Date: 1641

"Now admittedly, it is not necessary that I ever light upon any thought of God; but whenever I do choose to think of the first and supreme being, and bring forth the idea of God from the treasure house of my mind as it were, it is necessary that I attribute all perfections to him, even if I do no...

— Descartes, René (1596-1650)

Date: 1683

"Invention, Memory, and Wit, should stay; / And all their Treasures in this Turrit lay."

— Shipman, Thomas (1632-1680)

Date: 1693

"Yet that lovely Body is but the Shell of a more glorious Inhabitant, and is as far out-shone by that more radiant Gust, which lies within, as your choicest Jewels exceed the lustre of the Cask; which holds them: For her Illustrious mind has got as inexhaustible a store of rare perfections in it,...

— Anonymous

Date: 1696

"Take, take me all: enquire into my heart, / (You know the way to every secret there) / My Heart, the sacred treasury of Love: / And if, in absence, I have mis-employ'd / A Mite from the rich store: if I have spent / A Wish, a Sigh, but what I sent to you: / May I be curst to wish, and sigh in va...

— Southerne, Thomas (1659-1746)

Date: 1700

"And so, tho they have Reason, yet are they not Reasonable, because that Reason is none of their own, only as Gifted, that is, Accidental, but not Natural to them; and so they can no more be called Rational, than a Bag can be called Rich, that has Money in it."

— Leslie, Charles (1650-1722)

Date: 1701

"Conceit, like Wind, has seiz'd the empty Head, and Men convulsively strive to utter what they want a Fund of Brains to yeild."

— Baker, Thomas (b. 1680-1)

Date: 1703

"The true, substantial Wealth is lodg'd within; / 'Tis there the brightest Gems are found: / Such as wou'd great and glorious Treasures win, Treasures which theirs for ever will remain, / Must Piety and Wisdom strive to gain."

— Chudleigh [née Lee], Mary, Lady Chudleigh (bap. 1656, d. 1710)

Date: 1710, 1714

"There is no way of estimating manners or apprising the different humours, fancies, passions, and apprehensions of others without first taking an inventory of the same kind of goods within ourselves and surveying our domestic fund."

— Cooper, Anthony Ashley, third earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713)

Date: 1710, 1714

"There is no way of estimating Manners, or apprizing the different Humours, Fancys, Passions and Apprehensions of others, without first taking an Inventory of the same kind of Goods within ourselves, and surveying our domestick Fund."

— Cooper, Anthony Ashley, third earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713)

Date: 1729

"But as to the mysterious Structure of the Brain itself, and the more abstruse Oeconomy of it, that he knows nothing; but that the whole seems to be a medullary Substance, compactly treasur'd up in infinite Millions of imperceptible Cells, that dispos'd in an unconceivable Order, are cluster'd to...

— Mandeville, Bernard (bap. 1670, d. 1733)