Date: 1850

"[H]ow eagerly / And with what flashes, as it were, the mind / Turned this way--that way! sportive and alert / And watchful, as a kitten when at play."

— Wordsworth, William (1770-1850)

Date: 1975, 1976

"The mind is like a monkey swinging from branch to branch through a forest, says the Sutra. In order not to lose sight of the monkey by some sudden movement, we must watch the monkey constantly and even to be one with it."

— Thich Nhat Hanh (b. October 11, 1926)

Date: 1975, 1976

"Wherever the mind goes, it still lies in the harness of the mind. The Sutra sometimes uses the expression "Bind the monkey" to refer to taking hold of the mind. But the monkey image is only a means of expression. Once the mind is directly and continually aware of itself, it is no longer like a m...

— Thich Nhat Hanh (b. October 11, 1926)

Date: 1978, 1979

"The discipline tying mind in that way to the meditative object is expressed by the simile of training an elephant, for example, a wild elephant is tied with many massive cords to a trunk or a post."

— Wayman, Alex

Date: 1978, 1979

"The mind is like the untrained elephant. When it is bound with the cord of mindfulness to the firm post of the previously discussed meditative object, [even] if it is unwilling to remain there, it is gradually brought under control, goaded by the hook of awareness."

— Wayman, Alex

Date: 1988

"Mind in its purest play is like some bat / That beats about in caverns all alone, / Contriving by a kind of senseless wit / Not to conclude against a wall of stone."

— Wilbur, Richard (1921- )

Date: 1988

"The mind is like a bat."

— Wilbur, Richard (1921- )

Date: 1995

"In what way is the mind like a computer that is different from its resemblance, for example, to a telephone switchboard (which was the most popular image in psychology some years ago), or to a cathedral, which once long ago was also a major poetical image (consider: the caverns of the mind, the ...

— Shipley, Thorne (1927-2009)

Date: February 21, 2019

"The brief and hilarious reign of the atheists ('We are all atheists where Odin is concerned!') was over and we were back to being respectful of all religions, except Scientology, which posited that there were viral clams in the mind."

— Lockwood, Patricia

Date: February 21, 2019

"The defences we had developed against the oppressor could only be discussed in the secret room, among others of our kind, as we poured fountains of a wine that was like our shared blood and held out our hearts that were like scraped sparrows."

— Lockwood, Patricia