Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe, born Daniel Foe, was an English trader, writer, journalist, pamphleteer, and spy, most famous for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is noted for being one of the earliest proponents of the novel, as he helped to popularise the form in Britain with others such as Samuel Richardson, and is among the founders of the English novel. He was a prolific and versatile writer, producing more than five hundred books, pamphlets, and journals on various topics, including politics, crime,...
order people being-thankful
It put me upon reflecting how little repining there would be among mankind at any condition of life, if people would rather compare their condition with those that were worse, in order to be thankful, than be always comparing them with those which are better, to assist their murmurings and complaining.
clouds storm saws
I saw the Cloud, though I did not foresee the Storm.
party eye men
Justice is always violent to the party offending, for every man is innocent in his own eyes.
inspirational people empathy
I hear much of people's calling out to punish the guilty, but very few are concerned to clear the innocent.
soul-and-body lust literature
The soul is placed in the body like a rough diamond, and must be polished, or the luster of it will never appear.
fear danger thousand
Fear of danger is ten thousand times more terrifying than danger itself.
doors vices inclination
Vice came in always at the door of necessity, not at the door of inclination.
spring dark people
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.
wise too-late never-too-late
It is never too late to be wise.
honesty men knaves
Necessity makes an honest man a knave.
fate men late
The best of men cannot suspend their fate; The good die early, and the bad die late.
pride president firsts
Pride, the first peer and president of Hell.
leadership army sheep
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.
began mob
From this amphibious ill-born mob began That vain, ill-natured thing, an Englishman.