Date: 1664
"The parts of the blood which penetrate as far as the brain serve not only to nourish and sustain its substance, but also and primarily to produce in it a certain very fine wind, or rather a very lively and pure flame, which is called the animal spirits."
preview | full record— Descartes, René (1596-1650)
Date: 1694
"As Fire under Ashes, nor the Sun obscured from our sight by thick Clouds, afford not their full lustre, so the Soul overwhelmed in moist or faulty matter, is darkned, and Reason thereby overclouded"
preview | full record— Aristotle [pseud.]
Date: Monday, July 13, 1724
"Oh, Jealousy!--All other Storms are Calms / To Thee!--Thou Conflagration of the Soul!"
preview | full record— Hill, Aaron (1685-1750)
Date: 1755
"THE SHOCK OF RECEIVING MY OWN LETTER did not excite a sudden Gust of unwarrantable Passion, but prey'd upon my Heart with the slow and eating Fire of Distraction and Despair, 'till it ended in a Fever, which now remains upon my Spirits; and which, I fear, I shall find a difficult Task to overcome."
preview | full record— Charke [née Cibber; other married name Sacheverell], Charlotte [alias Mr Brown] (1713-1760)
Date: w. 1821, 1840
"The greatest poet even cannot say it; for the mind in creation is as a fading coal, which some invisible influence, like an inconstant wind, awakens to transitory brightness; this power arises from within, like the color of a flower which fades and changes as it is developed, and the conscious p...
preview | full record— Shelley, Percy Bysshe (1792-1822)
Date: 2001
"Wind, ocean, fire: the things we like to liken our passions to don't break, can't stop."
preview | full record— Richardson, James (b. 1950)