss

Author

Thomas Gray

Source

Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1747 1740s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Gray, Thomas. Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College. London: R. Dodsley, 1747.

Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,
And without sneering, teach the rest to sneer;
Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike,
Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike.

Alexander Pope

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Topic

Being passive aggressive Criticism

Author

Alexander Pope

Source

Letters of Alexander Pope

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1735 1730s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Pope, Alexander. "An Epistle from Mr. Pope to Dr. Arbuthnot; or Prologue to the Satires." 1735, I. 201-205.

Current Citation

Pope, Alexander. "An Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot." Alexander Pope: The Major Works, edited by Pat Rogers. Oxford University Press, 2009, I. 201-205.

Taxation and representation are inseparable... Whatever is a man's own, is absolutely his own; no man hath a right to take it from him withough his consent either expressed by himself or representative; whoever attempts to do it, attempts an injury; whoever does it, commits a robbery; he throws down and destroys the distinction between liberty and slavery.

Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden

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Topic

Taxation without representation Taxes

Speaker

Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden

Source

On the Declaratory Bill of the Sovereignty of Great-Britain over the Colonies.

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1766 1760s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Lord Camden. "On the Declatory Bill of the Sovereignty of Great-Britain over the Colonies." House of Lords, 10 Feb. 1766, Palace of Westminster, London, England, UK.

O, we all acknowledge our faults, now; 'its the mode of the day: but the acknowledgement passes for current payment; and therefore we never amend them.

Frances Burney

Camilla

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Topic

Self-criticism Self-improvement

Speaker

Mrs. Arlbery

Author

Frances Burney

Source

Camilla

Medium

Novel

Language

English

Time

1796 1790s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Burney, Frances. Camilla. London: T. Payne and T. Cadell Jun. and W. Davies, 1796.

Current Citation

Burney, Frances. Camilla. Oxford University Press, 2009.

A man who leaves home to mend himself and others is a philosopher; but he who goes from country to county, guided by the blind impulse of curiosity, is only a vagabond.

Oliver Goldsmith

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Topic

Philosophy Philosophers Travel Wandering

Author

Oliver Goldsmith

Source

The Citizen of the World

Medium

Novel

Genre

Satire

Language

English

Time

1761 1760s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Goldsmith, Oliver. "Letter VII." The Citizen of the World; or, Letters from a Chinese Philosopher. Dublin: George and Alex. Ewing, 1762. Originally published in The Public Ledger, Jan. 1760 - Aug. 1761.

Persuasion is the resource of the feeble; and the feeble can seldom persuade.

Edward Gibbon

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

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Topic

Persuasion Power dynamics Powerlessness

Author

Edward Gibbon

Source

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Genre

Historical literature

Language

English

Time

1789 1780s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Gibbon, Edward. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Vol. 6, London: Strahan & Cadell, 1789, ch. 68.

Current Citation

Gibbon, Edward. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: Volumes 1-6. Vol. 6. Everyman's Library, 2010, ch. 68.

In a nation distracted by faction, there are, no doubt, always a few, though commonly but a very few, who preserve their judgment untainted by the general contagion. They seldom amount to more than here and there a solitary individual, without any influence, excluded by his own candour from the confidence of either party, and who, though he may be one of the wisest, is necessarily upon that very account one of the most insignificant men in the society.

Adam Smith

The Theory of Moral Sentiments

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Topic

Political faction

Author

Adam Smith

Source

The Theory of Moral Sentiments

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1759 1750s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Smith, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments. London: Andrew Millar/Edinburgh: Alexander Kincaid and J. Bell, 1759, pt. 3, sect. 3, ch. 3.

Current Citation

Smith, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments, edited by Ryan Patrick Hanley. Penguin, 2010, pt. 3, sect. 3, ch. 3.

The Stoical scheme of supplying our wants by lopping off our desires, is like cutting off our feet when we want shoes.

Jonathan Swift

Read Thoughts on Various Subjects at Project Gutenberg

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Topic

Self-deprivation Asceticism Stoicism

Author

Jonathan Swift

Source

Thoughts on Various Subjects, Moral and Diverting

Medium

Essay

Genre

Satire

Language

English

Time

1711 1710s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Swift, Jonathan. "Various Thoughts, Moral and Diverting." Miscellanies in Prose and Verse. 1st ed, London: John Morphew, 1711.

Current Citation

Swift, Jonathan. "Thoughts on Various Subjects (1711)." Jonathan Swift: The Essential Writings, edited by Claude Rawson and Ian Higgins. W. W. Norton & Company, 2009.

Histories are more full of Examples of the Fidelity of dogs than of Friends.

Alexander Pope

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Topic

Man's best friend Man and animals Friends Dogs

Author

Alexander Pope

Source

Letters of Alexander Pope

Medium

Letter

Language

English

Time

1709 1700s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Pope, Alexander. Letter to Henry Cromwell. 19 Oct. 1709.

Current Citation

Pope, Alexander. "To Cromwell, 19 October 1709." Alexander Pope: Selected Letters, edited by Howard Erksine-Hill. Oxford University Press, 2000, no. 16.

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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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 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.