Oliver Wendell Holmes says:  “The more we examine the mechanism of thought the more we shall see that anterior unconscious action of the mind that enters largely into all of its processes.  People who talk most do not always think most.  I question whether persons who think most—­that is who have most conscious thought pass through their mind—­necessarily do most mental work.  Every new idea planted in a real thinker’s mind grows when he is least conscious of it.”

Maudsley says:  “It would go hard with mankind indeed, if they must act wittingly before they acted at all.  Men, without knowing why, follow a course for which good reasons exist.  Nay, more.  The practical instincts of mankind often work beneficially in actual contradiction to their professed doctrines.”

The same writer says:  “The best thoughts of an author are the unwilled thoughts which surprise himself; and the poet, under the influence of creative activity, is, so far as consciousness is concerned, being dictated to.”

A writer in an English magazine says:  “When waiting on a pier for a steamer, I went on to the first, which was the wrong one.  I came back and waited, losing my boat, which was at another part of the pier, on account of the unconscious assumption I had made, that this was the only place to wait for the steamer.  I saw a man enter a room, and leave by another door.  Shortly after, I saw another man exactly like him do the same.  It was the same man; but I said it must be his twin brother, in the unconscious assumption that there was no exit for the first man but by the way he came (that by returning).”

Maudsley says:  “The firmest resolve or purpose sometimes vanishes issueless when it comes to the brink of an act, while the true will, which determines perhaps a different act, springs up suddenly out of the depths of the unconscious nature, surprising and overcoming the conscious.”

Schofield says:  “Our unconscious influence is the projection of our unconscious mind and personality unconsciously over others.  This acts unconsciously on their unconscious centers, producing effects in character and conduct, recognized in consciousness.  For instance, the entrance of a good man into a room where foul language is used, will unconsciously modify and purify the tone of the whole room.  Our minds cast shadows of which we are as unconscious as those cast by our bodies, but which affect for good or evil all who unconsciously pass within their range.  This is a matter of daily experience, and is common to all, though more noticeable with strong personalities.”