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Date: Tuesday, August 14, 1753

"But from the opposite errour, from torpid despondency, can come no advantage; it is the frost of the soul, which binds up all its powers, and congeals life in perpetual sterility."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

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Date: 1755

"But where the Heart is PARTIALLY ENGAGED, we have frequent Instances of its clouding the Understanding, and MAKING DUPES OF THE WISEST."

— Charke [née Cibber; other married name Sacheverell], Charlotte [alias Mr Brown] (1713-1760)

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Date: 1755

"THE SHOCK OF RECEIVING MY OWN LETTER did not excite a sudden Gust of unwarrantable Passion, but prey'd upon my Heart with the slow and eating Fire of Distraction and Despair, 'till it ended in a Fever, which now remains upon my Spirits; and which, I fear, I shall find a difficult Task to overcome."

— Charke [née Cibber; other married name Sacheverell], Charlotte [alias Mr Brown] (1713-1760)

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Date: 1757

"The tossing of the sea remains after the storm; and when this remain of horror has entirely subsided, all the passion, which the accident raised, subsides along with it; and the mind returns to its usual state of indifference"

— Burke, Edmund (1729-1797)

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Date: 1758

"As you would not wish to sail in a large, and finely decorated, and gilded Ship, and sink: so neither is it eligible to inhabit a grand and sumptuous House, and be in a Storm [of Passions and Cares]."

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)

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Date: 1762

"Je méditois donc sur le triste sort des mortels flottant sur cette mer des opinions humaines, sans gouvernail, sans boussole, & livrés à leurs passions orageuses, sans autre guide qu’un pilote inexpérimenté qui méconnaît sa route, & qui ne sait ni d’où il vient ni où il va."

— Rousseau, Jean-Jacques (1712-1778)

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Date: 1760-1761, 1762

"Those storms may discompose in proportion as they are strong, or the mind is pliant to their impression."

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)

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Date: 1760-1761, 1762

"YOUR last letters betray a mind seemingly fond of wisdom, yet tempested up by a thousand various passions."

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)

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Date: 1764

"Nobody knows what really is the being called 'spirit', to which even you give the material name of 'spirit', which means wind."

— Arouet, François-Marie [known as Voltaire] (1694-1778)

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Date: 1765

"Religion is exalted Reason, refin'd and sifted from the grosser Parts of it; It dwells in the upper Region of the Mind, where there are fewest Clouds or Mists to darken or offend it."

— Anonymous

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