Date: Tuesday, June 5, 1711

"By this means, when the Heavens are filled with Clouds, when the Earth swims in Rain, and all Nature wears a lowering Countenance, I withdraw myself from these uncomfortable Scenes into the visionary Worlds of Art; where I meet with shining Landskips, gilded Triumphs, beautiful Faces, and all th...

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: Tuesday, January 15, 1712

"We observed a long Antrum or Cavity in the Sinciput, that was filled with Ribbons, Lace and Embroidery, wrought together in a most curious Piece of Network, the Parts of which were likewise imperceptible to the naked Eye. Another of these Antrums or Cavities was stuffed with invisible Billetdoux...

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: 1715

"And therefore the Philosopher said well to the Child, 'Loquere ut te videam', Speak that I may see thee, that is the Inside of thee; for as Vessels are known whether they be broken or whole by their inward Sound; so is Man from his Speech, which carries with it not only a great Influence, but a ...

— Bulstrode, Richard, Sir (1610-1711)

Date: 1722

"For before the Vessel be seasoned with one kind of Liquor, it is equally capable of all, and so the Wax is indifferent to any Impression, before it is moulded and determined by a particular Seal: If the Mind be a rasa Tabula, as Aristotle would have it, then this White Paper may best be i...

— Hartcliffe, John (1651/2-1712)

Date: 1741

"Use all Diligence to acquire and treasure up a large Store of Ideas and Notions: Take every Opportunity to add something to your Stock; and by frequent Recollection fix them in your memory: Nothing tends to confirm and enlarge the Memory like a frequent Review of its Possessions."

— Watts, Isaac (1674-1748)

Date: 1741

"Where the Memory has been almost constantly employing itself in scraping together new Acquirements, and where there has not been a Judgment sufficient to distinguish what Things were fit to be recommended and treasured up in the Memory, and what things were idle, useless or needless, the Mind ha...

— Watts, Isaac (1674-1748)

Date: 1741

"A few useful Things perhaps, mixed and confounded with many Trifles and all manner of Rubbish fill up their Memories, and compose their intellectual Possessions. 'Tis a great Happiness therefore to distinguish things aright, and to lay up nothing in the Memory but what has some just Value in it,...

— Watts, Isaac (1674-1748)

Date: 1741

"But what Part of the Brain that is, wherein the Images of Things lie treasured up, is very hard for us to determine with Certainty. It is most probable that those very Fibres, Pores or Traces of the Brain, which assist at the first Idea or Perception of any Object, are the fame which assist also...

— Watts, Isaac (1674-1748)

Date: Tuesday, April 3, 1750

"He must fly from himself, either because he feels a tediousness in life from the equipoise of an empty mind, which, having no tendency to one motion more than another, but as it is impelled by some external power, must always have recourse to foreign objects; or he must be afraid of the intrusio...

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: Saturday, December 13, 1750

"The most important events, when they become familiar, are no longer considered with wonder or solicitude, and that which at first filled up our whole attention, and left no place for any other thought, is soon thrust aside into some remote repository of the mind, and lies among other lumber of t...

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)