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Date: 1727

"But I mistook my Kinsman most extremely, for on the contrary, his Soul is blacker than Negro Sancho, the Beauty of Africa; he boasts himself of the most harden'd Crime, defies Heaven, despises Terror, and is got above Fear by the meer force of a flagrant Assurance."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

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Date: 1727

"It is without Doubt, that Fancy and Imagination form a world of Apparitions in the Minds of Men and Women; (for we must not exclude the Ladies in this Part, whatever we do) and People go away as thoroughly possess'd with the Reality of having seen the Devil, as if they convers'd Face to Face wit...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

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Date: 1727

"Old Men view best at a distance with the Eyes of their Understanding as well as with those of Nature."

— Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)

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Date: 1737

"That man makes a mean figure in the eye of reason, who is measuring syllables and coupling rhimes, when he should be mending his own soul and securing his own immortality."

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)

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Date: 1737, 1743

"Our Passions are like Convulsion-Fits, which, although they make us stronger for the time, leave us the weaker ever after."

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)

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Date: 1737, 1743

"Superstition is the Spleen of the Soul."

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)

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Date: 1737, 1743

"Wit in Conversation is only a readiness of thought and a facility of Expression, or (in the Midwives Phrase) a quick Conception and an easie Delivery."

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)

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Date: 1737

"You see 'tis with weak heads as with weak stomachs, they immediately throw out what they received last; and what they read floats upon the surface of their mind, like oil upon water, without incorporating."

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)

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