Date: 1691

"I cannot conceive the true Cause hereof [that Men of Learning are uncouth in their discourse], unless it be, that as Plants are Choakt by over-much Moisture, and Lamps are Stifl'd with too much Oil; so are the Actions of the Mind overwhelm'd by over-abundance of Matter and Study."

— Blount, Thomas Pope, Sir (1649-1697)

Date: 1692

"He has clearly overthrown all those Metaphysical Whymsies, which infected mens Brains with a Spice of Madness, whereby they feign'd a Knowledge where they had none, by making a noise with Sounds, without clear and distinct Significations."

— Molyneux, William (1656-1698)

Date: 1693

"An impression made on Bees-wax or Lead will not last so long as on Brass or Steel. Indeed, if it be renew'd often, it may last the longer; but every new reflecting on it is a new impression, and 'tis from thence one is to reckon, if one would know how long the Mind reteins it"

— Locke, John (1632-1704)

Date: 1693

Locke's book is "designed for a Gentleman's Son, who being then very little, I considered only as white Paper, or Wax, to be moulded and fashioned as one pleases."

— Locke, John (1632-1704)

Date: 1694

"He says indeed, That the Soul is the seat of Personality, the only Principle of Reason, Sensation, and a Conscious life, which consequently in a State of Separation is the Person, and when united to the Body constitutes the Person, and therefore may both be the Person, and constitute the Person."

— Sherlock, William (1639/40-1707)

Date: 1694

"When a Body is vitally united to a Soul, Soul and Body are but One Person, because they are but One voluntary Agent, and have but One Conscious Life; but it is the Soul constitutes the Person, as being the Principle of all personal Acts, Sensations and Passions which the Body is only the Instrum...

— Sherlock, William (1639/40-1707)

Date: 1697

"Many fleeting Thoughts pass through the Soul without Observation, and leave no Trace or Idea behind them"

— Burnet, Thomas (c.1635-1715)

Date: 1697

"As when you make Cogitation in us to be like Motion in Matter, which receives its Motion from external Impression"

— Burnet, Thomas (c.1635-1715)

Date: 1697

"Upon your Supposition That all our Thoughts perish in sound Sleep, and all Cogitation is extinct, we seem to have a new Soul every Morning."

— Burnet, Thomas (c.1635-1715)

Date: 1697

"St. Austin names Memory the Soul's Belly or Storehouse, or the Receptacle of the Mind, because it is appointed to receive and lay up as in a Treasury, those things that may be for our Benefit and Advantage."

— D'Assigny, Marius (1643-1717)