"But behold, this soul of thought frequently has the ascendancy over the animal soul. The thinking soul orders its hands to grasp, and they grasp. It does not tell its heart to beat, its blood to run, its chyle to form; all these things happen without it: so here we have two perplexed souls which are hardly masters in their own house."

— Arouet, François-Marie [known as Voltaire] (1694-1778)


Date
1764
Metaphor
"But behold, this soul of thought frequently has the ascendancy over the animal soul. The thinking soul orders its hands to grasp, and they grasp. It does not tell its heart to beat, its blood to run, its chyle to form; all these things happen without it: so here we have two perplexed souls which are hardly masters in their own house."
Metaphor in Context
But behold, this soul of thought frequently has the ascendancy over the animal soul. The thinking soul orders its hands to grasp, and they grasp. It does not tell its heart to beat, its blood to run, its chyle to form; all these things happen without it: so here we have two perplexed souls which are hardly masters in their own house.
(p. 23)
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Voltaire, Philosophical Dictionary, Ed. Theodore Besterman (London: Penguin Books, 1972).
Date of Entry
08/06/2004
Date of Review
12/22/2011

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