Date: 1586, 1589

"The law of nature is sence and feeling, which everie one hath in himself, and in his conscience, whereby he discerneth between good and evil, as much as sufficeth to take from him the cloke of ignorance, in that he is reprooved even by his owne witnes."

— La Primaudaye, Pierre de (b. ca. 1545); Thomas Bowes (fl. 1586)

Date: 1586, 1589

"The minde is as a white paper, wherein as a man groweth in age and judgement, he writeth his cogitations and thoughts, which the studie of letters and learning do affoord him."

— La Primaudaye, Pierre de (b. ca. 1545); Thomas Bowes (fl. 1586)

Date: 1676, 1703

"This is also abundantly proved by the Experience of all such, as being secretly touched with the Call of God's Grace unto them, do apply themselves to false Teachers, where the Remedy proves worse than the Disease; because, instead of knowing God, or the things relating to their Salvation aright...

— Barclay, Robert (1648-1690)

Date: 1692, 1702

"The Soul of Man comes into this World at least as Ill-informed of the Affairs of Grace, as those of Nature. It is in all respects, a Rasa tabula, a meer Blank, and hath need of being fill'd with every thing"

— Jurieu, Pierre (1637-1713); Fleetwood, William, Trans.

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)

Date: 1744

"The first Man knew them by his Reason; but it was this same Reason that blotted them again from his Mind; for having attained to this Kind of natural Knowledge, he began to mingle therewith his own Notions and Ideas."

— Campbell, John (1708-75)

Date: 1753

"These divine foundations can never be shaken; all the good that is imprinted upon this rasa tabula can never be effaced; this holy favour with which a new vessel is imbued, will last a long time."

— Du Bosc, Jacques (d. 1660)

Date: 1761

The mind of the hearer might very well be a tabula rasa, free from every prejudice, and like soft wax, susceptible of every impression; and with all this, not yield to truth itself, proposed in the manner it is every day proposed, under the appearance of falsehood."

— Batteaux, Charles (1713-1780)

Date: 1788-89

"According to Mr. Locke, the soul is a mere rasa tabula, an empty recipient, a mechanical blank."

— Taylor, Thomas (1758-1835)

Date: 1788-89

"According to Plato, she [the soul] is an ever-written tablet, a plenitude of forms, a vital and intellectual energy."

— Taylor, Thomas (1758-1835)