Date: 1782

"'Tis granted, and no plainer truth appears, / Our most important are our earliest years. / The mind impressible and soft, with ease / Imbibes and copies what she hears and sees, / And through life's labyrinth holds fast the clue /That education gives her, false or true."

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1782

The mind may be "unfurnish'd" and listless

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1782

Superficial education slights "the precious kernel of the stone" and polishes "its rough coat alone"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1782

"Faults in the life breed errors in the brain"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1782

"The mind and conduct mutually imprint / And stamp their image in each other's mint."

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)