Date: 3rd Century

"The black color of Ethiopia, my homeland, became my lot when it was engendered by the fiery rays of the sun. But my soul, full of white blossoms, won the favor of my understanding master; for beauty is inferior to the nobility of the soul shrouded by my black body."

— Anonymous

Date: 1667

"Too promising, too great a mind/ In so small room to be confin'd"

— Philips [née Fowler], Katherine (1632-1664)

Date: 1734

"What worlds of worth lay crowded in that breast!"

— Watts, Isaac (1674-1748)

Date: 1734

"What worlds of worth lay crowded in that breast! / Too strait the mansion for th'illustrious guest."

— Watts, Isaac (1674-1748)

Date: 1734

"Too strait the mansion for th'illustrious guest."

— Watts, Isaac (1674-1748)

Date: 1759

"Peaceful virtues" dwell within the "sacred cell" of the heart

— Gray, Thomas (1716-1771)

Date: 1771

"Grace, that with tenderness and sense combin'd / To form that harmony of soul and face, / Where beauty shines the mirror of the mind."

— Mason, William (1725-1797)

Date: 1773

"Her form was beauty's self, thro' which refin'd / Shone, like a jewel chrystal-clos'd, her mind"

— Robertson, James (fl.1768-1788)

Date: 1774

"Here lies honest William, whose heart was a mint, / While the owner ne'er knew half the good that was in't."

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)

Date: 1774

"The pupil of impulse, it [his heart] forced him along, / His conduct still right, with his argument wrong; / Still aiming at honour, yet fearing to roam, / The coachman was tipsy, the chariot drove home."

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)