Date: c. 501 B.C.

"One would never discover the limits of soul, should one traverse every road--so deep a measure does it possess."

— Heraklitus (fl. 504-1 BCE)

Date: 54 B.C.

"These charges, at first held in constant mind, from Theseus slipped away as clouds are impelled by the breath of the winds from the ethereal peak of a snow-clad mount."

— Gaius Valerius Catullus (c. 84 - c. 54 B.C.)

Date: 1604

"For, as the Ratte running behinde a paynted cloth, betrayeth her selfe; even so, a Passion lurking in the heart, by thoughts and speech discovereth it selfe, according to the common Proverbe, ex abundantia cordis os loquitur, from the aboundance of heart, the tongue speaketh: for as a Riv...

— Wright, Thomas (c. 1561-1623)

Date: 1665

"If I had not elsewhere display'd the Evil and Danger of Idleness, and represented it as a thing, which, though we should admit not to be in it self a sin, yet may easily prove a greater mischief than a very great one, by at once tempting the Tempter to tempt us, and exposing the empty Soul, like...

— Boyle, Robert (1627-1691)

Date: 1667

"A Conscience unstain'd with blushing crimes, / Holds out in all changes of States and Times. / Mount Sion and good Conscience abide / For ever"

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

Date: 1670

"Thus, like a captive in an isle confined, / Man walks at large, a prisoner of the mind."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: 1681?

"My mind was once the true survey / Of all these meadows fresh and gay"

— Marvell, Andrew (1621-1678)

Date: 1681?

"For Juliana comes, and she, / What I do to the grass, does to my thoughts and me."

— Marvell, Andrew (1621-1678)

Date: 1684

"Much like th' ore-fond, tormented Lover, / Whose Travels Scorns alone discover / To th' chased Stag? Their Dwellings bear / Same form, sad-fortun'd Both appear, / Wilderness round his Fancy shows, / Which wild, disorder'd Thoughts compose; / Hunted by Dogs each strong for Scent / (Grief, Rage, D...

— Harington, John (1627-1700)

Date: 1685

"For, as we see in Princes Pallaces, / How all the avenues, and passages / Are strictly guarded, to oppose the rude / Tumultuous entries of the Multitude: / Whilst civil persons, who have business, / Pass through the Guards, and dayly make address / To th'Princes ear: so all the Guards o'th' brai...

— Clark, William (fl. 1663-1685)