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Daniel Defoe
66 quotes
“We loved the doctrine for the teacher's sake.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) first seen 1697 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Character of the Late Dr. S. Annesly (1697).
“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 (1660–1731) first seen 1702 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Shortest Way with the Dissenters (1702).
“Hail, hieroglyphic State machine, Contrived to punish fancy in; Men that are men in thee can feel no pain, And all thy insignificance disdain!”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) first seen 1703 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Hymn to the Pillory (1703).
“Next, bring some lawyers to thy bar, By innuendo they might all stand there; There let them expiate that guilt, And pay for all that blood their tongues have spilt. These are the mountebanks of state, Who by the sleight of tongues can crimes create, And dress up trifles in the robes of fate, The mastiffs of a Government, To worry and run down the innocent.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) first seen 1703 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Hymn to the Pillory (1703).
“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 (1660–1731) first seen 1710 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: An Essay upon Publick Credit (1710).
“All men would be tyrants if they could.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) first seen 1706 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Jure divino: a satyre, Introduction, l. 2 (1706).
“The best of men cannot suspend their fate: The good die early, and the bad die late.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) first seen 1715 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Character of the Late Dr. S. Annesley (1715).
“'Tis very strange Men should be so fond of being thought wickeder than they are.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) first seen 1726 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A System of Magick (1726).
“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 (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Life and Adventures of Mrs. Christian Davies (1741)
“Wise men affirm it is the English way Never to grumble till they come to pay.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nature has left this tincture in the blood, That all men would be tyrants if they could.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) first seen 1701 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Kentish Petition (1701), Addenda. l. 11.
“Above all, I have followed that sure Rule in our Tongue, and which, were it observed, would, I believe, be acknowledged to be the best Rule in all Tongues, (viz) to make the Language plain, artless, and honest, suitable to the Story, and in a Stile easie and free, with as few exotick Phrases and obsolete Words as possible, that the meanest Reader may meet with no Difficulty in the Reading, and may have no Obstruction to his searching the History of things by their being obscurely represented.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) first seen 1718 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Continuation of Letters Written by a Turkish Spy at Paris (1718), pp. iv-v
“In trouble to be troubled Is to have your trouble doubled.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) first seen 1719 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1719)
“A true-bred merchant is the best gentleman in the nation.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) first seen 1719 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1719)
“Like Eden Fruitful, like Arabia Gay, So blest, they scarcely know for what to pray; England in native Glory ever springs; A Country fitted for the View of Kings.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) first seen 1724 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Royal Progress: Or, A Historical View of the Journeys, or Progresses, which several Great Princes have made to visit their Dominions, And Acquaint themselves with their People (1724)
“I cannot believe that God ever design'd the Riches of the World to be useless to the World; that the Gold, the Silver, the Diamonds, and other Species of such Immense Worth and Value, was ever created in the Bowels of the Mountains, and the most hidden Parts of the World to lye buried there, and remain unprofitable, till they come to be melted down again in the General Conflagration.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) first seen 1727 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The History of the Principal Discoveries and Improvements in the Several Arts and Sciences: Particularly the Great Branches of Commerce, Navigation, and Plantation, in all parts of the known world (1727), p. 6
“To know Trade then is to know the World: And I may farther observe, That if any one Nation could govern Trade, that Nation would govern the World; could it give Laws to the Commerce, it would give Laws to the People, and the whole World would be its Dependents and Subjects.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) first seen 1729 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Advantages of Peace and Commerce; With Some Remarks on the East-India Trade (1729), p. 6
“The art of war, which I take to be the highest perfection of human knowledge.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Self-destruction is the effect of cowardice in the highest extreme.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Women, in my observation, have little or no difference in them, but as they are or are not distinguished by education.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The grand contention's plainly to be seen, To get some men put out, and some put in.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Wherever God erects a house of prayer, The Devil always builds a chapel there; And 'twill be found, upon examination, The latter has the largest congregation.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“From this amphibious ill-born mob began That vain, ill-natured thing, an Englishman.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The royal refugee our breed restores With foreign courtiers and with foreign whores, And carefully repeopled us again, Throughout his lazy, long, lascivious reign.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That heterogeneous thing, an Englishman.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Wealth, howsoever got, in England makes Lords of mechanics, gentlemen of rakes; Antiquity and birth are needless here; 'Tis impudence and money makes a peer.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Great families of yesterday we show, And lords whose parents were the Lord knows who.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In their religion they are so uneven, That each man goes his own byway to heaven.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No panegyric needs their praise record; An Englishman ne'er wants his own good word.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Restraint from ill is freedom to the wise; But Englishmen do all restraint despise.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For Englishmen are ne'er contented long.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And of all plagues with which mankind are cursed, Ecclesiastic tyranny's the worst.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When kings the sword of justice first lay down, They are no kings, though they possess the crown. Titles are shadows, crowns are empty things, The good of subjects is the end of kings.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For justice is the end of government.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But English gratitude is always such To hate the hand which doth oblige too much.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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 (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All evils are to be considered with the good that is in them, and with what worse attends them.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And I add this part here, to hint to whoever shall read it, that whenever they come to a true sense of things, they will find deliverance from sin a much greater blessing than deliverance from affliction.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now I saw, though too late, the folly of beginning a work before we count the cost, and before we judge rightly of our own strength to go through with it.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In a word, the nature and experience of things dictated to me, upon just reflection, that all the good things of this world are no farther good to us than they are for our use; and that, whatever we may heap up to give others, we enjoy just as much as we can use, and no more.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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 (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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 (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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 (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To-day we love what to-morrow we hate; to-day we seek what to-morrow we shun; to-day we desire what to-morrow we fear, nay, even tremble at the apprehensions of.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Fear of danger is ten thousand times more terrifying than danger itself.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is never too late to be wise.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“How frequently, in the course of our lives, the evil which in itself we seek most to shun, and which, when we are fallen into, is the most dreadful to us, is oftentimes the very means or door of our deliverance, by which alone we can be raised again from the affliction we are fallen into.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What is one man's safety is another man's destruction.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are some secret springs in the affections which, when they are set a-going by some object in view, or, though not in view, yet rendered present to the mind by the power of imagination, that motion carries out the soul, by its impetuosity, to such violent, eager embracings of the object, that the absence of it is insupportable.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My man Friday.”
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) said by 1731 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source