Date: 1697
"But tho I must always acknowledg to that justly admir'd Gentleman, the great Obligation of my first Deliverance from the unintelligible way of talking of the Philosophy in use in the Schools in his time, yet I am so far from entitling his Writings to any of the Errors or Imperfections which are ...
preview | full record— Locke, John (1632-1704)
Date: From Thursday June 22. to Saturday June 24. 1710
"The elder, who is a Scholar, showed from his Infancy a Propensity to polite Studies, and has made a suitable Progress in Literature; but his Learning is so well woven into his Mind, that from the Impressions of it, he seems rather to have contracted an Habit of Life, than Manner of Discourse."
preview | full record— Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729)
Date: Tuesday, January 15, 1712
"We observed a long Antrum or Cavity in the Sinciput, that was filled with Ribbons, Lace and Embroidery, wrought together in a most curious Piece of Network, the Parts of which were likewise imperceptible to the naked Eye. Another of these Antrums or Cavities was stuffed with invisible Billetdoux...
preview | full record— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)
Date: Monday, April 28, 1712
"But how can any of these Advantages be attained by one who is a mere Stranger to the Customs and Policies of his native Country, and has not yet fixed in his Mind the first Principles of Manners and Behaviour? To endeavour it, is to build a gawdy Structure without any Foundation; or, if I may be...
preview | full record— Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729)
Date: 1729
"But as the first Images are lost, so they are continually succeeded by new ones; and the Brain at first serves as a Slate to Cypher, or a Sampler to work upon."
preview | full record— Mandeville, Bernard (bap. 1670, d. 1733)
Date: 1729
Because the outside of women is "more curiously wove" and like "fine cloth" in comparison to men's coarseness, "There is no Reason to imagine, that Nature should have been more neglectful of them out of Sight, than she has where we can trace her; and not have taken the same Care of them in the Fo...
preview | full record— Mandeville, Bernard (bap. 1670, d. 1733)
Date: 1731
"And therefore, as he observeth out of Aristotle, 'as it is absurd to say the Soul Weaves,' (or indeed the Body either, Weaving being a mixt Action of the Man and Weaving Instruments) so it is absurd to say that the Soul alone doth Covet, Grieve or Perceive: these things proceeding from the Compo...
preview | full record— Cudworth, Ralph (1617-1688)
Date: 1744
"Holiness elevates the worth of the being in which it is, and is of more value than the being itself. As in scarlet, the bare dye is of greater value than the cloath."
preview | full record— South, Robert (1634-1716)
Date: Tuesday, July 3, 1750
"There is yet another danger in this practice: men who cannot deceive others, are very often successful in deceiving themselves; they weave their sophistry till their own reason is entangled, and repeat their positions till they are credited by themselves."
preview | full record— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)
Date: 1774
"A learned parson, rusting in his cell, at Oxford or Cambridge, will reason admirably well upon the nature of man; will profoundly analyze the head, the heart, the reason, the will, the passions, the senses, the sentiments, and all those subdivisions of we know not what; and yet, unfortunately, h...
preview | full record— Stanhope, Philip Dormer, fourth earl of Chesterfield (1694-1773)