The Mind is a Metaphor | Browse the Database

Metaphor	Year	Name	Title
"True wit is nature to advantage dress'd, / What oft' was thought, but ne'er so well express'd; / Something, whose truth convinc'd at sight we find, / That gives us back the image of our mind."	1711	Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)	An Essay on Criticism
"Never shall time from my fond heart efface / His image"	1794	Bowles, William Lisle (1762-1850)	Abba Thule
"There is this difference between a story and a poem, that a story is a catalogue of detached facts, which have no other connection than time, place, circumstance, cause and effect; the other is the creation of actions according to the unchangeable forms of human nature, as existing in the mind of the Creator, which is itself the image of all other minds."	1840	Shelley, Percy Bysshe (1792-1822)	A Defence of Poetry [from Essays, Letters from Abroad, Translations and Fragments]
In our minds "the divine image shines."	1259	St. Bonaventure [born Giovanni di Fidanza] (1217-1274)	Itinerarium mentis in Deum
Sadness "fetters all our Senses, pulleth down / Heav'ns Image, Reason from her rightful Throne," replacing her with "feigned Ill"	1681	Chamberlayne, Sir James (c.1640-1699)	Manuductio ad Coelum. A Poem. In Two Parts. I. Of Joy and Sadness. How a good Man ought to rejoice. He that looks before him is not cast down. Several Antidotes against Sorrow. II. Of Patience: The Occasions and Effects of it. The Signs of it. An Exhortation to it; with Instructions how to behave our selves in Adversity. The necessity of Perseverance. Extracted out of the Writings of the Holy Fathers and Ancient Philosophers, by John Bona a Cistertian Abbot: and turned into Verse by James Chamberlayne
"He seemed therefore confident, that instead of Reason, we were only possessed of some Quality fitted to increase our natural Vices; as the Reflection from a troubled Stream returns the Image of an ill-shapen Body, not only larger, but more distorted."	1735	Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)	The Travels of Captain Lemuel Gulliver [from The Works of J.S, D.D, D.S.P.D. in Four Volumes. Containing, I. The Author's Miscellanies in Prose. II. His Poetical Writings. III. The Travels of Captain Lemuel Gulliver. IV. His Papers relating to Ireland, consisting of several Treatises; among which are, The Drapier's Letters to the People of Ireland against receiving Wood's Half-pence: Also, two Original Drapier's Letters, never before published. In this Edition are great Alterations and Additions; and likewise many Pieces in each Volume, never before published]
Man may deface "the Image of God in his Soul"	1724	Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)	The Fortunate Mistress: Or, A History of the Life and Vast Variety of Fortunes of Mademoiselle de Beleau, afterwards call'd the Countess de Wintselsheim, in Germany. Being the Person known by the Name of the Lady Roxana, in the Time of King Charles II
"Still be his Image on your Mind imprest; / Be that the Mirror which you most admire, / Mortality itself can rise no higher."	1733-1735	Bowden, Samuel (fl. 1733-1761)	To Miss Raleigh, Great Grand-daughter of the famous Sir W. Raleigh. [from Poetical essays on Several Occasions. By Samuel Bowden]
"Yes, Speech is Animi Index, & Speculum; 'tis the Interpreter of the Heart, 'tis the Image of the Soul."	1739	Baker, Henry (1698-1774); Miller James (1706-1744); Molière (1622-1673)	The Forc'd Marriage. [from The Works of Moliere, French and English. In ten volumes]
" They bade retentive memory on their mind / Impress each image, in distinctive lines / That mock'd erasure"	1792	Polwhele, Richard (1760-1838)	The English Orator [from Poems, chiefly by Gentlemen of Devonshire and Cornwall. In two volumes]
The heart may bear a "fair image"	1801	Burges, Sir James Bland (1752-1824)	Richard the First, A Poem: In Eighteen Books. By Sir James Bland Burges
We desire a "penciled remembrance of those we love" in order to "refresh that ideal image which intense and perpetual contemplation had rendered evanescent"	1810	Seward, Anna (1742-1809)	Epistle to William Hayley, Esq. [from The Poetical Works of Anna Seward; With Extracts from her Literary Correspondence. Edited by Walter Scott ... In Three Volumes]
"And yet, my heart, within thy silent cell / Dwells a fair image which is lovelier still."	1810	Hurdis, James (1763-1801)	A Landscape [from The Village Curate and Other Poems]
"An image is like the painter's Madonna or the sculptor's Diana: it is the result of delicate workmanship."	1902	Spiller, Gustav (1864-1940)	The Mind of Man: A Text-book of Psychology