Date: 1690, 1694, 1695, 1700, 1706
"Earthly minds, like mud-walls, resist the strongest batteries: And though perhaps sometimes the force of a clear argument may make some impression, yet they nevertheless stand firm, and keep out the enemy truth, that would captivate or disturb them."
preview | full record— Locke, John (1632-1704)
Date: 1691
"First, for Use; So we see the Senses of such eminent Use for our well-being, situate in the Head, as Sentinels in a Watch-Tower, to receive and conveigh to the Soul the impressions of external Objects"
preview | full record— Ray [formerly Wray], John (1627–1705)
Date: 1698
"For, in case those Impressions on our Mind could have been made by means of the Senses, as aforesaid; then those Impressions, or Notions, being the Immediate Foundation, on which is built all our Knowledge, could not be call'd, or resembl'd to Rubbish; nor compar'd to a Hole, to lay the Foundati...
preview | full record— Sergeant, John (1622-1707)
Date: 1731
"But that which imposes upon Mens Judgements here, so as to make them think, that these are all Passive Impressions made upon the Soul by the Objects of Sense, is nothing else but this; because the Notions both of those Relative Ideas, and also of those other other Immaterial things, (as Vertue, ...
preview | full record— Cudworth, Ralph (1617-1688)
Date: 1741
"But Words and Things which he lately spoke or did, they are immediately forgot, because the Brain is now grown more dry and solid in its Consistence, and receives not much more impression than if you wrote with your Finger on a Floor of Clay, or a plaister'd Wall."
preview | full record— Watts, Isaac (1674-1748)
Date: 1741
"But in the middle Stage of Life, or it may be from fifteen to fifty Years of Age, the Memory is generally in its happiest State, the Brain easily receives and long retains the Images and Traces which are impress'd upon on it, and the natural Spirits are more active to range these little infinite...
preview | full record— Watts, Isaac (1674-1748)
Date: 1782
"The mind and conduct mutually imprint / And stamp their image in each other's mint."
preview | full record— Cowper, William (1731-1800)