Date: 1598

"An habitation giddy and unsure / Hath he that buildeth on the vulgar heart."

— Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Date: 1600

"Than to drive liking to the name of love. / But now I am returned, and that war-thoughts/ Have left their places vacant, in their rooms / Come thronging soft and delicate desires."

— Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Date: 1600

"Th' idea of her life shall sweetly creep / Into his study of imagination."

— Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Date: 1603

"And my imaginations are as foul / As Vulcan's stithy."

— Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Date: 1664

"They are moved (if I may dare to say so) like the rational creatures of the Almighty Poet, who walk at liberty, in their own opinion, because their fetters are invisible; when, indeed, the prison of their will is the more sure for being large; and instead of an absolute power over their actions,...

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: 1670

"Thus, like a captive in an isle confined, / Man walks at large, a prisoner of the mind."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: 1675

"But though my Person, nor my Wealth, should find / A room unfurnish'd in your well-built mind: / I'll rather be for plain defects despis'd, / Than for low cheats and false Perfections, priz'd"

— Fane, Sir Francis (d. 1691)

Date: 1678

"And yet the soul, shut up in her dark room, / Viewing so clear abroad, at home sees nothing"

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: 1680

"And nothing to the Soul can come, / Till th' ushering Senses make it room."

— Shadwell, Thomas (1642-1692)

Date: 1682

"I freely give it: so is my heart the dearest faithfull Closet of your Merit."

— D'Urfey, Thomas (1653?-1723)