Date: 1684

"You wish'd those Thoughts in bloody Ink were shrouded"

— Harington, John (1627-1700)

Date: 1704

"My Soul's, as to that Affair, a clean sheet of Paper, a meer Tabula Rasa; therefore, Sir, you may impress any Characters in the World upon it; Mahometan, Jew, or Pagan, 'tis all a case to your poor distressed Servant"

— Brown, Thomas (bap. 1663, d. 1704)

Date: 1715

"And here we must conceive the Mind as the chief Part of Man, a judging Substance, but free from all Anticipations and Ideas; a plain Rasa Tabula, but fit for any impressions from external Objects, and capable to make Deductions from them"

— Lucretius Carus, Titus (94 B.C.- ca. 49 B.C.); Creech, Thomas (1659-1700)

Date: 1715

"But because this Notion of a Rasa Tabula will not agree with those, who are fond of some, I know not what, innate, speculative, and practical ideas; it will be necessary to consider the Instances they produce"

— Lucretius Carus, Titus (94 B.C.- ca. 49 B.C.); Creech, Thomas (1659-1700)

Date: 1739

"YET I would not say with some, that the Soul is a meer Rasa Tabula; because I do not think that is a proper Metaphor in this Case."

— Hancock, John (fl. 1739)

Date: 1744

"Read and revere the sacred page; a page / Where triumphs Immortality; a page / Which not the whole creation could produce; / Which not the conflagration shall destroy; / In Nature's ruins not one letter lost: / 'Tis printed in the minds of gods for ever."

— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)

Date: April 1750, 1791

"Hail, wond'rous Being, who in pow'r supreme / Exists from everlasting, whose great Name / Deep in the human heart, and every atom, / The Air, the Earth or azure Main contains, / In undecypher'd characters is wrote."

— Smart, Christopher (1722-1771)

Date: 1767

God seals the truth on "our happy hearts"

— Wesley, John and Charles

Date: February 1791

"Call to mind the sentiments which nature has engraved on the heart of every citizen, and which take a new force when they are solemnly recognised by all."

— Paine, Thomas (1737-1809)

Date: 1799

"Hark you, mine honest friend! a woman in love enquires not whether the object of her passion can read or write; for love is only legible in the eyes, and in the heart only is it written."

— Dutton, Thomas (fl. 1770-1815); Kotzebue (1761-1819)