"What an unknown and unspeakable Happiness would it be to a Man of Judgment, and who is engaged in the Pursuit of Knowledge, if he had but a Power of stamping all his own best Sentiments upon his Memory in some indelible Characters; and if he could but imprint every valuable Paragraph and Sentiment of the most excellent Authors he has read, upon his Mind, with the same Speed and Facility with which he read them?"

— Watts, Isaac (1674-1748)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for James Brackstone
Date
1741
Metaphor
"What an unknown and unspeakable Happiness would it be to a Man of Judgment, and who is engaged in the Pursuit of Knowledge, if he had but a Power of stamping all his own best Sentiments upon his Memory in some indelible Characters; and if he could but imprint every valuable Paragraph and Sentiment of the most excellent Authors he has read, upon his Mind, with the same Speed and Facility with which he read them?"
Metaphor in Context
What an unknown and unspeakable Happiness would it be to a Man of Judgment, and who is engaged in the Pursuit of Knowledge, if he had but a Power of stamping all his own best Sentiments upon his Memory in some indelible Characters; and if he could but imprint every valuable Paragraph and Sentiment of the most excellent Authors he has read, upon his Mind, with the same Speed and Facility with which he read them? If a Man of good Genius and Sagacity could but retain and survey all those numerous, those wise and beautiful Ideas at once, which have ever passed through his Thoughts upon any one Subject, how admirably would he be furnished to pass a just Judgment about all present Objects and Occurrences? What a glorious Entertainment and Pleasure would fill and felicitate his Spirit, if he could grasp all these in a single Survey, as the skilful Eye of a Painter runs over a fine and complicate Piece of History wrought by the Hand of a Titian or a Raphael, views the whole Scene at once, and feeds himself with the extensive Delight? But these are Joys that do not belong to Mortality.
(p. 253-4)
Provenance
Searching and Reading in Google Books
Citation
32 entries in ESTC (1741, 1743, 1753, 1754, 1761, 1768, 1773, 1782, 1784, 1785, 1786, 1787, 1789, 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794, 1795, 1798, 1799, 1800).

Most text drawn from Google Books. See The Improvement of the Mind: or, a Supplement to the Art of Logick: Containing a Variety of Remarks and Rules for the Attainment and Communication of Useful Knowledge, in Religion, in the Sciences, and in Common Life. By I. Watts, D.D. (London: Printed for James Brackstone, at the Globe in Cornhill, 1741). <Link to ESTC><Link to 2nd edition in Google Books>

Date of Entry
02/05/2014

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