Date: Tuesday, October 22, 1706

"Sometimes it is acted by the evil Spirit of general Vogue, and like a meer Possession 'tis hurry'd out of all manner of common Measures; to day it obeys the Course of things and submits to Causes and Consequences; to morrow it suffers Violence from the Storms and Vapours of Human Fancy, operated...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1719

"In the midst of the greatest Composures of my Mind, this would break out upon me like a Storm, and make me wring my Hands, and weep like a Child."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1719

"I was not so much surpriz'd with the Lightning, as I was with a Thought which darted into my Mind as swift as the Lightning it self: O my Powder!"

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1727

"The Soul of the Murther'd Person seeks no Revenge; all that Part is swallowed up in the Wonders of the eternal State, and Vengeance entirely resign'd to him to whom it belongs; but the Soul of the Murtherer is like the Ocean in a Tempest, he is in continual Motion, restless and raging; and the G...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1727

"In this distracted Condition, Conscience, like a Storm at Sea, still breaks over him; first gathers about him in a thick black Cloud, threatning the Deaths that it comes loaded with; and after hovering about him for a-while, at last bursts with Lightnings and Thunder, and the poor shatter'd Vess...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1727

"This is bringing the Matter into a narrow Compass, and putting an end to Cavil and Quarrel about it; there is no need to wrangle upon it any more; but when you at any time see an Apparition, or Appearance of Spirit assuming Shape and Voice, and you are sure it is really an Apparition, not a Dece...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)