Daniel Defoe

I learned to look more upon the bright side of my condition, and less upon the dark side, and to consider what I enjoyed, rather than what I wanted : and this gave me sometimes such secret comforts, that I cannot express them ; and which I take notice of here, to put those discontented people in mind of it, who cannot enjoy comfortably what God has given them, because they see and covet something that he has not given them. All our discontents about what we want appeared to me to spring from the want of thankfulness for what we have.

— Daniel Defoe

We loved the doctrine for the teacher's sake.

— Daniel Defoe

Alas the Church of England! What with Popery on one hand, and schismatics on the other, how has she been crucified between two thieves!

— Daniel Defoe

Hail, hieroglyphic State machine,And all thy insignificance disdain!

— Daniel Defoe

Reason, it is true, is DICTATOR in the Society of Mankind; from her there ought to lie no Appeal; But here we want a Pope in our Philosophy, to be the infallible Judge of what is or is not Reason.

— Daniel Defoe

All men would be tyrants if they could.

— Daniel Defoe

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

— Daniel Defoe

'Tis very strange Men should be so fond of being thought wickeder than they are.

— Daniel Defoe

It is better to have a lion at the head of an army of sheep than a sheep at the head of an army of lions.

— Daniel Defoe

Wherever God erects a house of prayer,The latter has the largest congregation.

— Daniel Defoe

From this amphibious ill-born mob beganThat vain, ill-natured thing, an Englishman.

— Daniel Defoe

The royal refugee our breed restoresThroughout his lazy, long, lascivious reign.

— Daniel Defoe

Wealth, howsoever got, in England makes‘Tis impudence and money makes a peer.

— Daniel Defoe

Great families of yesterday we show,And lords whose parents were the Lord knows who.

— Daniel Defoe

In their religion they are so uneven,That each man goes his own byway to heaven.

— Daniel Defoe

And of all plagues with which mankind are cursed,Ecclesiastic tyranny's the worst.

— Daniel Defoe

When kings the sword of justice first lay down,The good of subjects is the end of kings.

— Daniel Defoe

I have since often observed, how incongruous and irrational the common temper of mankind is, especially of youth, to that reason which ought to guide them in such cases - viz. they are not ashamed to sin, and yet are ashamed to repent. Not ashamed of the action for which they ought justly to be esteemed fools, but are ashamed of the returning, which can only make them be esteemed wise men.

— Daniel Defoe

We never see the true state of our condition till it is illustrated to us by its contraries, nor know how to value what we enjoy, but by the want of it.

— Daniel Defoe

It happened one day, about noon, going towards my boat, I was exceedingly surprised with the print of a man's naked foot on the shore, which was very plain to be seen on the sand.

— Daniel Defoe

Fear of danger is ten thousand times more terrifying than danger itself.

— Daniel Defoe

It is never too late to be wise.

— Daniel Defoe

I have often thought of it as one of the most barbarous customs in the world, considering us as a civilized and a Christian country, that we deny the advantages of learning to women. We reproach the sex every day with folly and impertinence; while I am confident, had they the advantages of education equal to us, they would be guilty of less than ourselves.

— Daniel Defoe

The soul is placed in the body like a rough diamond; and must be polished, or the lustre of it will never appear. And ’tis manifest, that as the rational soul distinguishes us from brutes; so education carries on the distinction, and makes some less brutish than others.

— Daniel Defoe

A woman well bred and well taught, furnished with the additional accomplishments of knowledge and behaviour, is a creature without comparison. Her society is the emblem of sublimer enjoyments, her person is angelic, and her conversation heavenly. She is all softness and sweetness, peace, love, wit, and delight. She is every way suitable to the sublimest wish, and the man that has such a one to his portion, has nothing to do but to rejoice in her, and be thankful.

— Daniel Defoe

For I cannot think that God Almighty ever made them so delicate, so glorious creatures; and furnished them with such charms, so agreeable and so delightful to mankind; with souls capable of the same accomplishments with men: and all, to be only Stewards of our Houses, Cooks, and Slaves.

— Daniel Defoe

It is better to have a lion at the head of an army of sheep, than a sheep at the head of an army of lions.

— Daniel Defoe

Thus we never see the true state of our condition till it is illustrated to us by its contraries, nor know how to value what we enjoy, but by the want of it.

— Daniel Defoe