"Mr. Locke, who has made a more exact dissection of the human mind than any man before him, declares he gained all his knowledge from consideration of himself."

— Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley [née Lady Mary Pierrepont] (1689-1762)


Date
1754
Metaphor
"Mr. Locke, who has made a more exact dissection of the human mind than any man before him, declares he gained all his knowledge from consideration of himself."
Metaphor in Context
[...] The most certain security would be that diffidence which naturally arises from an impartial self-examination. But this is the hardest of all tasks, requiring great reflection, long retirement, and is strongly repugnant to our own vanity, which very unwillingly reveals, even to ourselves, our common frailty, though it is every way a useful study. Mr. Locke, who has made a more exact dissection of the human mind than any man before him, declares he gained all his knowledge from consideration of himself. It is indeed necessary to judge others.
(p. 452)
Categories
Provenance
Reading Sheryl O'Donnell's "Mr. Locke and the Ladies" in SECC Vol. 8 (p. 157-8)
Citation
Montagu, Mary Wortley. Letters from the Right Honourable Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Everyman's Library. Ernest Rhys, ed. London: J.M. Dent & Co., 1906. <Google Books>
Date of Entry
07/06/2005
Date of Review
10/12/2007

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.