Date: 1665

Minds are "like smooth paper never writ upon, / When folded up, by some impression / Marks will remain it never had before, / And ne're return to former smoothness more."

— Howard, Sir Robert (1626-1698)

Date: 1714

"[F]oul Reproches ignominious Stain, / Sate deep engraven in his fearfull Heart,"

— Croxall, Samuel (1688/9-1752); Nestor Ironside

Date: 1714

"What iron Breast so hard that can endure / To work such Spight on Vertuous Innocence?"

— Croxall, Samuel (1688/9-1752); Nestor Ironside

Date: 1794

"Therefore I take the mind or soul of men to be so perfectly indifferent to receive all impressions, as a rasa tabula, or white paper, &c."

— Morell, Thomas (1703-1784)

Date: 1813

"O Spirit! through the sense / By which thy inner nature was apprised / Of outward shows, vague dreams have rolled, / And varied reminiscences have waked / Tablets that never fade."

— Shelley, Percy Bysshe (1792-1822)