Date: 1759

"'Tis in the Culture of the Mind, as in that of the Earth; Precepts may be sown too thick together; so as to smother, and obstruct the Growth, and Product of each other, by encumbring the Soil, where they are sown; and by that Means frustrate the Labor of him, who sowes them."

— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)

Date: 1759

"Ye Mothers! train your Daughter's infant Mind; / To practise, when Adult, what's here injoin'd; / With early Care, Seeds of Compliance sow, / As you first shape the Twig, the Tree will grow; / Good Education elevates our Souls, / Corrects the Passions, Appetites controls; / Refines our Nature, a...

— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)

Date: 1759

"In docile Youth, the Seed of Virtue sow, / E'er Weeds of Vice predominant can grow; / When ductile Nature is to bend inclin'd, / Then is the Time, to rectify the Mind."

— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)

Date: 1759

"Strive to extirpate Pride, that Hell-sprung Root, / Whence Anger, Malice, Strife, and Madness shoot; / If, in your Mind, that pois'nous Weed should grow, / In vain, the Seeds of Discipline, I sow; / Where that Weed grows, so barren in the Soil, / It is not worth my Culture, and my Toil."

— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)

Date: 1759

"Refine you Spirit, with assiduous Care, / From ev'ry vicious Weed, your Virtue clear; / Virtue, and Vice, grow in the human Mind, / Like Corn, and Weeds, together closely join'd; / Extirpate Self-conceit, the worst of Weeds, / That checks the Growth of intellectual Seeds; / Each rebel Passion, ...

— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)

Date: 1759

"Reason, and Faith, in friendly Union join'd, / Form the sincere Religion of the Mind; / Good Actions, its Sincerity declare, / Like Trees distinguish'd by the Fruit, they bear."

— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)

Date: 1759

"Ah! never at immodest Plays appear; / A wanton Farce, and a lascivious Play, / The Seeds of Vice insensibly convey; / There Virgin Innocence is first betray'd / By bad Impressions, on the Fancy made."

— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)

Date: 1759

"Minds slothful, like uncultivated Earth, / To Weeds of Vice, and Folly, give a Birth; / Silver, and Gold, for Want of proper Use, / Their Splendor lose, and cancrous Rust produce; / Streams owe their Purity, to active Speed, / If Waters stagnate, they Corruption breed."

— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)

Date: 1760

"It is true, that the Want of Education, which her Mother's Poverty prevented her from bestowing, in a great Measure depressed those Seeds of Genius which were sown in her; yet, as the Spirit of a SHAKESPEAR would, under the most mountainous Oppression, have breathed forth some of its inextinguis...

— Anonymous

Date: 1761, 1765

"Labour and Want (unhospitable twain) / Chill not the current in Life's salient vein; / Nor damp the spirits, else of sprightly cast, / Nor check the nobler passions of the breast; / Nor blunt the fine Sensation's tender edge, / Which man's chief pride philosophers allege. / Thus some fair ...

— Stevenson, William (1730-1783)