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Date: 1972

"Is this passing madness / standing neck deep / in mudflats / tidetables / pasted / to the brain?"

— Plumb, David

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Date: 1978, 1979

"The mind is like the untrained elephant. When it is bound with the cord of mindfulness to the firm post of the previously discussed meditative object, [even] if it is unwilling to remain there, it is gradually brought under control, goaded by the hook of awareness."

— Wayman, Alex

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Date: June 16, 1978

"The human head is bigger than the globe."

— Grass, Günther (b. 1927)

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Date: December 18, 1979

"The mind is like a parachute. It must be opened in order to work."

— Endicott, William

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Date: 1979

" But they can be sent along the usual channels […] until at some critical point, a "mental faucet" is closed, preventing them from actually being carried out."

— Hofstadter, Douglas (b. 1945)

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Date: 1981

"What's my head but a rat's nest / of dubious texts?"

— Harwood, Gwen (1920-1995)

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Date: 1981

"If one must use metaphorical language, then let the metaphor be this: the mind and the world jointly make up the mind and the world. (Or, to make the metaphor even more Hegelian, the Universe makes up the Universe--with minds--collectively--playing a special role in the making up.)"

— Putnam, Hilary (b. 1926)

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Date: March 11, 1982

''The mind is like a parachute -- it only functions when it's open."

— Duncan, Amy

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Date: 1984

"His brain was deep-fried. No, he decided, it had been thrown into hot fat and left there, and the fat had cooled, a thick dull grease congealing on wrinkled lobes, shot through with greenish-purple flashes of pain."

— Gibson, William (b. 1948)

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Date: 1984

"He still had his anger. That was like being rolled in some alley and waking to discover your wallet still in your pocket, untouched."

— Gibson, William (b. 1948)

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The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.