Date: 1851

"Just as a spring, through the continual pressure of a foreign body, at last loses its elasticity, so does the mind if it has another person’s thoughts continually forced upon it."

— Schopenhauer, Arthur (1788-1860)

Date: 1871

"Tis prudent to correct mens mistakes without altering their language. This makes truth glide into their souls insensibly."

— Berkeley, George (1685-1753)

Date: 1902

"Suddenly, in the midst of some train of thought, rises the sought-for line, like a ghost out of a gulf."

— Spiller, Gustav (1864-1940)

Date: 1902

"If it were otherwise, no one could even set down on paper a closely reasoned argument, for the attention would be skipping like a stone hurrying down a sharp incline, or it would be moving hither and thither like a helpless shuttlecock at the mercy of eager players."

— Spiller, Gustav (1864-1940)

Date: November 22, 1990

"One is not an immaterial soul, floating around in a machine."

— Sacks, Oliver (b. 1933)

Date: August 5, 2009

"That reminds me of a wonderful quote from a professional cartoonist who also teaches a university level course on comedy, who said he thought of 'humour as a necessary counterweight to the hegemony of reason.'"

— Bhalla, Jag

Date: 2009, trans. 2012

"'Unraveling' was our family euphemism for senility."

— Knausgaard, Karl Ove (b. 1968)

Date: June 1, 2010

"Books live in the mind like honey inside a beehive.

— McGrath, Campbell (b. 1962)

Date: June 1, 2010

"Anyone who's closely read Mr. Hitchens's work -- including his best-selling manifesto 'God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything' (2007) -- or seen him do battle on cable news programs, knows that he has a mind like a Swiss Army knife, ready to carve up or unbolt an opponent's arguments ...

— Garner, Dwight (b. 1965)

Date: June 1, 2010

"His mental Swiss Army knife also contains, happily, a corkscrew."

— Garner, Dwight (b. 1965)