"That is, let not great Examples, or Authorities, browbeat thy Reason into too great a diffidence of thyself: Thyself so reverence as to prefer the native growth of thy own mind to the richest import from abroad; such borrowed riches make us poor."

— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
A. Millar and R. and J. Dodsley
Date
1759
Metaphor
"That is, let not great Examples, or Authorities, browbeat thy Reason into too great a diffidence of thyself: Thyself so reverence as to prefer the native growth of thy own mind to the richest import from abroad; such borrowed riches make us poor."
Metaphor in Context
That is, let not great Examples, or Authorities, browbeat thy Reason into too great a diffidence of thyself: Thyself so reverence as to prefer the native growth of thy own mind to the richest import from abroad; such borrowed riches make us poor. The man who thus reverences himself, will soon find the world's reverence to follow his own. His works will stand distinguished; his the sole Property of them; which Property alone can confer the noble title of an Author, that is, of one who (to speak accurately) thinks, and composes; while other invaders of the Press, how voluminous, and learned soever, (with due respect be it spoken) only read, and write.
(53-4).
Citation
At least 12 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1759, 1765, 1767, 1768, 1770, 1774, 1778, 1796, 1798).

See Conjectures on Original Composition. In a Letter to the Author of Sir Charles Grandison. (London: Printed for A. Millar, in The Strand; and R. and J. Dodsley, in Pall-Mall, 1759). <Link to ESTC><Link to Google Books>

The text was initially drawn from RPO and Chadwyck-Healey's Literature Online (LION). The LION text claims to reproduce the 1759 printing but is marred by typographical errors and has been irregularly modernized. These entries checked against Google Books page images for accuracy and corrected for obvious errors, but italics and capitalization have not yet been uniformly transcribed.
Date of Entry
09/14/2009
Date of Review
10/22/2003

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