Date: 1762
"To make such an impression as to give the memory fast hold of the object, time is required, even where attention is the greatest; and a moderate degree of attention, which is the common case, must be continued still longer to produce the same effect."
preview | full record— Home, Henry, Lord Kames (1696-1782)
Date: 1762
"The like false reckoning of time may proceed from an opposite state of mind. In a reverie, where ideas float at random without making any impression, time goes on unheeded and the reckoning is lost."
preview | full record— Home, Henry, Lord Kames (1696-1782)
Date: 1783
"From reading the most admired productions of genius, whether in poetry or prose, almost every one rises with some good impressions left on his mind; and though these may not always be durable, they are at least to be ranked among the means of disposing the heart to virtue."
preview | full record— Blair, Hugh (1718-1800)
Date: 1783
"There is, too, in architecture, what is called Greatness of manner; which seems chiefly to arise, from presenting the object to us in one full point of view; so that it shall make its impression whole, entire, and undivided, upon the mind."
preview | full record— Blair, Hugh (1718-1800)
Date: 1783
"Objects and ideas which have been long familiar, make too faint an impression to give an agreeable exercise to our faculties. New and strange objects rouse the mind from its dormant state, by giving it a quick and pleasing impulse."
preview | full record— Blair, Hugh (1718-1800)
Date: 1783
"I admit, at the same time, that Imitation and Description agree in their principal effect, of recalling by external signs, the ideas of things which we do not see. But though in this they coincide, yet it should not be forgotten, that the terms themselves are not synonymous; that they import dif...
preview | full record— Blair, Hugh (1718-1800)
Date: 1783
"It is, indeed, in every sort of writing, a great beauty to have, at least, some measure of Precision, in distinction from that loose profusion of words which imprints no clear idea on the reader's mind."
preview | full record— Blair, Hugh (1718-1800)
Date: 1783
"It may consist of parts, indeed; but these parts must be so closely bound together, as to make the impression upon the mind, of one object, not of many."
preview | full record— Blair, Hugh (1718-1800)
Date: 1783
"A sentiment which is expressed in a period, clearly, neatly, and happily arranged, makes always a stronger impression on the mind, than one that is any how feeble or embarrassed."
preview | full record— Blair, Hugh (1718-1800)
Date: 1783
"EVERY object which makes any impression on the human mind, is constantly accompanied with certain circumstances and relations, that strike us at the same time."
preview | full record— Blair, Hugh (1718-1800)