Date: 1725

"It would be as impossible to describe the Astonishment, and pleas'd Admiration, which fill'd the Soul of Felisinda, at so uncommon a proof of disinterested Affection, as it wou'd the Vexation of Alvario, when by the same Messenger he receiv'd a Letter from Don Carlos, containing these Lines."

— Haywood [née Fowler], Eliza (1693?-1756)

Date: 1726

"If this be the Case, it dictates the Necessity of early Education of Children, in whom, not the Soul only but the organick Powers are, as a Lump of soft Wax, which is always ready to receive any Impression; but if harden'd, grow callous, and stubborn, and like what we call Sealing-Wax, obstinate...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1728

"So if we have confused Sensation strengthning and fixing our private Desires, the like Sensation joined to publick Affections is necessary, lest the former Desires should wholly engross our Minds: If weight be cast into one Scale, as much must be put into the other to preserve an <...

— Hutcheson, Francis (1694-1746)

Date: 1728

"'Tis true indeed, that there are few Tempers to be found, wherein these Sensations of the several Passions are in such a Ballance, as in all cases to leave the Mind in a proper State, for considering the Importance of every Action or Event."

— Hutcheson, Francis (1694-1746)

Date: 1728

A peevish, pettish temper "disarms the Heart of its natural Integrity; it induces us to throw away our true Armour, our natural Courage, and cowardly to commit our selves to the vain Protection of others, while we neglect our own Defence"

— Hutcheson, Francis (1694-1746)

Date: 1728

"Soon as the short Delirium past you find, / And Sense regains it's Empire o'er the Mind, / You bless the Hand that eas'd your anxious Cares, / And pour for Brunswick's House incessant Prayers!"

— Savage, Richard (1697/8-1743)

Date: 1728

"[D]id we consider that the time will come, when we shall be as conscious of his Presence, as we are of our own Existence; as sensible of his Approbation or [195] Condemnation, as we are of the Testimony of our own Hearts; ... how should we despise that Honour which is...

— Hutcheson, Francis (1694-1746)

Date: 1730

"Now, if such a complex being were in nature, how would that spiritual Soul act in that Body, that in its first Union with it (excepting some universal Principles) is a rasa Tabula, as a white Paper, without the Notices of Things written in it?"

— Fénelon, François de Salignac de la Mothe (1651-1715); Anonymous

Date: 1731

"The Mind is a meer tabula rasa, originally without any Impression, Stamp or Character whatsoever, (unless we'll suppose it the same with Brutes) but capable of any, and most apt to receive the first that offers, till external Objects furnish it with distinct Ideas, and from thence ...

— Anonymous

Date: 1733

"Nothing is more void of real improvement and instruction to the mind, and more fulsom, than heaps of quotations, and tedious disquisitions what opinions such and such men were of, in relation to matters properly determinable only by right reason and Scripture."

— Browne, Peter (d. 1735)