Date: 1724

"As for the poor Girl herself, she was ever before my Eyes; I saw her by-Night, and by-Day; she haunted my Imagination, if she did not haunt the House; my Fancy show'd her me in a hundred Shapes and Postures; sleeping or waking, she was with me."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1724

"It is for this Reason, that I have so largely set down the Particulars of the Caresses I was treated with by the Jeweller, and also by this Prince; not to make the Story an Incentive to the Vice, which I am now such a sorrowful Penitent for being guilty of, God forbid any shou'd make so vile a U...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1724

"All these Thoughts, and many more, crowded in so fast, I say, upon me, that I wanted to give Vent to them, and get rid of him, and was very glad when he was gone away"

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1724

"These were my Baits, these the Chains by which the Devil held me bound; and by which I was indeed, too fast held for any Reasoning that I was then Mistress of, to deliver me from."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1724

"Thus he went on, speaking so chearfully to me, and such chearful things, that it was a Cordial to my very Soul, to hear him speak."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1724

"[S]o with my Eyes open, and with my Conscience, as I may say, awake, I sinn'd, knowing it to be a Sin, but having no Power to resist; when this had thus made a Hole in my Heart, and I was come to such a height, as to transgress against the Light of my own Conscience, I was then fit for any Wicke...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1724

"This was a dreadful Blow to me; tho' I cannot say I was so surpriz'd as I should otherwise have been; for all the while he was gone, my Mind was oppress'd with the Weight of my own Thoughts; and I was as sure that I should never see him any more, that I think nothing could be like it; the Impres...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1724

"So possible is it for us to roll ourselves up in Wickedness, till we grow invulnerable by Conscience; and that Centinel once doz'd, sleeps fast, not to be awaken'd while the Tide of Pleasure continues to flow, or till something dark and dreadful brings us to ourselves again."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1724

"I have, I confess, wonder'd at the Stupidity that my intellectual Part was under all that while; what Lethargick Fumes doz'd the Soul."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1724

"I say, it wore off gradually; and as I had a pretty deal of Business for managing my Effects, the Hurry of that particular Part, serv'd to divert my Thoughts, and in part to wear out the Impressions which had been made upon my Mind."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)