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date: 24 March 2025

Thomas De Quincey 1785–1859
English essayist and critic 

  1. In many walks of life, a conscience is a more expensive encumbrance than a wife or a carriage.
    Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1822)
  2. Thou hast the keys of Paradise, oh just, subtle, and mighty opium!
    Confessions of an English Opium Eater (1822, ed. 1856) pt. 2
  3. Murder considered as one of the fine arts.
    title of essay in Blackwood's Magazine February 1827
  4. If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he comes next to drinking and sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination.
    ‘On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts’ (Supplementary Paper) in Blackwood's Magazine November 1839
  5. There is first the literature of knowledge, and secondly, the literature of power.
    review of the Works of Pope (1847 ed.) in North British Review August 1848, vol. 9