Date: 1754

"The human soul is so far from being furnished with forms and ideas to perceive all things by, or from being impregnated, I would rather say than printed over, with the seeds of universal knowledge, that we have no ideas till we receive passively the ideas of sensible qualities from without."

— St John, Henry, styled first Viscount Bolingbroke (1678-1751)

Date: 1783

Children's "minds, like a sheet of white paper, are susceptible to every impression"

— Godwin, William (1756-1836)

Date: February 1791

"Call to mind the sentiments which nature has engraved on the heart of every citizen, and which take a new force when they are solemnly recognised by all."

— Paine, Thomas (1737-1809)

Date: 1797

"Their [young persons'] minds are like a sheet of white paper, which takes any impression that it is proposed to make upon it."

— Godwin, William (1756-1836)