1710s

To err is human, to forgive divine.

What pity is it, That we can die but once, to serve our country!

An Essay on Criticism · 1711

★ 7.0

Play

There are no small steps in great affairs.

1713

★ 6.9

Autobiography and memoir

Jean-Francois Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz

1717

★ 6.9

Autobiography and memoir

There is nothing in the world which does not have its decisive moment, and the masterpiece of good management is to recognize and grasp this moment.

Jean-Francois Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz

1717

★ 6.9

Essay · Philosopical literature

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 · 1710

★ 5.2

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.

An Essay on Criticism · 1711

★ 5.2

The hungry judges soon the sentence sign, And wretches hang that jurymen may dine.

Whoever hath an absolute authority to interpret any written, or spoken laws; it is He, who is truly the Law-giver to all intents and purposes, and not the Person who first wrote, or spoke them.

The Rape of the Lock · 1714

★ 4.5

Sermon · Religious literature

Benjamin Hoadly

1717

★ 4.2

Scientific literature

This most beautiful system of the sun, planets and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being... This Being governs all things, not as the soul of the world, but as Lord over all; and on account of his dominion he is wont, to be called Lord God παντοκρατωρ or Universal Ruler.

Isaac Newton

Principia · 1713

★ 3.9

Letter

Men are vile inconstant toads.

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

1710

★ 3.7

Essay · Satire

When a true genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign; that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.

We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.

1711

★ 3.7

Essay · Satire

There is a very pretty Collection of Prints in the next Room, Madam, will you give me leave to explain them to you?

1711

★ 3.7

Play · Comedy (play) · Comedy

Susanna Centlivre

1710

★ 3.6

True wit is Nature to advantage dressed, What oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed.

'Tis impossible to be sure of any thing but death and taxes.

An Essay on Criticism · 1711

★ 3.6

Play · Comedic play

Christopher Bullock

1716

★ 3.6

Hymn · Song

Joy to the world! the lord is come; Let earth receive her King. Let ev'ry heart prepare Him room, And heav'n and nature sing.

Isaac Watts

Joy to the World · 1719

★ 3.6

Letter

I think it was a generous thought, and one that flowed from an exalted mind, that it was not improbable but God might be delighted with the various methods of worshipping him, which divided the whole world.

Time, like an ever-rolling stream, Bears all its sons away; They fly forgotten, as a dream Dies at the opening day.

1716

★ 3.5

Hymn · Song

Isaac Watts

Our God, Our Help in Ages Past · 1719

★ 3.5

True Happiness is of a retired nature, and an enemy to pomp and noise: it arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one's self; and in the next, from the friendship and conversation of a few select companions.

When you fall into a man's conversation, the first thing you should consider is, whether he has a greater inclination to hear you, or that you should hear him.

The Spectator · 1711

★ 3.5

Sir Richard Steele

The Spectator · 1711

★ 3.5

Our disputants put me in mind of the cuttle-fish, that when he is unable to extricate himself, blackens all the water about him till he becomes invisible.

There is nothing in this World constant, but Inconstancy.

The Spectator · 1712

★ 3.5

Essay · Philosophical literature

Philosophical literature · Religious literature

1711

★ 2.1

Singlemindedness is all-powerful.

Yamamoto Tsunetomo

1716

★ 2.1

Essay · Philosophical literature

Laws are like Cobwebs, which may catch small Flies, but let Wasps and Hornets break through.

1711

★ 2.0

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

An Essay on Criticism · 1711

★ 1.9

Some praise at morning what they blame at night; But always think the last opinion right.

An Essay on Criticism · 1711

★ 1.9

But where's the man, who counsel can bestow, Still pleased to teach, and yet not proud to know?

1711

★ 1.9

What Sculpture is to a Block of Marble, Education is to a Human Soul.

1711

★ 1.9

Praising all alike, is praising none.

John Gay

1714

★ 1.9

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

Isaac Watts

Against Idleness and Mischief · 1715

★ 1.9

Philosophical literature

All the choir of heaven and furniture of the earth-in a word, all those bodies which compose the mighty frame of the world-have not any subsistence without a mind... Their being is to be perceived or known.

George Berkeley

A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge · 1710

★ 1.9

Wide and undetermined Prospects are as pleasing to the Fancy, as the Speculations of Eternity or Infinitude are to the Understanding.

1712

★ 1.9

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.

My days have been so wondrous free, The little birds that fly With careless ease from tree to tree, Were but bless'd as I.

1713

★ 1.9

Song

Thomas Parnell

My Days Have Been So Wondrous Free · 1714

★ 1.9

Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind, which are delivered down from generation to generation, as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn.

What do we perceive besides our own ideas or sensations?

The Spectator · 1711

★ 1.8

Treatise · Philosophical literature

George Berkeley

1710

★ 1.2

Essay

It is the Folly of too many, to mistake the Eccho of a London Coffee-house for the Voice of the Kingdom.

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

1711

★ 1.2

Essay · Satire