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Date: 1715

"Why, Child, to have the Spirit of God which wrote that Word, print it in your Mind, and give you Understanding both to read and obey it."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

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Date: Friday, May 13, 1717

"Nature which was at first, excepting the original Taint, fair, and sincere, or as Mr. Lock says, 'a blank Sheet of Paper' capable of receiving any Characters at the Pleasure of the Writer, soon is either blurred over with Impertinence, fouled with Impurity, or improved and dignified with Impress...

— Theobald, Lewis (1688-1744)

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Date: 1719-25

"A child, which is incapable of resisting grace, and is as it were a rasa tabula before God, affords a lively representation of that which grace is able to effect even in the heart of an old sinner."

— Quesnel, Pasquier (1634-1719); Russel, Richard (1685-1756)

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Date: 1720

"But Adam's Soul being put in his Body, his Brain was a Tabula rasa, as White Paper, had no Impressions in it, but such as either God put in it, or such as came to him by his Senses."

— Burnet, Gilbert (1643-1715)

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Date: 1720

"For as in the Body Politick, the Prince, (whom Seneca calls the Soul of the Commonwealth.) receiveth no Passages of State, or false Ones, where there is Negligence, or Disability in those subjectate Inquirers, (whom Xenophon terms the Eyes and Ears of Kings.) In like Manner the Soul of Man being...

— Hales, John (1584-1656)

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Date: 1722

"For before the Vessel be seasoned with one kind of Liquor, it is equally capable of all, and so the Wax is indifferent to any Impression, before it is moulded and determined by a particular Seal: If the Mind be a rasa Tabula, as Aristotle would have it, then this White Paper may best be i...

— Hartcliffe, John (1651/2-1712)

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Date: 1724

"One Law of the Action of the Soul on the Body, & vice versa, seems to be, That upon such and such Motions produced in the Musical Instrument of the Body, such and such Sensations should arise in the Mind; and on such and such Actions of the Soul, such and such Motions in the Body should ensue; m...

— Cheyne, George (1671-1743)

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Date: 1726

"As to the understanding, [Epicurus] believ'd, That at first it had no ideas; that it was a kind of tabula rasa; and that, when the organs of the body are form'd, its knowledge of things increases gradually by the mediation of the senses."

— Fénelon, François de Salignac de la Mothe (1651-1715); Anonymous

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Date: 1727

"The first Attempt in this Philosophy is, to Clear the Mind of any Innate Ideas or Principles, and to make it a Rasa Tabula, or to Resemble a Piece of Blank Paper, without any Original Characters, or Inscriptions, Engraved upon it;"

— Greene, Robert (c. 1678-1730)

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Date: 1727

"For, Moreover, if the Mind was a mere Rasa Tabula, if it was only a Plain Piece of Paper to Write on, what Difference could there Possibly be in Fact in One Man's Understanding, and Another's?"

— Greene, Robert (c. 1678-1730)

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