Date: December 10, 1784; 1785

"I would rather wish a Student, as soon as he goes abroad, to employ himself upon whatever he has been incited to, by any immediate impulse, than to go sluggishly about a prescribed task; whatever he does in such a state of mind little advantage accrues from it, as nothing sinks deep enough to le...

— Reynolds, Joshua (1723-1792)

Date: May 18, 1782, 1785

"Nor complain of hard fate; but imprint on your mind, / That true pleasures should be like rich odours confin'd."

— Pilon, Frederick (1750-1788)

Date: 1786

"Our minds are like blank paper, as a great philosopher has observed, and the first impressions they receive are generally the most permanent and powerful."

— Anonymous

Date: 1787

"The soft parental rapture, fond embrace, / Kind gratulation, smile of filial love, / All form a deep impression"

— Yearsley, Ann (bap. 1753, d. 1806)

Date: 1787

"Still wilt thou hang upon my joyless soul / That clasps thy dear impression"

— Yearsley, Ann (bap. 1753, d. 1806)

Date: 1787

"The sons of Rome ne'er felt the soft control / Of milky kindness stealing o'er the soul, / Nor did their nerves to pleasure's touch awake / Of gentler thoughts the mild impression take;"

— Pye, Henry James (1745-1813)

Date: December 11, 1786; 1787

"A man endowed with this faculty, feels and acknowledges the truth, though it is not always in his power, perhaps, to give a reason for it; because he cannot recollect and bring present before him all the materials that gave birth to his opinion; for very many and very intricate considerations, m...

— Reynolds, Joshua (1723-1792)

Date: December 11, 1786; 1787

"A landskip thus conducted, under the influence of a Poetical mind, will have the same superiority over the more ordinary and common views, as Milton's Allegro and Penseroso have over a cold prosaic narration or description; and such a Picture would make a more forcible impression on the mind tha...

— Reynolds, Joshua (1723-1792)

Date: 1787

"That frequently happens; and when once a false idea is impressed, it is very difficult to erase it, particularly at your age; as you are not yet capable of distinguishing the false from the true."

— Louise Florence Pétronille Tardieu d'Ésclavelles Épinay (marquise d') (1726-1783)

Date: 1788

"There are many minds that only receive impressions through the medium of the sense: to them did Mary address herself; she made her some presents, and promised to assist her when they should arrive in England."

— Wollstonecraft, Mary (1759-1797)