Date: 1715

"The Child may be wrought upon; Nature like some Vegetables, is malleable when taken green and early; but hard and brittle when condens'd by Time and Age; at first it bows and bends to Instruction and Reproof, but afterwards obstinately refuses both."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1715

"The Temper of a Child misled by Vice or Mistake, like a dislocated Bone, is easie to be reduc'd into its Place, if taken in time; but if suffer'd to remain in its dislocated Position, a callous Substance fills up the empty Space, and by neglect grows equally hard with the Bone, and resisting the...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1715

"THEN as to Correction, the Heart being hardned, as before, by Opinion and Practice, and especially in a Belief that he ought not to be corrected, the Rod of Correction has a different Effect; for as the Blow of a Stripe makes an Impression on the Heart of a Child, as stamping a Seal does upon th...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1715

"How soft! how pliable the Minds of little Children are! how like Wax they lie, ready to be moulded into any Form, and receive any Impression, that the diligent Application of Parents thinks fit to make upon them!"

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1715

"From whence also Parents are warned to be very careful, that by their Example or Negligence, those first softned Circumstances of their Childrens Minds are not pass'd over without suitable Applications, to forming them a right, filling them with Learning and Knowledge, and with just Principles, ...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1716

"But the greatest imperfection is in our inward sight, that is, to be Ghosts unto our own Eyes, and while we are so sharpsighted as to look thorough others, to be invisible to our selves; for the inward Eyes are more fallacious than the outward."

— Browne, Sir Thomas (1605-1682)

Date: 1716

"Let thy Studies [he writes] be as free as thy Thoughts and Contemplations: but fly not only upon the wings of Imagination."

— Browne, Sir Thomas (1605-1682)

Date: 1716

"Joyn Sense and Reason, and Experiment unto Speculation, and so give life unto Embryon Truths, and Verities yet in their Chaos"

— Browne, Sir Thomas (1605-1682)

Date: January 6, 1716

"As self-love is an instinct planted in us for the good and safety of each particular person, the love of our country is impressed on our minds for the happiness and preservation of the community."

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: March 30, 1716

"As it is a laudable freedom of thought which unshackles their minds from the poor and narrow prejudices of education, and opens their eyes to a more extensive view of the publick good; the same freedom of thought disposes several of them to the embracing of particular schemes and maxims, and to ...

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)