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."
preview | full record— Dunton, John (1659–1732)
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."
preview | full record— Dunton, John (1659–1732)
Date: 1692
"But now, Impartiality strips the Mind of Prejudice and Passion, keeps it right and even from the Byass of Interest and Desire, and so presents it like a Rasa Tabula, equally disposed to the Reception of all Truth."
preview | full record— South, Robert (1634-1716)
Date: 1693
"Needless was written law, where none opprest; / The law of man was written in his breast."
preview | full record— Dryden, John (1631-1700)
Date: 1693
"But the learning Pages of Latin by heart, no more fits the Memory for Retention of any thing else, than the graving of one Sentence in Lead makes it the more capable of retaining firmly any other Characters. "
preview | full record— Locke, John (1632-1704)
Date: 1693
Locke's book is "designed for a Gentleman's Son, who being then very little, I considered only as white Paper, or Wax, to be moulded and fashioned as one pleases."
preview | full record— Locke, John (1632-1704)
Date: 1697
"If we shou'd observe Pythagoras his Rule, to call our selves to an account every Evening, for the Actions and Thoughts of that Day, I believe we shou'd find many vacant spaces within the compass of a Day, which we cou'd not fill up with Thoughts."
preview | full record— Burnet, Thomas (c.1635-1715)
Date: November 18, 1697
"But when they read the Volumes of his Mind, / (Vast Tomes!) and Search'd the Closets of his Brain, / What endless Sums of Wisdom did they find?"
preview | full record— Cobb, Samuel (bap. 1675, d. 1713)
Date: 1697
"What ever brought him here, or took him hence / It was no mean, or common influence, / Of Heavens best mettal, that inform'd his soul, / And made all vertue, but a blubr'd scrol / Of his great mind."
preview | full record— Cleland, William (1661?-1689)
Date: 1697
"All the Alarms and Troubles of the Soul blot out the Ideas that are already entertain'd, and hinder others from coming in. They obstruct all the Passages; and the Croud of thoughts that in such cases arise is a great hindrance to Memory."
preview | full record— D'Assigny, Marius (1643-1717)