Date: 1651

"Many erroneous opinions are about the essence and original of [the rational soul]; whether it be fire, as Zeno held; harmony, as Aristoxenus; number, as Xenocrates; whether it be organical, or inorganical; seated in the brain, heart or blood; mortal or immortal; how it comes into the body."

— Burton, Robert (1577-1640)

Date: 1704

"Nay, wise Men and great Philosophers, have accounted it as the Archet or Musical Bow of the Mind. And certainly it is most true, and as it were a Secret of Nature, that the Minds of Men are more patent to Affections, and Impressions Congregate than Solitary."

— Dennis, John (1658-1734)

Date: 1709, 1714

"For this is the Effect, and this the Beauty of their Art; 'in vocal Measures of Syllables, and Sounds, to express the Harmony and Numbers of an inward kind; and represent the Beautys of a human Soul, by proper Foils, and Contrarietys, which serve as Graces in this Limning, and render this Musick...

— Cooper, Anthony Ashley, third earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713)

Date: From Tuesd. Aug. 9. to Thursday Aug. 11. 1709

"We must take our Minds a Note or two lower, or we shall be tortur'd by Jealousy or Anger."

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: 1710, 1714

"For the understanding here must have its mark, its characteristic note, by which it may be distinguished."

— Cooper, Anthony Ashley, third earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713)

Date: 1710, 1714

"The Moral Artist, who can thus imitate the Creator, and is thus knowing in the inward Form and Structure of his Fellow-Creature, will hardly, I presume, be found unknowing in Himself, or at a loss in those Numbers which make the Harmony of a Mind."

— Cooper, Anthony Ashley, third earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713)

Date: Monday, August 24. 1724

"There is more Harmony, in Love, than in Musick: A Harmony! like that which the old Philosophers imputed to the Spheres! Only Two Spheres are acted; by one, and the same, Intelligence. For the Strings of Two Hearts sympathize, like those of Two Lutes, with correspondent Trepidations."

— Hill, Aaron (1685-1750)

Date: 1725

"The Features of every single Passion must be known; the Relation which that Passion bears to another, must be discover’d; and the Harmony and Discord which result from them must be felt."

— Gally, Henry (bap. 1696, d. 1769)

Date: April 30, 1730

"I have often been concerned at the ill success of my worthy friend the CANTABRIGIAN PHILOSOPHER; who happening to jar the string in the harmony of human understanding, among those, who were below his own height; they, instead of subscribing to his doctrine, were for tying him fast, and sending h...

— Richard Russel and John Martyn

Date: Tuesday, November 20, 1750

"Yet, if we consider the conduct of those sententious philosophers, it will often be found, that they repeat these aphorisms, merely because they have somewhere heard them, because they have nothing else to say, or because they think veneration gained by such appearances of wisdom, but that no id...

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)