18th Century

James Thomson (poet)

Literature

1700–1748

"Who stemm'd the torrent of a downward age."

🇵🇰Ali Muhammad Khan

Politics

b. 1700

"I will never support any legislation that is against the tenets of Islam,.. Pakistan is an Islamic country, and no such law can be passed here even if it costs me my ministry or my seat ."

"The covetous man is like a camel with a great hunch on his back; heaven's gate must be made higher and broader, or he will hardly get in."

🇺🇸Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

Philosophy

Enlightenment

1703–1758

"A little, wretched, despicable creature; a worm, a mere nothing, and less than nothing; a vile insect that has risen up in contempt against the majesty of Heaven and earth."

"Works, vol. ii, p. 85 . Compare the 1735 Poor Richard's Almanack."

John Wesley

Religion

1703–1791

"Passion and prejudice govern the world; only under the name of reason. It is our part, by religion and reason joined, to counteract them all we can."

🇬🇧James Nasmyth

Technology

1704–1779

"We may fill our purses, but we pay a heavy price for it in the loss of picturesqueness and beauty."

Soame_Jenyns

Literature

1704–1787

"The chief business of a government is like that of a nurse, to hinder those who are under its care from doing mischief to themselves."

"The weakest spot in every man is where he thinks himself to be the wisest."

🇬🇧Nathaniel Cotton

Medicine

1705–1788

"'Tis the last act which crowns the play."

🇨🇭César-François de Saussure

Literature

1705–1783

"English workmen are everywhere renowned, and that justly. They work to perfection, and though not inventive, are capable of improving and of finishing most admirably what the French and Germans have invented."

🇺🇸David Hartley (philosopher)

Philosophy

1705–1757

"We seem to be in the place of God to them, to be his vice-regents, and empowered to receive homage from them in his name. And we are obliged, by the same tenure, to be their guardians and benefactors."

🇸🇪Carl Linnaeus

Science

1707–1778

"The Earth's Creation is the glory of God, as seen from the works of Nature by Man alone."

Leonhard Euler

Mathematics

1707–1783

"Madam, I have come from a country where people are hanged if they talk."

Charles Wesley

Literature

1707–1788

"Hymns and sacred poems, 4th edition, by Wesley, John and Wesley, Charles, Bristol, 1743. At archive.org."

Moshe Chaim Luzzatto

Philosophy

1707–1746

"Man was created for the sole purpose of rejoicing in God and deriving pleasure from the splendor of His Presence; for this is true joy and the greatest pleasure that can be found."

"Never think that God's delays are God's denials. Hold on; hold fast; hold out. Patience is genius."

🇺🇸William Pitt

Politics

1708–1778

"said he would not come into it; that he thought this country in a situation to give peace to France, and if we were at first firm in our proceedings and did not yield to France, we should soon have a very good peace."

🇬🇧John Eardley Wilmot

Law

1709–1792

"If once we go upon niceties of construction, we shall not know where to stop. For one nicety is made a foundation for another; and that other for a third; and so on, without end."

Samuel Johnson

Literature

1709–1784

"The joy of life is variety; the tenderest love requires to be renewed by intervals of absence."

🇫🇷Julien Offray de La Mettrie

Philosophy

Enlightenment

1709–1751

"magination is the soul, since it plays all the roles of the soul."

"Rome was ruined more by neglect of agriculture, and giving no attention to useful trade and commerce, than by the invasion of barbarians."

John Cleland

Literature

1709–1789

"All my foundation in virtue was no other than a total ignorance of vice."

John Armstrong (poet)

Literature

1709–1779

"'Tis not for mortals always to be blest."

"Close to Sorgadoari is a building constructed lengthways by Nabalray- a Hindu, a formerly lieutenant of the Governor of this region."

"Mr. *** was being tried for a dishonorable matter; he got sick, and died. Bouvard was his doctor, and said: I got him off the hook. It was said of the same person: He is truly sick, he can't take any more ."

🇮🇹Roger Joseph Boscovich

Science

1711–1787

"Roger Joseph Boscovich, edited by Lancelot Law Whyte"

Qianlong Emperor

Politics

1711–1799

"Many people have fled from our China to your place"