Date: September 10, 1836

"Hundreds of writers may be found in every long-civilized nation, who for a short time believe, and make others believe, that they see and utter truths, who do not of themselves clothe one thought in its natural garment, but who feed unconsciously on the language created by the primary writers of...

— Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-1882)

Date: March 1843

"Truth often finds its way to the mind close muffled in robes of sleep, and then speaks with uncompromising directness of matters in regard to which we practise an unconscious self-deception during our waking moments."

— Hawthorne, Nathaniel (1804-1864)

Date: 1892

"The thought beneath so slight a film / Is more distinctly seen,-- / As laces just reveal the surge, / Or mists the Apennine."

— Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886)

Date: 1892

"The vane a little to the east / Scares muslin souls away"

— Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886)

Date: September 7, 1923

"It was caparison of mind and cloud / And something given to make whole among / The ruses that were shattered by the large."

— Stevens, Wallace (1879-1955)

Date: 1944; 2018

"It is pleasanter to be five years older and beautiful than status quo and under par, but I must force my loose mind into its overalls and get going."

— O'Connor, Flannery (1925-1964)

Date: 1982

"'I can still see Wilkie,' says a contemporary, 'late for a speech, running through the library, raincoat over his shoulder, half done up, like his mind.'"

— Smith, Richard Norton (b. 1953)

Date: 2005

"Memories, like mohair sweaters, / Stretched and pilled faux distressed letters."

— Bird, Andrew (b. July 11, 1973)