Date: 1590?, 1623

"O, know'st thou not his looks are my soul 's food? / Pity the dearth that I have pinèd in / By longing for that food so long a time. "

— Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Date: 1597

"Thy head is as full of quarrels as an egg is full of meat, and yet thy head hath been beaten as addle as an egg for quarrelling."

— Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Date: 1598

"The mind shall banquet, though the body pine."

— Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Date: 1598

"Sir, he hath never fed of the dainties that are bred in a book. He hath not eat paper, as it were, he hath not drunk ink. His intellect is not replenished, he is only an animal, only sensible in the duller parts."

— Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Date: 1606

"[H]aving sucked and drawne the good" (the "marrow and spirit") from books, one must "feed his mind therewith, informe his judgement, instruct and direct his conscience and his opinions, rectifie his will."

— Charron, Pierre (1541-1603); Lennard, Sampson (d. 1633)

Date: 1610

Man "into himself can draw / All, all his faith can swallow, or reason chaw ... All the round world, to man is but a pill."

— Donne, John (1572-1631)

Date: 1644, 1647

"The brute beasts, who have only their bodies to preserve, are continually occupied in looking for food to nourish them; but human beings, whose most important part is the mind, should devote their main efforts to the search for wisdom, which is the true food of the mind."

— Descartes, René (1596-1650)

Date: 1662

"Flowers, rivers, woods, the pleasant air and wind, / With Sacred thoughts, do feed my serious mind."

— Watkyns, Rowland (c. 1614-1664)

Date: 1667

Conscience "is a cordial Electuary: / And very many good ingredients go / Therein, Meat, Drink, Sleep, Ease, Refreshment too.

— Billingsley, Nicholas (bap. 1633, d. 1709)

Date: 1667

"Good Conscience on God it self can roul; / 'Tis Aquavitæ to the swouning soul."

— Billingsley, Nicholas (bap. 1633, d. 1709)