Date: 1690, 1694, 1695, 1700, 1706

"Characters drawn on Dust, that the first breath of wind effaces; or Impressions made on a heap of Atoms, or animal Spirits, are altogether as useful, and render the Subject as noble, as the Thoughts of a Soul that perish in thinking; that once out of sight, are gone for ever, and leave no memory...

— Locke, John (1632-1704)

Date: 1690, 1694, 1695, 1700, 1706

"These simple Ideas, when offered to the mind, the Understanding can no more refuse to have, nor alter, when they are imprinted, nor blot them out, and make new ones in it self, than a mirror can refuse, alter, or obliterate the Images or Ideas, which, the Objects set before it, do therein produce."

— Locke, John (1632-1704)

Date: 1690, 1694, 1695, 1700, 1706

"[I]n some, where they are set on with care and repeated impressions, either through the temper of the Body, or some other default, the Memory is very weak"

— Locke, John (1632-1704)

Date: 1690, 1694, 1695, 1700, 1706

"I shall not here enquire, though it may seem probable, that the Constitution of the Body does sometimes influence the Memory; since we oftentimes find a Disease quite strip the Mind of all its Ideas, and the flames of a Fever, in a few days, calcine all those Images to dust and confusion, which ...

— Locke, John (1632-1704)

Date: 1690, 1694, 1695, 1700, 1706

"Concerning the several degrees of lasting, wherewith Ideas are imprinted on the Memory, we may observe, That some of them have been produced in the Understanding, by an Object affecting the Senses once only, and no more than once: Others, that have more than once offer'd themselves to the Senses...

— Locke, John (1632-1704)

Date: 1690, 1694, 1695, 1700, 1706

"Earthly minds, like mud-walls, resist the strongest batteries: And though perhaps sometimes the force of a clear argument may make some impression, yet they nevertheless stand firm, and keep out the enemy truth, that would captivate or disturb them."

— Locke, John (1632-1704)

Date: 1690, 1694, 1695, 1700, 1706

"Though God has given us no innate Ideas of himself; though he has stamped no original Characters in our Minds, wherein we may read his Being: yet having furnished us with those Faculties, our Minds are endowed with, he hath not left himself without witness: since we have Sense, Percepti...

— Locke, John (1632-1704)

Date: 1690, 1694, 1695, 1700, 1706

"Let any one examine his own Thoughts, and throughly search into his Understanding, and then let him tell me, Whether all the original Ideas he has there, are any other than of the Objects of his Senses, or of the Operations of his Mind, considered as Objects of his Reflection: and how great a ma...

— Locke, John (1632-1704)

Date: 1691

"First, for Use; So we see the Senses of such eminent Use for our well-being, situate in the Head, as Sentinels in a Watch-Tower, to receive and conveigh to the Soul the impressions of external Objects"

— Ray [formerly Wray], John (1627–1705)

Date: 1691

"Dancing, Singing, Swearing, Impudence, / Can make Impressions upon easie sense"

— Ames, Richard (bap. 1664?, d. 1692)