"I am apt to think that as Plants are choak'd with too much Moisture, and Lamps with too much Oil; so it happens to the Mind of Man, when it is embarass'd with too much Study and Matter; for being confounded with a great Variety of Things, it loses the Power of extricating itself, and so is render'd useless."
An Index to Mankind: or Maxims Selected from the Wits of all Nations 
An Index to Mankind: or Maxims Selected from the Wits of all Nations (Dublin: James Hoey, 1765). &lt;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=5JUDAAAAQAAJ">Link to Google Books</a>&gt;