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Date: 1786

"Remember (continued he) that the solitary mortal is certainly luxurious, probably superstitious, and possibly mad: the mind stagnates for want of employment, grows morbid, and is extinguished like a candle in foul air."

— Piozzi, [née Salusbury; other married name Thrale] Hester Lynch (1741-1821)

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Date: w. 1782, 1786, 1816

"He consoled himself, however, for this intruding and unwelcome perception of his littleness, with the thought of being great in the eyes of others; and flattered himself that the light of his mind would extend beyond the reach of his sight, and extort from the stars the decrees of his destiny."

— Beckford, William (1760-1844)

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Date: 1786

"So o'er my soul short rays of reason fly, / Then fade:--and leave me, to despair and die!"

— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)

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Date: 1786

"But when thy envied sanction crowns my lays, / A ray of pleasure lights my languid mind, / For well I know the value of thy praise."

— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)

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Date: 1787

"It is enough--my scruples are at an end--my prejudices, like clouds before the rising sun, vanish before the lights of your superior reason."

— Bickerstaff, Isaac (b. 1733, d. after 1808)

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Date: 1787

"This was a ray of intelligence which pointed out to the discerning parent the path prescribed by nature."

— Louise Florence Pétronille Tardieu d'Ésclavelles Épinay (marquise d') (1726-1783)

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Date: 1788

"Hence at each sound imagination glows; / Hence his warm lay with softest sweetness flows; / Melting it flows, pure, numerous, strong and clear, / And fills the impassioned heart and lulls the harmonious ear."

— Collins, William (1721-1759)

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Date: 1788

"Within the heart which love illumes, / And blesses with his sacred rays, / If meaner passion e'er presumes, / It fades before the hallow'd blaze."

— Cobb, James (1756-1818)

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Date: 1788-89

"At first, indeed, before she is excited by science, she is oppressed with lethargy, and clouded with oblivion; but in proportion as learning and enquiry stimulate her dormant powers, she wakens from the dreams of ignorance, and opens her eye to the irradiations of wisdom"

— Taylor, Thomas (1758-1835)

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Date: 1788-89

"The former [Platonic philosophy] fills the soul with intelligible light, breaks her lethargic fetters, and elevates her to the principle of things; the latter [Lockean philosophy] clouds the intellectual eye of the soul, by increasing her oblivion, strengthens her corporeal bands, and hurries he...

— Taylor, Thomas (1758-1835)

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