Fanaticism, soberly defined,
Is the false fire of an o'erheated mind. [ William Cowper ]
And what is reason? Be she thus defined:
Reason is upright stature in the soul. [ Young ]
Swift defined observation to be an old man's memory. [ James A. Garfield ]
Style may be defined, proper words in proper places. [ Swift ]
Cleanliness may be defined to be the emblem of purity of mind. [ Addison ]
Genius may be almost defined as the faculty of acquiring poverty. [ Whipple ]
Philosophy, if rightly defined, is naught but the love of wisdom. [ Cicero ]
Decency is not defined by statute, but the laws of instinct are stronger. [ Duclos ]
Grace has been defined the outward expression of the inward harmony of the soul. [ Hazlitt ]
Wit, to be well defined, must be defined by wit itself; then it will be worth listening to. [ Zimmermann ]
Gravity, with all its pretensions, was no better, but often worse, than what a French wit had long ago defined it, viz., a mysterious carriage of the body to cover the defects of the mind. [ Sterne ]
Gloom and sadness are poison to us, and the origin of hysterics. You are right in thinking that this disease is in the imagination; you have defined it perfectly; it is vexation which causes it to spring up, and fear that supports it. [ Madame de Sevigne ]
Without some strong motive to the contrary, men united by the pursuit of a clearly defined common aim of irresistible attractiveness naturally coalesce; and since they coalesce naturally, they are clearly right in coalescing and find their advantage in it. [ Matthew Arnold ]
Hudibras has defined nonsense, as Cowley does wit, by negatives. Nonsense, he says, is that which is neither true nor false. These two great properties of nonsense, which are always essential to it, give it such a peculiar advantage over all other writings, that it is incapable of being either answered or contradicted. [ Addison ]
Neither can we admit that definition of genius that some would propose - a power to accomplish all that we undertake;
for we might multiply examples to prove that this definition of genius contains more than the thing defined. Cicero failed in poetry. Pope in painting. Addison in oratory; yet it would be harsh to deny genius to these men. [ Colton ]
The very essence of gravity was design, and, consequently, deceit; it was a taught trick to gain credit of the world for more sense and knowledge than a man was worth; and that with all its pretensions it was no better, but often worse, than what a French wit had long ago defined it - a mysterious carriage of the body to cover the defects of the mind. [ Sterne ]