page 4 of 5     per page:
sorted by:

Date: 1757

"Since, therefore, the mind of man appears of so loose and unsteddy a contexture, that, even at present, when so many persons find an interest in continually employing on it the chissel and the hammer, yet are they not able to engrave theological tenets with any lasting impression; how much more ...

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

preview | full record

Date: September 15, 1759

"Where there is no striking disparity, it is difficult to know of two which remembers most, and still more difficult to discover which read with greater attention, which has renewed the first impression by more frequent repetitions, or by what accidental combination of ideas either mind might hav...

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

preview | full record

Date: September 1, 1759.

" Ideas are retained by renovation of that impression which time is always wearing away, and which new images are striving to obliterate."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

preview | full record

Date: 1762

"Some emotions, by hurrying the mind from object to object, accelerate the succession. Where the train is composed of connected objects, the succession is quick. For it is so ordered by nature, that the mind goes easily and sweetly along connected objects. On the other hand, the succession must b...

— Home, Henry, Lord Kames (1696-1782)

preview | full record

Date: 1762

"The mind can bear a quick succession of related ideas. But an unrelated idea, for which the mind is not prepared, takes time to make a distinct impression; and therefore a train composed of such ideas, ought to proceed with a slow pace."

— Home, Henry, Lord Kames (1696-1782)

preview | full record

Date: 1763 (repr. 1776); 1794 (repr. 1799)

"We remember that best in the morning, which we learnt just before we went to sleep: because, say the Cartesians, the traces made then are not apt to be effaced by the motions of the spirits, as they would, if new objects of sensation had presented themselves; and during this interval, t...

— Doddridge, Philip (1702-1751)

preview | full record

Date: 1763 (repr. 1776); 1794 (repr. 1799)

"Sensible ideas gradually decay in the memory if they be not refreshed by new sensations; the traces perhaps wearing out: yet they may last many years."

— Doddridge, Philip (1702-1751)

preview | full record

Date: 1763 (repr. 1776); 1794 (repr. 1799)

"The analogy upon this hypothesis between sensation and memory, the one arising from impressions made on the brain, the other depending on traces continued there."

— Doddridge, Philip (1702-1751)

preview | full record

Date: 1770

"Why should not our judgments concerning truth be acknowledged to result from a bias impressed upon the mind by its Creator, as well as our desire of self-preservation, our love of society, our resentment of injury, our joy in the possession of good?"

— Beattie, James (1735-1803)

preview | full record

Date: 1774

"Because the impression is made quickly, it does not follow that it is strong: a susceptible memory, like a soft body, receives some impression at once, and because this impression is perceivable at once, we are at no pains to deepen it, we allow it to continue slight: when the memory is, as it ...

— Gerard, Alexander (1728-1795)

preview | full record

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