"The mind of man is, at first, a kind of tabula rasa; or like a piece of blank paper, and bears no original inscriptions, when we come into the world; we owe all the characters afterwards drawn upon it, to the impressions made upon our senses; to education, custom, and the like."

— Fielding, John, Sir (1721-1780)


Place of Publication
Dublin
Publisher
Printed for Sarah Cotter, and Samuel Watson
Date
1763
Metaphor
"The mind of man is, at first, a kind of tabula rasa; or like a piece of blank paper, and bears no original inscriptions, when we come into the world; we owe all the characters afterwards drawn upon it, to the impressions made upon our senses; to education, custom, and the like."
Metaphor in Context
The mind of man is, at first, a kind of tabula rasa; or like a piece of blank paper, and bears no original inscriptions, when we come into the world; we owe all the characters afterwards drawn upon it, to the impressions made upon our senses; to education, custom, and the like. We have an innate, and almost insuperable propensity to imitation, and imbibe manners as we do opinions; if therefore you do not prepossess the mind with true opinions, it will as readily embrace false ones; and if you do not accustom your pupil to good habits, bad ones will be contracted. For the mind must take some forms, and according to the mould of sxample, company and fortune, into which it is cast, such will that form be. [...]
(p. 46)
Categories
Provenance
Searching "tabula rasa" in ECCO
Citation
3 entries in ESTC (1763, 1773).

Text from The Universal Mentor; Containing, Essays on the Most Important Subjects in Life; Composed of Observations, Sentiments, and Examples of Virtue, Selected from the most approved Ethic Writers, Biographers, and Historians. Both Antient and Modern. By Sir John Fielding, Kn. (Dublin: Printed for Sarah Cotter, and Samuel Watson, 1763). <Link to ESTC>
Theme
Blank Slate
Date of Entry
10/13/2006

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