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

"[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

"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

"No, no, there was a Dart struck into the Liver; there was a secret Hell within, even all the while, when our Joy was at the highest."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1724

"In a word, it never Lightn'd or Thunder'd, but I expected the next Flash wou'd penetrate my Vitals, and melt the Sword [Soul] in this Scabbord of Flesh."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1724

"Those Reflections began to prey upon my Comforts, and lessen the Sweets of my other Enjoyments: They might be said to have gnaw'd a Hole in my Heart before; but now they made a Hole quite thro' it; now they eat into all my pleasant things; made bitter every Sweet, and mix'd my Sighs with every S...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1724

"I must acknowledge, the Notion of being discover'd, carried with it so many frightful Ideas, and hurry'd my Thoughts so much, that I was scarce myself, any more than Amy, so dreadful a thing is a Load of Guilt upon the Mind."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1724

"My Thoughts had for so long time been kept as it were, waking, that almost every-thing gave me the Allarm, and this especially, so that I was very uneasie."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)