Date: 1771
"The growth of knowledge" resembles "the growth of fruit," as it is "the internal vigour, and virtue of the tree that must ripen the juices to their just maturity"
preview | full record— Harris, James (1709-1780)
Date: December 10, 1774; 1775
"The mind is but a barren soil; is a soil soon exhausted, and will produce no crop, or only one, unless it be continually fertilised and enriched with foreign matter."
preview | full record— Reynolds, Joshua (1723-1792)
Date: 1782
"As woodbine weds the plants within her reach, / Rough elm, or smooth-grain'd ash, or glossy beech, / In spiral rings ascends the trunk, and lays / Her golden tassels on the leafy sprays, / But does a mischief while she lends a grace, / Straitening its growth by such a strict embrace, / So love t...
preview | full record— Cowper, William (1731-1800)
Date: 1782
"Happiest soil" may be found "in the serenest minds"
preview | full record— Cowper, William (1731-1800)
Date: 1782
"Peace be to those (such peace as earth can give,) / Who live in pleasure, dead even while they live; / Born capable indeed of heavenly truth, / But down to latest age from earliest youth, / Their mind a wilderness through want of care, / The plough of wisdom never entering there."
preview | full record— Cowper, William (1731-1800)
Date: 1785
Prejudice may take "deeper root" in "men of stronger minds"
preview | full record— Cowper, William (1731-1800)
Date: 1785
Learning may grow beneath Disciplines care, "a thriving and vigorous plant"
preview | full record— Cowper, William (1731-1800)
Date: 1785
Rural scenes may "nurse / The growing seeds of wisdom"
preview | full record— Cowper, William (1731-1800)
Date: 1785
Virtue is like a "lowly creeping, modest and yet fair" plant that thrives most "where little seen"
preview | full record— Cowper, William (1731-1800)
Date: 1785
Man in society is like a flower: "'Tis there alone / His faculties expanded in full bloom/ Shine out"
preview | full record— Cowper, William (1731-1800)