Date: 1722

"I relate this in the very manner in which things then appear'd to me, as far as I am able; but infinitely short of the lively impressions which they made on my Soul at that time"

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1722

"[P]erhaps, said I, it may be some poor Widow like me, that had pack'd up these Goods to go and sell them for a little Bread for herself and a poor Child, and are now starving and breaking their Hearts, for want of that little they would have fetch'd, and this Thought tormented me worse th...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1722

"However, these Thoughts left some Impression upon me, and made me act with some more caution than before"

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1722

"Now I reproach'd myself with the many hints I had had, as I have mention'd above, from my own Reason, from the Sense of my good Circumstances, and of the many Dangers I had escap'd to leave off while I was well, and how I had withstood them all, and hardened my Thoughts against all Fear."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1722

"[A]s to the Arguments which my Reason dictated for perswading me to lay down, Avarice stept in and said, go on, you have had very good luck, go on, till you have gotten Four or Five Hundred Pound, and then you shall leave off, and then you may live easie without working at all."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

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."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1722

"[B]ut he was really to be pityed in one respect that he seem'd to be a good sort of a Man in himself; a Gentleman that had no harm in his Design; a Man of Sense, and of a fine Behaviour; a comely handsome Person, a sober and solid Countenance, a charming beautiful Face, and every thing that cou'...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1722

"I had the Name of an old Offender, so that I had nothing to expect but Death, neither had I myself any thoughts of escaping, and yet a certain strange Lethargy of Soul possess'd me, I had no Trouble, no Apprehensions, no Sorrow about me, the first Surprize was gone; I was, I may well say, I know...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1722

"This honest friendly way of treating me, unlock'd all the Sluces of my Passions: He broke into my very Soul by it; and I unravell'd all the Wickedness of my Life to him: In a word, I gave him an Abridgement of this whole History."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1722

"And this is the Cause why many times Men, as well as Women, and Men of the greatest, and best Qualities other ways, yet have found themselves weak in this Part, and have not been able to bear the Weight of a secret Joy, or of a secret Sorrow; but have been oblig'd to disclose it, even for the me...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)