Date: 1606

"[H]aving sucked and drawne the good" (the "marrow and spirit") from books, one must "feed his mind therewith, informe his judgement, instruct and direct his conscience and his opinions, rectifie his will."

— Charron, Pierre (1541-1603); Lennard, Sampson (d. 1633)

Date: 1644, 1647

"The brute beasts, who have only their bodies to preserve, are continually occupied in looking for food to nourish them; but human beings, whose most important part is the mind, should devote their main efforts to the search for wisdom, which is the true food of the mind."

— Descartes, René (1596-1650)

Date: 1691

"We feed our Bodies, our Souls are also to be fed: The Food of the Soul is Knowledg, especially knowledg in the Things of God, and the Things that concern its eternal Peace and Happiness."

— Ray [formerly Wray], John (1627–1705)

Date: 1699, 1714

"There is no body who has consider'd ever so little the nature of the sensible part, the Soul or Mind, but knows that in the same manner as without action, motion and employment, the Body languishes and is oppress'd, its Nourishment grows the matter and food of Disease, the Spirits unconsum'd hel...

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

Date: 1701, 1704

"And tho' Truth be the Food of the Soul, and the relish of it be very Delicious and Savoury to its Tast, and tho' even in this Sense also 'Light be sweet,and a pleasant thing it is to the Eye to behold the Sun', yet it is painful and troublesom to behold it So, and Men Love Shade and Darkness, ra...

— Norris, John (1657-1712)

Date: 1706 [first published 1658]

"To Ruminate, to chew the Cud: In a figurative Sense, to ponder seriously, to weigh in Mind, to consider, muse, or think upon."

— Phillips, Edward (1630-1696)

Date: 1706 [first published 1658]

"Appetite, the Affection of the Mind, by which we are stirr'd up to any thing, inordinate Desire, Lust: Also the desire of Nourishment, or a Stomach to one's Victuals."

— Phillips, Edward (1630-1696)

Date: 1710, 1734

"Ancient and rooted prejudices do often pass into principles: and those propositions which once obtain the force and credit of a principle, are not only themselves, but likewise whatever is deducible from them, thought privileged from all examination. And there is no absurdity so gross, which by ...

— Berkeley, George (1685-1753)

Date: Wednesday, October 31, 1711

"You have, in my Opinion, raised a good presumptive Argument from the increasing Appetite the Mind has to Knowledge, and to the extending its own Faculties, which cannot be accomplished, as the more restrained Perfection of lower Creatures may, in the Limits of a short Life."

— Hughes, John (1678?-1720)

Date: Monday, June 22. 1724

"Now, who would not avoid this rough Handling, by taking Things in Time, when they apprehend a Disorder to be rising, and observing a regular Mind-Diet."

— Hill, Aaron (1685-1750)