Date: 1719
A "strange Impression upon the Mind, from we know not what Springs, and by we know not what Power," may over-rule us
preview | full record— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)
Date: 1719
"I now began to consider seriously my Condition, and the Circumstance I was reduc'd to, and I drew up the State of my Affairs in Writing, not so much to leave them to any that were to come after me, for I was like to have but few Heirs, as to deliver my Thoughts from daily poring upon them, and a...
preview | full record— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)
Date: 1719
"I thought he was not a Monarch only, but a great Conqueror; for that he that has got a Victory over his own exorbitant Desires, and has the absolute Dominion over himself, whose Reason entirely governs his Will, is certainly greater than he that conquers a City"
preview | full record— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)
Date: 1720
"The prodigious stupid Bigottry of the People also was irksome to me; I thought there was something in it very sordid, the entire Empire the Priests have over both the Souls and Bodies of the People, gave me a Specimen of that Meanness of Spirit which is no where else to be seen but in Italy, esp...
preview | full record— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)
Date: 1720
"Well, I know that too, William, said I; but the Captain is a Man will be ruled by Reason; what have you to say to it?."
preview | full record— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)
Date: 1721, 1722
"With us there is an uniformity of character, as it is all forced: we do not see people as they are, but as they are obliged to appear: in this state of slavery, both of body and mind, it is their fears only that speak, which have but one language, and that not of nature, which expresses herself ...
preview | full record— Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (1689-1755)
Date: 1721, 1722
"This prince is, besides, a great magician; he exercises his empire even over the minds of his subjects, and makes them think as he pleases."
preview | full record— Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (1689-1755)
Date: 1721, 1722
"The soul united to a body is continually under its tyrannical power."
preview | full record— Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (1689-1755)
Date: 1722
"There is nothing so absurd, so surfeiting, so ridiculous as a Man heated by Wine in his Head, and a wicked Gust in his Inclination together; he is in the possession of two Devils at once, and can no more govern himself by his Reason than a Mill can Grind without Water."
preview | full record— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)
Date: 1722, 1723
"For Jesus sake, remove not my Distress, / Till free Triumphant Grace shall Reposess / The Vacant Throne; from whence my Sins Depart, / And make a willing Captive of my Heart."
preview | full record— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)