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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: 1691

"Who has so many English Dictionaries in his Study, and another in his Head bigger than all together (and yet there's still room to spare both for Brains and Projects) Does not he?--nay--now you ruffle his smooth Soul, alter his fair Body, and discompose him all over."

— Dunton, John (1659–1732)

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Date: 1710

"But now, my Lord, I am coming to the melancholly Part of fair Agnes's Description, her Mind, 'twas all a Blot, nor had it ever been otherways; she had no Notion of Things, no Discourse, no Memory."

— Manley, Delarivier (c. 1670-1724)

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Date: 1719

"I found it was not so easy to imprint right Notions in his Mind about the Devil, as it was about the Being of a God."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

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Date: 1720

"[L]et me imprint upon thy Mind, these my last Words that perhaps thou may'st ever hear from thy affectionate Father: "

— Manley, Delarivier (c. 1670-1724)

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Date: 1722, 1723

The "Laws of Honour" may be "printed by the Laws of Nature in the Breast of a Soldier, or a Man of Honour"

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

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Date: 1741 [1740]; continued in 1741

"Here too is Paper; but it is as spotless as your Mind"

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

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Date: 1741 [1740]; continued in 1741

Children are at a time in their life "when, like Wax, their tender Minds may be moulded into what Shape they please"

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

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Date: 1741 [1740]; continued in 1741

"I can write my whole Mind to you, tho' I cannot, from the most deplorable Infelicity, receive from you the wish'd for Favour of a few Lines in Return, written with the same Unreservedness."

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

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Date: 1747

"Now the Purpose for which [Lestrange] principally intended his Book, as in his Preface he spends a great many Words to inform us, was for the Use and Instruction of Children; who being, as it were, a mere rasa tabula, or blank Paper, are ready indifferently for any Opinion, good or bad, taking a...

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

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