Date: 1740

"Some have said that the human Mind contained within it the Seeds of all Sciences; the Mind is indeed a Soil in which any of these Seeds may be sown, but it must be cultivated; and without an Husbandman it will continue a mere Tabula rasa, except what the Instincts write on it, without a p...

— Philalethes [pseud.]

Date: 1740

"I have quoted from Mr. Locke, that the human Mind is a Tabula rasa, that any Thing may be writ upon it, and that it cannot have any Thing unless it be write there, but will remain a Blank for ever; that there is a vast variety of Inscriptions made on it, which shews that the Stuff ...

— Philalethes [pseud.]

Date: 1751

The hand one writes may be "like her mind, solid and above all flourish"

— Richardson, Samuel (bap. 1689, d. 1761)

Date: January 3, 1750-51, 1807

"Live then upon the paper, and upon my memory, every stroke of his pen! For there is no gall in his ink, but only precious balm, and honied drops of salutary counsel."

— Mulso [later Chapone], Hester (1727-1801)

Date: 1751

"I proceeded therefore--That I loved Familiar-letter-writing, as I had more than once told her, above all the species of writing: It was writing from the heart (without the fetters prescribed by method or study) as the very word 'Cor-respondence' implied"

— Richardson, Samuel (bap. 1689, d. 1761)

Date: 1752, 1790

"The yielding paper's pure, but vacant breast, / By her fair hand and flowing pen imprest, / At ev'ry touch more animated grows."

— Jenyns, Soame (1704-1787)

Date: [1753] 1754

"Despairing of success with you, he has assumed airs of bravery; but your name is written in large letters in his heart."

— Richardson, Samuel (bap. 1689, d. 1761)

Date: 1754

"The character he has given you, Sir, is stamped in your countenance"

— Richardson, Samuel (bap. 1689, d. 1761)

Date: 1754

"I tried to look again into the paper; but the contents were all in my mind, and filled it"

— Richardson, Samuel (bap. 1689, d. 1761)

Date: 1754

"In these papers is my heart laid open"

— Richardson, Samuel (bap. 1689, d. 1761)