Date: 1708

"And the Consideration of this Supream Agent was then so rooted in his Heart, that it diverted him from thinking upon any thing else: and he so far forgot the Consideration of the Creatures, and the Enquiring into their Natures, that as soon as e'er he cast his Eyes upon any thing of what kind so...

— Ockley, Simon (bap. 1679, d. 1720)

Date: 1708

"And this misgrounded Conceit of his, had like to have firmly rooted itself in his Mind, unless God had pursu'd him with his Mercy, and directed him by his gracious Guidance; and then he perceiv'd that it arose from the Relicks of that Obscurity which is natural to Body, and the Dregs of sensible...

— Ockley, Simon (bap. 1679, d. 1720)

Date: 1708

"So Hai Ebn Yokdhan began to teach them, and explain the Mysteries of Wisdom to them; but so soon as e'er he began to raise his Discourse above External Things a little, and to inculcate that, the contrary whereof had been settled, and deeply rooted in their Minds; they began to withdraw themselv...

— Ockley, Simon (bap. 1679, d. 1720)

Date: 1712

If "Idola from foul Figures rise, / Their roughness Shocks the Soul, and Wounds the Eyes. / And, as with Spears, which grow from bladed Corn, / Invade the Mind, and make the Senses mourn"

— Cobb, Samuel (1675-1713); Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718); Quillet, Claudius (fl.1640-1656)

Date: 1712

"Thro' the Sight's Pores round little Globules steal, / And the charm'd Senses a strange Pleasure feel. / With secret Joy the Soul it self is seiz'd, / And with th'agreeable Idolum pleas'd. / Which wand'ring from the Eyes by Ways unknown, / O'er the soft Bowels and warm Heart is thrown, / ...

— Cobb, Samuel (1675-1713); Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718); Quillet, Claudius (fl.1640-1656)

Date: 1718 [first published 1684-1694]

"For sottish ease, and a life wholly sedentary and given up to Idleness, spoils and debilitates, not only the Body but the Soul too: And as close Waters shadowed over by bordering Trees, and stagnated in default of Springs, so supply current and motion to them become foul and corrupt; so methinks...

— Plutarch (c. 46-120)

Date: 1721, 1722

"On the contrary, the countries of the Mahometans every day become deserts, from an opinion, which, all holy as it is, yet is not without very hurtful consequences, when it is rooted in the mind."

— Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (1689-1755)

Date: 1727, 1787

"Oak was his heart, his breast with steel / Thrice mail'd, that first the brittle keel / Committed to the murtherous deep."

— Welsted, Leonard (1688-1747)

Date: 1738

"And as the Mind in Infants, is like a white Sheet of Paper, where nothing is written; or like a tender Twig, which may be bent every Way; it is evident, that either Virtue or Vice may be planted in it."

— Guazzo, Stefano (1530-1593)