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)