Date: 1576

"Ignoraunce [...] maketh him unmeete metall for the impressions of vertue."

— Fleming, Abraham (c. 1552-1607)

Date: 1577

"The comparisons of, Ynke, and of the spirit: of stones, and of the hart, are of great force. For he expresseth more when he compareth ynke with the spirit of God, adn stones with the harte, than if he had named the spirit and the harte without comparison."

— Calvin, John (1509-1564); Timme, Thomas (fl. 1577)

Date: 1590?, 1623

"I do desire thee, even from a heart / As full of sorrows as the sea of sands / To bear me company and go with me."

— Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Date: w. 1592-3 or 1595?, 1623

"Then, Clifford, were thy heart as hard as steel, / As thou hast shown it flinty by thy deeds, / I come to pierce it or to give thee mine."

— Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Date: w. 1592-3 or 1595?, 1623

"Her sighs will make a batt'ry in his breast, / Her tears will pierce into a marble heart."

— Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Date: w. 1592-3 or 1595?, 1623

"Look on the boy; / And let his manly face, which promiseth / Successful fortune, steel thy melting heart / To hold thine own and leave thine own with him."

— Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Date: 1594

"Listen, fair madam, let it be your glory / To see her tears, but be your heart to them /As unrelenting flint to drops of rain."

— Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Date: 1594

"My heart is not compact of flint nor steel"

— Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Date: 1594

"For men haue marble, women waxen mindes / And therefore are they form'd as marble will, / The weake opprest, th'impression of strange kindes / Is form'd in them by force, by fraud, or skill."

— Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Date: 1594

"For much imaginary work was there; / Conceit deceitful, so compact, so kind, / That for Achilles' image stood his spear / Griped in an armed hand; himself behind / Was left unseen, save to the eye of mind: / A hand, a foot, a face, a leg, a head, / Stood for the whole to be imagined"

— Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)