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Date: February 1791

"Montesquieu, President of the Parliament of Bordeaux, went as far as a writer under a despotic government could well proceed; and being obliged to divide himself between principle and prudence, his mind often appears under a veil, and we ought to give him credit for more than he has expressed."

— Paine, Thomas (1737-1809)

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Date: February 1791

"The mind, in discovering truth, acts in the same manner as it acts through the eye in discovering objects; when once any object has been seen, it is impossible to put the mind back to the same condition it was in before it saw it."

— Paine, Thomas (1737-1809)

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Date: 1792

"Brave spirit! He would coin his heart!"

— Holcroft, Thomas (1745-1809)

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Date: 1792

"As when in ocean sinks the orb of day, / Long on the wave reflected lustres play; / Thy tempered gleams of happiness resigned / Glance on the darkened mirror of the mind."

— Rogers, Samuel (1763-1855)

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Date: February 1792

"Whatever wisdom constituently is, it is like a seedless plant; it may be reared when it appears, but it cannot be voluntarily produced."

— Paine, Thomas (1737-1809)

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Date: February 1792

"It appears as if the tide of mental faculties flowed as far as it could in certain channels, and then forsook its course, and arose in others. How irrational then is the hereditary system, which establishes channels of power, in company with which wisdom refuses to flow!"

— Paine, Thomas (1737-1809)

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Date: 1792

"Lulled in the countless chambers of the brain, / Our thoughts are linked by many a hidden chain."

— Rogers, Samuel (1763-1855)

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Date: 1792

"I should have been glad if I could have had an earlier opportunity also of knowing, which I do not admit at present, that it was genuine and authentic; because I know not only the impression which such a letter must make upon Gentlemen's minds who are the Jury to try the cause, b...

— Paine, Thomas (1737-1809)

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Date: 1792

"Let all their thoughts be unconfined, / And clap your padlock on their mind."

— Paine, Thomas (1737-1809)

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Date: 1792

"A thousand ideas seemed crowding upon my mind; but they have expelled each other as quickly as they came, and I scarcely know what to add."

— Holcroft, Thomas (1745-1809)

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