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Date: 1723, 1740

"And if their Heads but any Substance hold, / Love ripens all that Dross into the purest Gold."

— Sheffield, John, first duke of Buckingham and Normanby (1647-1721)

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Date: 1723, 1740

"My Sister weeping! Tho' her Reason governs, / I judge her Grief for Cassius, by my own."

— Sheffield, John, first duke of Buckingham and Normanby (1647-1721)

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Date: 1723, 1740

"My Tongue has slipp'd, and quite deceiv'd my Heart, / That melts like Wax before your hottest Anger"

— Sheffield, John, first duke of Buckingham and Normanby (1647-1721)

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Date: 1723, 1740

"Not the most tempting Charms of Wit, or Worth, / Most graceful Forms, or dazling Shew of Greatness, / Can make Impression on a Mind like her's"

— Sheffield, John, first duke of Buckingham and Normanby (1647-1721)

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Date: 1747

Johnson's dictionary may "awaken to the care of purer diction some men of genius, whose attention to argument makes them negligent of style, or whose rapid imagination, like the Peruvian torrents, when it brings down gold, mingles it with sand."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

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Date: 1749

"Yet should thy Soul indulge the gen'rous Heat, / Till captive Science yields her last Retreat / Should Reason guide thee with her brightest Ray, / And pour on misty Doubt resistless Day; / Should no false Kindness lure to loose Delight, / Nor Praise relax, nor Difficulty fright; / Should temptin...

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

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Date: 1749

Charles XII of Sweden has "A Frame of Adamant, a Soul of Fire, / No Dangers fright him, and no Labours tire."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

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Date: 1749

"With distant Voice neglected Virtue calls, / Less heard, and less the faint Remonstrance falls; / Tir'd with Contempt, she quits the slipp'ry Reign, / And Pride and Prudence take her Seat in vain."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

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Date: Tuesday, May 22, 1750

"He saw that, instead of conquering their fears, the endeavour of his gay friends was only to escape them; but his philosophy chained his mind to its object, and rather loaded him with shackles than furnished him with arms."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

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Date: Saturday March 24, 1750

"The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure, but from hope to hope."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

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