Date: 1690, 1694, 1695, 1700, 1706

"To think often, and never retain it so much as one moment, is a very useless sort of thinking: and the Soul in such a state of thinking, does very little, if at all, excel that of a Looking-glass, which constantly receives variety of Images, or Ideas, but retains none; they disappear and vanish,...

— Locke, John (1632-1704)

Date: 1690, 1694, 1695, 1700, 1706

"Characters drawn on Dust, that the first breath of wind effaces; or Impressions made on a heap of Atoms, or animal Spirits, are altogether as useful, and render the Subject as noble, as the Thoughts of a Soul that perish in thinking; that once out of sight, are gone for ever, and leave no memory...

— Locke, John (1632-1704)

Date: 1690, 1694, 1695, 1700, 1706

"In all that great Extent wherein the mind wanders, in those remote Speculations, it may seem to be elevated with, it stirs not one jot beyond those Ideas, which Sense or Reflection have offered for its Contemplation."

— Locke, John (1632-1704)

Date: 1690, 1694, 1695, 1700, 1706

"These simple Ideas, when offered to the mind, the Understanding can no more refuse to have, nor alter, when they are imprinted, nor blot them out, and make new ones in it self, than a mirror can refuse, alter, or obliterate the Images or Ideas, which, the Objects set before it, do therein produce."

— Locke, John (1632-1704)

Date: 1690, 1694, 1695, 1700, 1706

"Having also given a power to our Minds, in several Instances, to chuse, amongst its Ideas, which it will think on, and to pursue the enquiry of this or that Subject with consideration and attention, to excite us to these Actions of thinking and motion, that we are capable of, has been ple...

— Locke, John (1632-1704)

Date: 1690, 1694, 1695, 1700, 1706

"And so we should neither stir our Bodies, nor employ our Minds; but let our Thoughts (if I may so call it) run a drift, without any direction or design; and suffer the Ideas of our Minds, like unregarded shadows, to make their appearances there, as it happen'd, without attending to them."

— Locke, John (1632-1704)

Date: 1690, 1694, 1695, 1700, 1706

"Which Qualities [hot, light, white, cold, sweet] are commonly thought to be the same in those Bodies, that those Ideas are in us, the one the perfect resemblance of the other, as they are in a Mirror."

— Locke, John (1632-1704)

Date: 1690, 1694, 1695, 1700, 1706

"But when we consider the Sun, in reference to Wax, which it melts or blanches, we look upon the Whiteness and Softness produced in the Wax, not as Qualities in the Sun, but effects produced by Powers in it: Whereas, if rightly considered, these Qualities of Light and Warmth, which are Perception...

— Locke, John (1632-1704)

Date: 1690, 1694, 1695, 1700, 1706

"How, as it were in an instant, do our Minds, with one glance, see all the parts of a demonstration, which may very well be called a long one, if we consider the time it will require to put into words, and step by step shew it another?"

— Locke, John (1632-1704)

Date: 1690, 1694, 1695, 1700, 1706

"How far such an one [one in whom "decrepid old Age" has blotted out Memory] (notwithstanding all that is boasted of innate Principles) is in his Knowledge, and intellectual Faculties, above the Condition of a Cockle, or an Oyster, I leave to be considered."

— Locke, John (1632-1704)