Date: c. 501 B.C.

"For souls it is death to become water, and for water death to become earth. Water comes into existence out of earth, and soul out of water."

— Heraklitus (fl. 504-1 BCE)

Date: c. 501 B.C.

"A man, when he gets drunk, is led by a beardless lad, tripping, knowing not where he steps, having his soul moist."

— Heraklitus (fl. 504-1 BCE)

Date: c. 458 BC

"But even as trouble, bringing memory of pain, drips over the mind in sleep, so wisdom comes to men, whether they want it or not."

— Aeschylus (c. 525/524 BC-c. 456/455)

Date: c. 387 B.C.

"And by the sieve, my informant told me, he means the soul, and the soul of the foolish he compared to a sieve, because it is perforated through lack of belief and forgetfulness is unable to hold anything."

— Plato (427 BC - 347 BC)

Date: c. 370-365 B.C.

"And when this feeling continues and he is nearer to him and embraces him, in gymnastic exercises and at other times of meeting, then the fountain of that stream, which Zeus when he was in love with Ganymede named Desire, overflows upon the lover, and some enters into his soul, and some when he i...

— Plato (427 BC - 347 BC)

Date: w. 350 B.C.

"This explains why, in those who are strongly moved owing to passion, or time of life, no memory is formed; just as no impression would be formed if the movement of the seal were to impinge on running water; while there are others in whom, owing to the receiving surface being frayed, as happens t...

— Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

Date: w. c. 238

"Hence, the human heart-mind may be compared to a pan of water. If you place the pan upright and do not stir the water up, the mud will sink to the bottom, and the water on top will be clear and pure [qing ming] enough to see your beard and eyebrows and to examine the lines on your face."

— Xunzi (died after 238 BC)

Date: w. c. 238

"But if a slight wind passes over its surface, the submerged mud will be stirred up from the bottom, and the clarity and purity of the water at the top will be disturbed so that it is impossible to obtain the correct impression of even the general outline of the face. Now, the heart-mind is just ...

— Xunzi (died after 238 BC)

Date: c. 10-8 BC

"quidquid praecipies, esto brevis, ut cito dicta / percipiant animi dociles teneantque fideles: / omne supervacuum pleno de pectore manat" [Whatever precepts you give, be concise; that docile minds may soon comprehend what is said, and faithfully retain it. All superfluous instructions flow from ...

— Quintus Horatius Flaccus [Horace] (65 BC - 8 BC)

Date: 2nd Century CE

"The soul provides nature with the reason for the [presence or absence of] life, for even though it does not possess the same number of atoms as the body, being placed in it with its rational and non-rational elements, still it encompasses the whole body and, being bound by it, binds it in turn, ...

— Diogenes of Oenoanda (2nd Century CE)