Date: 1691
"Thirdly, Let us hence duly learn to prize and value our Souls; is the Body such a rare Piece, what this is the Soul? the Body is but the Husk or Shell, the Soul is the Kernel; the Body is but the Cask, the Soul the precious Liquor contained in it; the Body is but the Cabinet; the Soul the Jewel;...
preview | full record— Ray [formerly Wray], John (1627–1705)
Date: 1697
"Oh, let no groundless Prejudice oppose / The Light, that from so pure a Fountain flows. / May these kind Beams dispel the Clouds, and find / An unobstructed Passage to your Mind."
preview | full record— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)
Date: 1701, 1704
"The application of our Thoughts to other Subjects is like looking upon the Rays of the Sun as it shines to us from a Wall, or upon the Image of it as it returns from a Watry Mirrour, but this is looking up directly against the Fons veri lucidus, the bright Source of Intellectual Light a...
preview | full record— Norris, John (1657-1712)
Date: 1709, 1714
"They may perhaps be Monsters, and not Divinitys, or Sacred Truths, which are kept thus choicely, in some dark Corner of our Minds: The Specters may impose on us, whilst we refuse to turn 'em every way, and view their Shapes and Complexions in every light."
preview | full record— Cooper, Anthony Ashley, third earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713)
Date: From Thursd. April 6. to Saturd. April 8. 1710
"It [the light of Elysium] pierces the thickest Bodies, in the same Manner as the Sun Beams pass through Chrystal: It strengthens the Sight instead of dazzling it; and nourishes in the most inward Recesses of the Mind, a perpetual Serenity that is not to be express'd."
preview | full record— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)
Date: 1715
"Thy Virtues flash, / They break at once on my astonish'd Soul; / As if the Curtains of the Dark were drawn, / To let in Day at Midnight."
preview | full record— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)
Date: 1717, 1736
"Dim lights of life that burn a length of years, / Useless, unseen, as lamps in sepulchres"
preview | full record— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)
Date: 1719, 1720
"For, says he, PUNS are like so many Torch-Lights in the Head, that give the Soul a very distinct View of those Images, which she before seemed to groap after as if she had been imprisoned in a Dungeon."
preview | full record— Sheridan, Thomas (1687-1738)
Date: w 1710, 1720
"Whilst like the Lamp's last Flame, their trembling Souls / Are on the Wing to leave their mortal Goals."
preview | full record— Ramsay, Allan (1684-1758)
Date: Friday, July 31, 1724
"The true Use of Titles, is, That they may serve, as shining Lights, to lay open and illustrate, the spacious Chambers of a Mind well-furnished."
preview | full record— Hill, Aaron (1685-1750)