Date: 1745

"We are told by Philosophers, of no small Note, that the Mind is, at first, a kind of Tabula rasa, or like a Piece of blank Paper, that it bears no original Inscriptions, when we come into the World,--that we owe all the Characters afterwards drawn upon it, to the Impressions made upon our Senses...

— Fordyce, David (bap. 1711, d. 1751)

Date: 1745

"As little would I agree with those Philosophers Constant mentioned, that the Mind resembles a Leaf of white Paper."

— Fordyce, David (bap. 1711, d. 1751)

Date: 1745

"I would rather compare it [the mind] to a Seed, which contains all the Stamina of the future Plant, and all those Principles of Perfection, to which it aspires in its After-growth, and regularly arrives by gradual Stages, unless it is obstructed in its Progress by external Violence."

— Fordyce, David (bap. 1711, d. 1751)

Date: 1745

"The infant Mind is ductile like Wax; you may stamp a fair or ugly Impression upon it, Error or Knowledge, Indolence or Application, Virtue or Vice."

— Fordyce, David (bap. 1711, d. 1751)

Date: 1745

"Then tell me, is your soul intire? / Does wisdom calmly hold her throne? / Then can you question each desire, / Bid this remain, and that begone?"

— Akenside, Mark (1720-1771)

Date: 1745

"Truth stamps conviction in the mind, / All doubts and fears are left behind, / And peace and joy at once an entrance find."

— Dodsley, Robert (1703-1764)

Date: 1745

"But thou whose eye, from passion's film refin'd, / Can see true greatness in an honest mind."

— Brown, John (1715-1766)

Date: 1745

"Like mighty rivers, with resistless force / The passions rage, obstructed in their course; / Swell to new heights, forbidden paths explore, / And drown those virtues which they fed before."

— Brown, John (1715-1766)

Date: 1745

"But SATIRE's arrow searches ev'ry breast: / She plays a ruling passion on the rest"

— Brown, John (1715-1766)

Date: 1745

"Lo! Shaftsb'ry rears her [Satire] high on reason's throne, / And loads the slave with honours not her own."

— Brown, John (1715-1766)