Date: 1786

"Our minds are like blank paper, as a great philosopher has observed, and the first impressions they receive are generally the most permanent and powerful."

— Anonymous

Date: 1788

"Her mind, to borrow Mr. Locke's figure, was a mere tabula rasa, a blank as to every thing beyond mortality"

— Author Unknown

Date: 1790

"My subject is light--let me speak of the stage; / Let the tablet of memory faithfully name / Some sons of drama who breathe but in fame, / Nay more--let me follow the delicate clue, / And give to the living the praise that is due."

— Anonymous

Date: 1796

"Oh! it was not a diamond which engraved that image on my heart"

— Anonymous; Kotzebue (1761-1819)

Date: 1796

"He guarded my mind from imbibing any religious principles at all, under the notion of preserving it to maturity, like a rasa tabula, free from all prejudices."

— Anonymous

Date: 1797

"You are juvenile, and like unto a white sheet of paper, on which vice or righteousness may be impressed."

— Anonymous