Date: 1700, 1705

"Wit is a Standing-Army Government, / And Sense a sullen stubborn P---t."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1719

"I found indeed some Intervals of Reflection, and the serious Thoughts did, as it were, endeavour to return again sometimes, but I shook them off, and rouz'd my self from them as it were from a Distemper, and applying my self to Drinking and Company, soon master'd the Return of those Fits, for so...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1719

I struggled with the Power of my Imagination, reason'd myself out of it, as I believe People may always do in like Cases, if they will; and, in a Word, I conquer'd it

— 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"

— 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."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)