Date: 1691
"I cannot conceive the true Cause hereof [that Men of Learning are uncouth in their discourse], unless it be, that as Plants are Choakt by over-much Moisture, and Lamps are Stifl'd with too much Oil; so are the Actions of the Mind overwhelm'd by over-abundance of Matter and Study."
preview | full record— Blount, Thomas Pope, Sir (1649-1697)
Date: 1697
"Lord, strike this Marble Heart, thy powerful Stroke / Will make a Flood gush from the cleaving Rock. / O draw all Nature's Sluces up, and drain / Her Magazines, which liquid Stores contain."
preview | full record— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)
Date: 1697
"As a Ship at Sea running swiftly thro the Waves, leaves behind a Track, which is almost as soon lost as made, so that no sign can be found of its Passage thro that fluid Element: So the moisture of the Brain may be susceptible of an Idea for the present, but 'tis not lasting, nor is there any si...
preview | full record— D'Assigny, Marius (1643-1717)
Date: 1699
"Then th' Understanding without pain did climb: / Capacious, Active, Lively, and Sublime, / Clear as fair Fountains, and as pure as they, / Chast as the Morn, and open as the day."
preview | full record— Pomfret, John (1667-1702)
Date: 1700
The "Trading Mind" must voyage over an Ocean, but "Resisting Rocks oppose th' Inquiring Soul, / And adverse Waves retard it as they Rowl."
preview | full record— Pomfret, John (1667-1702)
Date: 1711
"These Spirits rais'd from Choler to the Brain, / Like those extracted from the basest Grain, / Impure and crude, produce unnatural Heat, / And an ignoble Flame of Life create."
preview | full record— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)
Date: 1712
"When threat'ning Tides of Rage and Anger rise, / Usurp the Throne, and Reason's Sway despise, / When in the Seats of Life this Tempest reigns, / Beats thro' the Heart, and drives along the Veins, / See, Eloquence with Force perswasive binds / The restless Waves, and charms the warring Winds: Res...
preview | full record— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)
Date: 1712
"The Crimson Jets rais'd with Elastic Force / Swift to the Seats of Sense pursue their Course; / Arterial Streams thro' the soft Brain diffuse, / And water all its Fields with vital Dews."
preview | full record— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)
Date: Saturday, July 28, 1750
"Thus in time want is enlarged without bounds; an eagerness for increase of possessions deluges the soul, and we sink into the gulphs of insatiability, only because we do not sufficiently consider, that all real need is very soon supplied, and all real danger of its invasion easily precluded."
preview | full record— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)
Date: Saturday, November 17, 1750
"[F]or most minds are the slaves of external circumstances, and conform to any hand that undertakes to mould them, roll down any torrent of custom in which they happen to be caught, or bend to any importunity that bears hard against them."
preview | full record— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)