Date: 1765

"The best Way to prove the Clearness of our Mind is by shewing its Faults; as when a Stream discovers the Dirt at the Bottom, it convinces us of the Transparency and Purity of the Water."

— Anonymous

Date: December 9-11, 1766

"Fair truth shall chase th' unreal Forms away; / And Reason's piercing Beam restore the Day."

— Anonymous

Date: January 30, 1770, 1771

"I prove it thus: The mind has no doubt a faculty of comparing objects or ideas; but it is found invariably to judge and act from a preponderancy to that action or opinion which is the most suited to yield it satisfaction present or future: but if this preponderancy depends entirely on the organi...

— Author Unknown

Date: 1771

"BIAS, or BIASS, in a general sense, the inclination or bent of a person's mind to one thing more than another."

— Author Unknown

Date: 1771

"That is, let not great examples, or authorities, browbeat they reason into too great a diffidence fo thyself: thyself so reverence, as to prefer the native growth of thy own mind to the richest import from abroad; such borrowed riches make us poor."

— Author Unknown

Date: 1772

"No inference can give a juster idea of Des Cartes's doctrine of automata, than Mr. Regis's comparison of some hydraulic machines, to be seen in certain grottos and fountains, that serve as ornaments to the splendid mansions of the great; where water exerts itself by the disposition of the pipes,...

— Anonymous

Date: 1773

"Think'st thou, had Fancy's mirror struck his sight, / And brought thy too degenerate deeds to light; / Had shewn thee curst to such a vicious race, / Whose very breath contaminates the place: / How would his manly heart with grief have died / T'have seen this fatal barrier to his pride?"

— Anonymous

Date: 1777

"The questions would seem to answer themselves, and may be left to Lord North himself, if he has not altogether abandoned the sterling currency of Idea and Language (the reverse of his conduct with regard to the coin) and has not folded up, for ever and for ever, the un-corporational rectitude an...

— Philadelphos, Theophilos (fl. 1777)

Date: 1778

"The mind of man has been by some authors called a tabula rasa, and compared to a sheet of clean paper."

— Author Unknown

Date: 1778

"One should imagine, that the human intellect, by its original constitution, easily admits and retains some impressions, as congenial to its nature, and faithful to their objects; whilst it repels others with aversion or disdain, as subversive of its happiness, and false to the things which they ...

— Author Unknown