page 1 of 2     per page:
sorted by:

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)

preview | full record

Date: Tuesday, April 24, 1750

"Those sudden bursts of rage generally break out upon small occasions; for life, unhappy as it is, cannot supply great evils as frequently as the man of fire thinks it fit to be enraged; therefore the first reflection upon his violence must shew him that he is mean enough to be driven from his po...

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

preview | full record

Date: Saturday, September 22, 1750

"The thoughts that entered my soul were too strong to be diverted, and too piercing to be endured; but such violence cannot be lasting, the storm subsided in a short time, I wept, retired, and grew calm."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

preview | full record

Date: 1751

One may be "tost about at the pleasure of every wind" and"hurried thro' the ocean of life, just as each each predominant passion direction

— Haywood [née Fowler], Eliza (1693?-1756)

preview | full record

Date: 1751

On waking one may feel "A darksome mist, which rises from my mind, /And, like sweet sun-shine, leaves your name behind"

— Haywood [née Fowler], Eliza (1693?-1756)

preview | full record

Date: 1753

"Though the soul, like a hermit in his cell, sits quiet in the bosom, unruffled by any tempest of its own, it suffers from the rude blasts of others faults"

— Haywood [née Fowler], Eliza (1693?-1756)

preview | full record

Date: Tuesday, August 14, 1753

"But from the opposite errour, from torpid despondency, can come no advantage; it is the frost of the soul, which binds up all its powers, and congeals life in perpetual sterility."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

preview | full record

Date: 1759

"Imlac was delighted to find that the sage's understanding was breaking through its mists, and resolved to detain him from the planets till he should forget his task of ruling them, and reason should recover its original influence."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

preview | full record

Date: 1760-1761, 1762

"Those storms may discompose in proportion as they are strong, or the mind is pliant to their impression."

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)

preview | full record

Date: 1760-1761, 1762

"YOUR last letters betray a mind seemingly fond of wisdom, yet tempested up by a thousand various passions."

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)

preview | full record

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