Date: 1611

"And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the LORD."

— Author Unknown

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: 1662

"Flowers, rivers, woods, the pleasant air and wind, / With Sacred thoughts, do feed my serious mind."

— Watkyns, Rowland (c. 1614-1664)

Date: 1667

Conscience "is a cordial Electuary: / And very many good ingredients go / Therein, Meat, Drink, Sleep, Ease, Refreshment too.

— Billingsley, Nicholas (bap. 1633, d. 1709)

Date: 1667

"Good Conscience on God it self can roul; / 'Tis Aquavitæ to the swouning soul."

— Billingsley, Nicholas (bap. 1633, d. 1709)

Date: 1667

"As a good Conscience; this is they say / A constant Feast; who hath a Conscience good, / Fares well although he have no other Food."

— Billingsley, Nicholas (bap. 1633, d. 1709)

Date: 1667; 2nd ed. in 1674

"But knowledge is as food, and needs no less / Her temperance over appetite, to know / In measure what the mind may well contain; / Oppresses else with surfeit, and soon turns / Wisdom to folly, as nourishment to wind."

— Milton, John (1608-1674)

Date: 1667; 2nd ed. in 1674

"Then feed on thoughts, that voluntary move / Harmonious numbers; as the wakeful bird / Sings darkling, and in shadiest covert hid / Tunes her nocturnal note."

— Milton, John (1608-1674)

Date: 1678

"Into his studious Closet to stuff his Lunatick head, since he can get nothing for his belly."

— Porter, Thomas (1636-1680)

Date: 1679, 1707

"Prosperity's Repasts puff up the Mind / With unsubstantial and unwholesom Wind."

— Anonymous