Date: 1682

"They compare a Wicked Man's Mind to a Vitiated Stomach; he corrupts whatever he receives, and the best Nourishment turns to the Disease. But, taking this for granted, a Wicked Man may yet be so far Oblig'd, as to pass for Ungrateful, if he does not Requite what be Receives."

— L'Estrange, Sir Roger (1616-1704)

Date: 1682

"Our Passions are nothing else but certain Disallowable Motions of the Mind; Sudden, and Eager; which, by Frequency, and Neglect, turn to a Disease; as a Distillation brings us first to a Cough, and then to a Phthisick."

— L'Estrange, Sir Roger (1616-1704)

Date: 1693

"I grant this true: But, still, the deadly wound / Is in thy Soul: 'Tis there thou art not sound."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: 1693

"Knock on my Heart; for thou hast skill to find / If it sound solid, or be fill'd with Wind; / And, thro the veil of words, thou view'st the naked Mind."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: 1706

"But FANCY, that unease Guest / Still holds a Lodging in our Beast; / She finds or frames Vexations still, / Her self the greatest Plague we feel."

— Watts, Isaac (1674-1748)

Date: 1707, 1710

"Nor should such ruffling Storms molest / The Halcyon Smoothness of thy Breast / Doubt, Avarice, and the pale Multitude / Of greedy Harpyes, which intrude / Ev'n at our Meals, no Entrance find / On the strong Armour of your Mind, / Which You can straiten or unbend."

— Cobb, Samuel (bap. 1675, d. 1713)

Date: 1708

"Attend therefore with the Ears of thy Heart, and look sharply with the Eyes of thy Understanding, upon that which I shall shew thee; it may be thou may'st find so much in it, as may serve to lead thee into the right way."

— Ockley, Simon (bap. 1679, d. 1720)

Date: 1708

"He made no doubt but that all those things which are contain'd in the Law of God [i.e. the Alcoran] concerning his Command, his Angels, Books and Messengers, the Day of Judgment, Paradise and Hell, were Resemblances of what Hai Ebn Yokdhan had seen; and the Eyes of his Understanding were open'd,...

— Ockley, Simon (bap. 1679, d. 1720)

Date: 1710 [1719, 1729]

"Reflection is the last and greatest Bliss: / When turning backwards with inverted Eyes, / The Soul it self and all its Charms, surveys, / The deep Impressions of Coelestial Grace / And Image of the Godhead."

— Oldisworth, William (1680-1734)

Date: 1714, 1723

"The passing Minds their former Load sustain, / Are born, tho' loth, and sheath'd in Flesh again."

— Hughes, Jabez (1685-1731)