Date: 1737

"You see 'tis with weak heads as with weak stomachs, they immediately throw out what they received last; and what they read floats upon the surface of their mind, like oil upon water, without incorporating."

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)

Date: 1738

"I can know 'I' did something in the past despite this flux which may involve no residual particles that were part of the original system at the time of an event: Consciousness of having done an Action is an Idea imprinted on the Brain, by recollecting or bringing into View our Ideas before they ...

— Collins, Anthony (1676-1729)

Date: 1738

A person may be called the same person by "a continual Superaddition of the like Consciousness ... Just as a Ship is called the same Ship, after the whole Substance is changed by frequent Repairs; or a River is called the same River, though the Water of it be every Day new."

— Clarke, Samuel (1675-1729)

Date: 1738

"Consciousness of having done an Action is an Idea imprinted on the Brain."

— Collins, Anthony (1676-1729)

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: January 1739

"I know that the fear of the civil magistrate is as strong a restraint as any of iron, and that I am in as perfect safety as if he were chain'd or imprison'd."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: January 1739

"In general we may remark, that the minds of men are mirrors to one another, not only because they reflect each others emotions, but also because those rays of passions, sentiments and opinions may be often reverberated, and may decay away by insensible degrees."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: January 1739

"In that case resemblance converts the idea into an impression, not only by means of the relation, and by transfusing the original vivacity into the related idea; but also by presenting such materials as take fire from the least spark."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1739-40

"The understanding, like the eye (says Mr. Locke), whilst it makes us see and perceive all other things, takes no notice of itself; and it requires art and pains to set it at a distance and make it its own object."

— Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)

Date: January 1739

"I shall therefore observe, that as the mind is endowed with a power of exciting any idea it pleases; whenever it despatches the spirits into that region of the brain, in which the idea is placed; these spirits always excite the idea, when they run precisely into the proper traces, and rummage th...

— Hume, David (1711-1776)