Date: 1664

"You can think of our machine's heart and arteries, which push the animal spirits into the cavities of its brain, as being like the bellows of an organ, which push air into the wind-chests; and you can think of external objects, which stimulate certain nerves and cause spirits contained in the ca...

— Descartes, René (1596-1650)

Date: 1694

"For although the Soul is said to reside in one place, it operates in every part, exercising every Member, which are the Souls Instruments, by which she manifesteth her power; but if it so happen, that any of the Organical parts are out of Tune, the work is confused."

— Aristotle [pseud.]

Date: 1704

"Nay, wise Men and great Philosophers, have accounted it as the Archet or Musical Bow of the Mind. And certainly it is most true, and as it were a Secret of Nature, that the Minds of Men are more patent to Affections, and Impressions Congregate than Solitary."

— Dennis, John (1658-1734)

Date: 1709, 1714

"For this is the Effect, and this the Beauty of their Art; 'in vocal Measures of Syllables, and Sounds, to express the Harmony and Numbers of an inward kind; and represent the Beautys of a human Soul, by proper Foils, and Contrarietys, which serve as Graces in this Limning, and render this Musick...

— Cooper, Anthony Ashley, third earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713)

Date: From Tuesd. Aug. 9. to Thursday Aug. 11. 1709

"We must take our Minds a Note or two lower, or we shall be tortur'd by Jealousy or Anger."

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: From Tuesd. Sept. 13. to Thursd. Sept. 15. 1709

"The Strings of the Heart, which are to be touched to give us Compassion, are not so played on but by the finest Hand."

— Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729)

Date: 1710, 1714

"For the understanding here must have its mark, its characteristic note, by which it may be distinguished."

— Cooper, Anthony Ashley, third earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713)

Date: 1710, 1734

There are ideas in the mind of God, "which are so many marks or notes that direct him how to produce sensations in our minds" just as a musician uses notes to produce a tune.

— Berkeley, George (1685-1753)

Date: 1710, 1714

"The Moral Artist, who can thus imitate the Creator, and is thus knowing in the inward Form and Structure of his Fellow-Creature, will hardly, I presume, be found unknowing in Himself, or at a loss in those Numbers which make the Harmony of a Mind."

— Cooper, Anthony Ashley, third earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713)

Date: 1715

"And the only Conception we can form of voluntary Motion is, that the Mind, like a skillful Musician, strikes upon the Nerve which conveys Animal Spirits to the Muscle to be contracted, and adds a greater Force than the natural to the nervous Juice"

— Cheyne, George (1671-1743)