Date: 1687

"Souls that can scarce ferment their mass of clay; / So drossy, so divisible are they, / As would but serve pure bodies for allay."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: 1687

"Conscience is the Royalty and Prerogative of every Private man. He is absolute in his own Breast, and accountable to no Earthly Power, for that which passes only betwixt God and Him."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: 1690

"Here satiate all your fury; / Let fortune empty her whole Quiver on me, / I have a Soul, that like an ample Shield / Can take in all; and verge enough for more."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: 1690

"Impossible! / Souls know no Conquerors."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: 1690

"Here satiate all your fury; / Let fortune empty her whole Quiver on me, / I have a Soul, that like an ample Shield / Can take in all; and verge enough for more."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: 1692

"But when dilated organs let in day / To the young soul, and gave it room to play, / At his first aptness, the maternal love / Those rudiments of reason did improve."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: 1692

"The tender age was pliant to command; / Like wax it yielded to the forming hand: / True to the artificer, the laboured mind / With ease was pious, generous, just, and kind."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: 1693

"Needless was written law, where none opprest; / The law of man was written in his breast."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: 1693

"No suppliant crowds before the judge appeared; / No court erected yet, nor cause was heard; / But all was safe, for conscience was their guard."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: 1693

"Why have I Learn'd, say'st thou, if thus confin'd, / I choak the Noble Vigour of my Mind? / Know, my wild Fig-Tree, which in Rocks is bred, / Will split the Quarry, and shoot out the Head, / Fine Fruits of Learning!"

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)