Daniel Defoe

Necessity makes an honest man a knave.

— Daniel Defoe

Expect nothing and you'll always be surprised

— Daniel Defoe

'Tis no sin to cheat the devil.

— Daniel Defoe

“walked about a furlong”

— Daniel Defoe

Pleasure is a thief to business.

— Daniel Defoe

It is never too late to be wise.

— Daniel Defoe

Law is but a heathen word for power.

— Daniel Defoe

What are the sorrows of other men to us, and what their joy?...

— Daniel Defoe

We loved the teaching because we loved the teacher.

— Daniel Defoe

Redemption from sin is greater then redemption from affliction.

— Daniel Defoe

Abused prosperity is oftentimes made the very means of our greatest adversity.

— Daniel Defoe

The best of men cannot suspend their fate; The good die early, and the bad die late.

— Daniel Defoe

He that is rich is wise, And all men learned poverty despise.

— Daniel Defoe

Justice is always Violence to the Party offending, for every Man is Innocent in his own Eyes.

— Daniel Defoe

I am giving an account of what was, not of what ought or ought not to be.

— Daniel Defoe

“Thus the Government of our Virtue was broken and I exchang'd the Place of Friend for that unmusical harsh-sounding Title of Whore.”

— Daniel Defoe

“Wait on the Lord, and be of good cheer, and he shall strengthen thy heart; wait, I say, on the Lord.”

— Daniel Defoe

“All our discontents about what we want appeared to me to spring from the want of thankfulness for what we have.”

— Daniel Defoe

Today we love what tomorrow we hate, today we seek what tomorrow we shun, today we desire what tomorrow we fear, nay,…

— Daniel Defoe

No man commits evil for the sake of it; even the Devil himself has some farther design in sinning, than barely the…

— Daniel Defoe

Thus we never see the true state of our condition till it is illustrated to us by its contraries, nor know how…

— Daniel Defoe

The soul is placed in the body like a rough diamond, and must be polished, or the luster of it will never…

— Daniel Defoe

She is always married too soon, who gets a bad husband, and she is never married too late, who gets a good…

— Daniel Defoe

So possible is it for us to roll ourselves up in wickedness, till we grow invulnerable by conscience; and that sentinel, once…

— Daniel Defoe

“In the first place , I was removed from all the wickedness of the world here. I had neither the lust of…

— Daniel Defoe

“How mercifully can our Creator treat His creatures, even in those conditions in which they seemed to be overwhelmed in destruction! How…

— Daniel Defoe

“Wherever God erects a house of prayer the Devil always builds a chapel there; And t’will be found, upon examination, the latter…

— Daniel Defoe

The Dutch must be understood as they really are, the Middle Persons in Trade, the Factors and Brokers of Europe... they buy…

— Daniel Defoe

Not the man in the moon, not the groaning-board, not the speaking of friar Bacon's brazen- head, not the inspiration of mother…

— Daniel Defoe

Whatever Party of Men obtain the Reins of Management, and have power to name the Person who shall License the Press, that…

— Daniel Defoe

“If a young women once thinks herself handsome, she never doubts the truth of any man that tells her he is in…

— Daniel Defoe

No man of common sense will value a woman the less, for not giving herself up at the first attack, or for…

— Daniel Defoe

“He told me it was for men of desperate fortunes on one hand, or of aspiring, superior fortune on the other, who…

— Daniel Defoe

“was to prepare more land, for I had now seed enough to sow above an acre of ground. Before I did this,…

— Daniel Defoe

“while, and told them that London was the place by which they, that is, the townsmen of Epping, and all the country…

— Daniel Defoe

“Upon the whole, here was an undoubted testimony that there was scarce any condition in the world so miserable but there was…

— Daniel Defoe

“How infinitely good that Providence is which has provided, in its government of mankind, such narrow bounds to his sight and knowledge…

— Daniel Defoe

“It might be truly said, that now I worked for my bread; ‘tis a little wonderful, and what I believe few people…

— Daniel Defoe

“And now I saw how easy it was for the Providence of God to make the most miserable Condition Mankind could be…

— Daniel Defoe

“I spent eighteen days entirely in widening and deepening my cave,”

— Daniel Defoe