Date: 1654

"The eyes and the ears are the inlets or doors of the soul, through which innumerable objects enter."

— Bradstreet, Anne (1612-1672)

Date: 1654

"The certainty that that time will come, together with the uncertainty, how, where, and when, should make us so to number our days to apply our hearts to wisdom, that when we are put out of these houses of clay we may be sure of an everlasting habitation that fades not away."

— Bradstreet, Anne (1612-1672)

Date: 1791, 1794

"'I cannot believe it possible,' said Montraville, 'that a mind once so pure as Charlotte Temple's, should so suddenly become the mansion of vice."

— Rowson, Susanna (1762-1828)

Date: c. 1862

"After great pain, a formal feeling comes -- / The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs -- / The stiff Heart questions 'was it He, that bore,' / And 'Yesterday, or Centuries before'?"

— Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886)

Date: 1890

"The soul selects her own society, / Then shuts the door; / On her divine majority / Obtrude no more."

— Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886)

Date: 1892

"So, safer, guess, with just my soul / Upon the window-pane / Where other creatures put their eyes, / Incautious of the sun."

— Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886)

Date: 1892

"A deed knocks first at thought, / And then it knocks at will."

— Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886)

Date: 1892

"It then goes out an act, / Or is entombed so still / That only to the ear of God / Its doom is audible."

— Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886)

Date: 1892

"The body grows outside,-- / The more convenient way,-- / That if the spirit like to hide, / Its temple stands alway // Ajar, secure, inviting."

— Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886)

Date: 1892

"One need not be a chamber to be haunted, / One need not be a house; / The brain has corridors surpassing / Material place."

— Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886)