Date: 1651, 1668

"Sometimes a man knows a place determinate, within the compass whereof he is to seek; and then his thoughts run over all the parts thereof, in the same manner as one would sweep a room, to find a jewel; or as a spaniel ranges the field, till he find a scent; or as a man should run over the alphab...

— Hobbes, Thomas (1588-1679)

Date: 1653

"Deare Brother, thy Idea in my mind doth lye, / And is intomb'd in my sad memory."

— Cavendish, Margaret (1623-1673)

Date: 1653

"And some place may in th' head be hung with black, / Which makes us dull, yet know not what we lack."

— Cavendish, Margaret (1623-1673)

Date: 1711

"Then you would have this variously disposing of the Images to be the work of the Spirits, that act under the Soul, as so many Labourers under some great Architect."

— Mandeville, Bernard (bap. 1670, d. 1733)

Date: 1711

"And reflecting on what is transacted within us, it seems to me a very diverting Scene to think when we strive to recollect something that does not then occur; how nimbly those volatil Messengers of ours will beat through all the Paths, and hunt every Enclosure of the Organ set aside for thinking...

— Mandeville, Bernard (bap. 1670, d. 1733)

Date: 1705, 1714, 1732

"As the Eyes are the Windows of the Soul, so this staring Impudence flings a raw, unexperienc'd Woman into panick Fears, that she may be seen through; and that a the Man will discover, or has already betray'd, what passes within her"

— Mandeville, Bernard (bap. 1670, d. 1733)

Date: 1705, 1714, 1732

"Malice and most severe Strokes of Fortune can do no more Injury to a Mind thus stript of all Fears, Wishes and Inclinations, than a blind Horse can do in an empty Barn"

— Mandeville, Bernard (bap. 1670, d. 1733)

Date: 1705, 1714, 1732

"I could tell People that to extricate themselves from all worldly Engagements, and to purify the Mind, they must divest themselves of their Passions, as Men take out the Furniture when they would clean a Room thoroughly."

— Mandeville, Bernard (bap. 1670, d. 1733)

Date: 1729

"What Numbers of learned Fools do we not meet with in large Libraries; from whose Works it is evident, that Knowledge must have lain in their Heads, as Furniture at an Upholder's; and the Treasure of the Brain was a Burden to them, instead of an Ornament!"

— Mandeville, Bernard (bap. 1670, d. 1733)

Date: 1729

"So that all we can know of this Consciousness is, that it consists in, or is the Result of, the running and rummaging of the Spirits through all the Mazes of the Brain, and their looking there for Facts concerning ourselves"

— Mandeville, Bernard (bap. 1670, d. 1733)