Date: 1740

"Some have said that the human Mind contained within it the Seeds of all Sciences; the Mind is indeed a Soil in which any of these Seeds may be sown, but it must be cultivated; and without an Husbandman it will continue a mere Tabula rasa, except what the Instincts write on it, without a p...

— Philalethes [pseud.]

Date: 1740

"I have quoted from Mr. Locke, that the human Mind is a Tabula rasa, that any Thing may be writ upon it, and that it cannot have any Thing unless it be write there, but will remain a Blank for ever; that there is a vast variety of Inscriptions made on it, which shews that the Stuff ...

— Philalethes [pseud.]

Date: 1740

"Your Soul shall grow up as young Plants, and your Daughters be as the polished Corners of the Temple; and to sum up all Blessings in one,--Then shall the LORD be your GOD."

— Whitefield, George (1714-1770)

Date: w. 1741

"While breath shall animate this frail machine, / My heart sincere, which never flatt'ry knew, / Shall consecrate its warmest wish to you."

— Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley [née Lady Mary Pierrepont] (1689-1762)

Date: 1750

"or, as a certain very eminent Author well observes, Fools having generally stronger Nerves, and less volatile Spirits, than Men of fine Understandings, that which will rouse the one, will make the other either stupid or frantick; and tho' it sometimes, while the Fit continues, strengthens the Im...

— Richardson, Samuel (bap. 1689, d. 1761)

Date: 1750

"For then, tho' I cannot give you my Heart, I shall have given you a Title to it, and you will have a lawful Claim to its Allegiance"

— Richardson, Samuel (bap. 1689, d. 1761)

Date: November 10, 1750

"Is it possible that experience should produce error, and that the exemption of old people from the passions of youth, should be no better a privilege than to leave room for the love of money, which seems then to engross the whole soul, and to fill up the place of all the other passions!"

— Mulso [later Chapone], Hester (1727-1801)

Date: November 10, 1750

"Does the soul (one would be almost tempted to ask) contract and shrivel up with old age, like the body?"

— Mulso [later Chapone], Hester (1727-1801)

Date: November 10, 1750

"Is it that a long commerce with the world does indeed corrupt the heart; and extinguish by degrees those sparks of light, those inclinations to good, which were implanted in our minds?"

— Mulso [later Chapone], Hester (1727-1801)

Date: November 10, 1750

"Or is it rather to be attributed to the seeds of original evil, which grow with our years, and overspread the whole soul?"

— Mulso [later Chapone], Hester (1727-1801)