Date: May 10, 1704

"To this end I have some time since, with a world of pains and art, dissected the carcass of human nature, and read many useful lectures upon the several parts, both containing and contained, till at last it smelt so strong I could preserve it no longer."

— Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)

Date: 1704

"When gentle Reason rules thy Breast; / The Sun upon the calmest Sea / Appears not half so bright as Thee."

— Prior, Matthew (1664-1721)

Date: 1704

Adam "knew what every thing was at the first sight, and what its Natural Powers and Properties were; which could not be from External Impressions, in which way at best nothing can be known without long Observation, and many Experiments, and a Train of Reasonings; and therefore must be from Connat...

— Sherlock, William (1639/40-1707)

Date: 1704

"But it does hence follow, That the Soul of Man in its Original Constitution, and in the most perfect State of its nature, is not a Rasa Tabula, without any Notions or Ideas of Truth imprinted on it; but that it has its most natural and perfect Knowledge from within, from contemplating its...

— Sherlock, William (1639/40-1707)

Date: 1704

"Has this Old Man, who was once an admirable Scholar, no Ideas left in his mind? Is his Soul become a Rasa Tabula again?"

— Sherlock, William (1639/40-1707)

Date: 1704

"But this is the great Difficulty, What the Voice and Sense of Nature is; which if it signify any Thing, must signify some Natural and Inbred Knowledge; which is exploded as a ridiculous Conceit by some great and profound Philosophers of our Age; who will allow no Innate Knowledge, but assert the...

— Sherlock, William (1639/40-1707)

Date: 1704

"Now I confess I am of Opinion, that the Mind is so far from being a Rasa Tabula, that it is plentifully furnished with all Ideas of Truth, which are the Seeds and Principles of all Knowledge we have, or ever shall have; that we cannot form any one true Notion, but what is founded in some ...

— Sherlock, William (1639/40-1707)

Date: 1704, 1715

"A glitt'ring Spark the rash Prometheus stole, / And fondly stampt into a Soul"

— Brown, Thomas (bap. 1663, d. 1704)

Date: 1704, 1715

"His fearless Heart immur'd with tripple Brass. / The daring Mortal surely wore"

— Brown, Thomas (bap. 1663, d. 1704)

Date: 1704

"Erect your schemes with as much method and skill as you please; yet, if the materials be nothing but dirt, spun out of your own entrails (the guts of modern brains), the edifice will conclude at last in a cobweb; the duration of which, like that of other spiders’ webs, may be imputed to their be...

— Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)