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Date: 1665

"But as though grains of Sand and Ashes be a part, but of a despicable smallness, and very easie, and liable to be scatter'd, and blown away; yet the skilful Artificer, by a vehement Fire, brings Numbers of these to afford him that noble substance, Glass, by whose help we may both see our selves,...

— Boyle, Robert (1627-1691)

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Date: 1667

"So are those minds that Gold admire do, / Barren, and haunted by the Devil too."

— Billingsley, Nicholas (bap. 1633, d. 1709)

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Date: 1689

And yet there is, there is one prize / Lock'd in an adamantine Breast; / Storm that then, Love, if thou be'st wise, / A Conquest above all the rest, / Her Heart, who binds all Hearts in chains, / Castanna's Heart untouch'd remains."

— Cotton, Charles (1630-1687)

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Date: 1690, 1694, 1695, 1700, 1706

"I shall not here enquire, though it may seem probable, that the Constitution of the Body does sometimes influence the Memory; since we oftentimes find a Disease quite strip the Mind of all its Ideas, and the flames of a Fever, in a few days, calcine all those Images to dust and confusion, which ...

— Locke, John (1632-1704)

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Date: 1690, 1694, 1695, 1700, 1706

"Such borrowed Wealth, like Fairy-money, though it were Gold in the hand from which he received it, will be but Leaves and Dust when it comes to use."

— Locke, John (1632-1704)

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Date: 1690, 1694, 1695, 1700, 1706

"Had the King of Spain imploy'd the Hands of his People, and his Spanish Iron so, he had brought to Light but little of that Treasure, that lay so long hid in the dark Entrails of America. And I am apt to think, that he who shall employ all the force of his Reason only ...

— Locke, John (1632-1704)

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Date: 1691

"And besides who knows but the Same Observation may hold true in Men, which is in Metals, That those of the strongest and noblest Substance, are hardest to be Polisht."

— Blount, Thomas Pope, Sir (1649-1697)

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Date: 1691

"So innocent is the Soul of Kainophilus, so like fair white Paper, wherein you may presently see the least blot or speck of dirt that happens to fall upon it."

— Dunton, John (1659–1732)

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Date: 1693

"An impression made on Bees-wax or Lead will not last so long as on Brass or Steel. Indeed, if it be renew'd often, it may last the longer; but every new reflecting on it is a new impression, and 'tis from thence one is to reckon, if one would know how long the Mind reteins it"

— Locke, John (1632-1704)

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Date: 1693

"Yet, thy moist Clay is pliant to Command; / Unwrought, and easie to the Potter's hand: / Now take the Mold; now bend thy Mind to feel / The first sharp Motions of the Forming Wheel."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

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