"Relations which we are accustomed to follow in the train of our thoughts, are like roads with which we are acquainted, and in which we therefore pursue a journey without any concern, hesitation, or deviation."

— Gerard, Alexander (1728-1795)


Work Title
Place of Publication
London and Edinburgh
Publisher
Printed for W. Strahan, T.Cadell, and W. Creech
Date
1774
Metaphor
"Relations which we are accustomed to follow in the train of our thoughts, are like roads with which we are acquainted, and in which we therefore pursue a journey without any concern, hesitation, or deviation."
Metaphor in Context
Thus, if nature has given a person a peculiar proneness to follow some one of the associating relations, the impulse of nature will gradually produce an habit of following that relation most frequently; and as soon as that habit is produced, it will strengthen the natural proneness: or if such a habit be produced by accidental causes, it will of itself, without any assistance from the natural constitution of the mind, beget a suitable propensity. Relations which we are accustomed to follow in the train of our thoughts, are like roads with which we are acquainted, and in which we therefore pursue a journey without any concern, hesitation, or deviation.
(II.i, p. 137)
Categories
Provenance
Reading in C-H Lion
Citation
Only 1 entry in ESTC (1774).

An Essay on Genius. By Alexander Gerard, D.D. Professor of Divinity in King's College, Aberdeen. (London: Printed for W. Strahan; T. Cadell, and W. Creech at Edinburgh 1774). <Link to ECCO>
Date of Entry
06/27/2013

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