Date: 1667; 2nd ed. in 1674

"The animal spirits, that from pure blood arise / Like gentle breaths from rivers pure, thence raise / At least distempered, discontented thoughts, / Vain hopes, vain aims, inordinate desires, / Blown up with high conceits ingendering pride."

— Milton, John (1608-1674)

Date: 1667; 2nd ed. in 1674

"Mine eyes he closed, but open left the cell / Of fancy, my internal sight"

— Milton, John (1608-1674)

Date: 1667; 2nd ed. in 1674

"So from the root / Springs lighter the green stalk, from thence the leaves / More aerie, last the bright consummate floure / Spirits odorous breathes: flours and thir fruit / Mans nourishment, by gradual scale sublim'd / To vital Spirits aspire, to animal, / To intellectual, give both life and s...

— Milton, John (1608-1674)

Date: 1671

"He who reigns within himself and rules his passions, desires, and fears is more than a king is"

— Milton, John (1608-1674)

Date: 1671

"But he though blind of sight, / Despis'd and thought extinguish't quite, / With inward eyes illuminated / His fierie vertue rouz'd / From under ashes into sudden flame"

— Milton, John (1608-1674)

Date: 1745

"The body is but the house; the soul is the tenant that inhabits it; the body is the instrument; the soul the artist that directs it."

— Mason, John (1706-1763)

Date: 1745

"It was He that placed thee in this body, as in a prison: where thy capacities are cramped, thy desires debased, and thy liberty lost."

— Mason, John (1706-1763)

Date: 1745

"'I am too noble, and of too high a birth,' saith that excellent moralist, 'to be a slave to my body; which I look upon only as a chain thrown upon the liberty of my soul.'"

— Mason, John (1706-1763)

Date: 1745

"That lies veiled from the eyes of our mind; and the great God hath not thought fit to throw so much light upon it, as to satisfy the anxious and inquisitive desires the soul hath to know it."

— Mason, John (1706-1763)

Date: 1745

"However, let us make the best use we can of that little light which Scripture and reason have let in upon this dark and important subject."

— Mason, John (1706-1763)