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: 1653

"So Fancy is the Soul in Poetrie, / And if not good, a Poem ill must be."

— Cavendish, Margaret (1623-1673)

Date: 1653

"If flattering Language all the Passions rule, / Then Sense, I feare, will be a meere dull Foole."

— Cavendish, Margaret (1623-1673)

Date: 1653

"A Poet I am neither borne, nor bred,/ But to a witty Poet married: / Whose Braine is Fresh, and Pleasant, as the Spring, / Where Fancies grow, and where the Muses sing."

— Cavendish, Margaret (1623-1673)

Date: 1738

"Whate'er we think on't, Forune's but a Toy, / Which cheats the Soul with empty Shows of Joy; / A mere ideal Creature of the Brain, / That reigns the Idol of the Mad and Vain; / Deludes their Senses with a fair Disguise, / And sets an airy Bliss before their Eyes."

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)

Date: 1759

A Logician is "one, that has been broke / To Ride and Pace his Reason by the Booke, And by their Rules, and Precepts, and Examples, / To put his wits into a kind of Trammells."

— Butler, Samuel (1613-1680)

Date: 1762

"While Night in solemn Shade invests the Pole, / And calm Reflexion soothes the pensive Soul; / While Reason undisturb'd asserts her Sway, / And Life’s deceitful Colours fade away: / To Thee! all-conscious Presence! I devote / This peaceful Interval of sober Thought."

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)

Date: 1762

"If by the Day's illusive Scenes misled, / My erring Soul from Virtue’s Path has stray'd; / Snar'd by example, or by Passion warm'd, / Some false Delight my giddy Sense has charm'd, / My calmer Thoughts the wretched Choice reprove, / And my best Hopes are center'd in thy Love."

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)

Date: 1762

"But ah! how oft' my lawless Passions rove, / And break those awful Precepts I approve!"

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)

Date: 1762

"Oft' when thy better Spirit's guardian Care / Warn'd my fond Soul to shun the tempting Snare, / My stubborn Will his gentle Aid represt, / And check’d the rising Goodness in my Breast, / Mad with vain Hopes, or urg'd by false Desires, / Still'd his soft Voice, and quench'd his sacred Fires."

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)