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)

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)

Date: 1722, 1723

The "Laws of Honour" may be "printed by the Laws of Nature in the Breast of a Soldier, or a Man of Honour"

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1722, 1723

"Lord! whatsoever Sorrows Rack my Breast, / Till Crime removes too, let me find no Rest."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

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)