Date: 1738

"And as the Mind in Infants, is like a white Sheet of Paper, where nothing is written; or like a tender Twig, which may be bent every Way; it is evident, that either Virtue or Vice may be planted in it."

— Guazzo, Stefano (1530-1593)

Date: 1739

"Yes, Speech is Animi Index, & Speculum; 'tis the Interpreter of the Heart, 'tis the Image of the Soul."

— Baker, Henry (1698-1774); Miller James (1706-1744); Molière (1622-1673)

Date: 1739

"These are the very Words which Grief, Madam, has engrav'd in the bottom of my Heart"

— Baker, Henry (1698-1774); Miller, James (1706-1744)

Date: 1739

"Father, all thy Commands to do: / Ah deep engrave it on my Breast, / That I in Thee ev'n now am blest."

— Wesley, John and Charles

Date: 1744

"The first Man knew them by his Reason; but it was this same Reason that blotted them again from his Mind; for having attained to this Kind of natural Knowledge, he began to mingle therewith his own Notions and Ideas."

— Campbell, John (1708-75)

Date: 1746, 1749

"Such Rancour this, of such a poisonous Vein, / As never, never, shall my Paper stain: / Much less infect my Heart"

— Francis, Philip (1708-1773)

Date: 1752, 1790

Apollo's "sacred fire" inspires the bard's breast, "Like the fair empty sheet he hangs to view, / Void, and unfurnish'd, till inspir'd by you."

— Jenyns, Soame (1704-1787)

Date: 1752, 1790

"O let one beam, one kind inlightning ray / At once upon his mind and paper play!"

— Jenyns, Soame (1704-1787)

Date: 1753

"These divine foundations can never be shaken; all the good that is imprinted upon this rasa tabula can never be effaced; this holy favour with which a new vessel is imbued, will last a long time."

— Du Bosc, Jacques (d. 1660)

Date: 1754

"Look in my face; and, could my heart lie bare, / The Father would be seen engraven there"

— Jeffreys, George (1678-1755)