Daniel Defoe quotes

'Tis no sin to cheat the devil. (Daniel Defoe)
It is never too late to be wise.
Daniel Defoe
It is better to have a lion at the head of an army of sheep, than a sheep at the head of an army of lions.
Daniel Defoe
Fear of danger is ten thousand times more terrifying than danger itself.
Daniel Defoe
All our discontents about what we want appeared to spring from the want of thankfulness for what we have.
Daniel Defoe
All men would be tyrants if they could.
Daniel Defoe
The best of men cannot suspend their fate: The good die early, and the bad die late.
Daniel Defoe
Wherever God erects a house of prayer, The Devil always builds a chapel there; And 'twill be found, upon examination, The latter has the largest congregation.
Daniel Defoe
Great families of yesterday we show, And lords, whose parents were the Lord knows who.
Daniel Defoe
I learned to look more upon the bright side of my condition, and less upon the dark side, and to consider what I enjoyed, rather than what I wanted : and this gave me sometimes such secret comforts, that I cannot express them ; and which I take notice of here, to put those discontented people in mind of it, who cannot enjoy comfortably what God has given them, because they see and covet something that he has not given them. All our discontents about what we want appeared to me to spring from the want of thankfulness for what we have.
Daniel Defoe
A woman well bred and well taught, furnished with the additional accomplishments of knowledge and behaviour, is a creature without comparison. Her society is the emblem of sublimer enjoyments, her person is angelic, and her conversation heavenly. She is all softness and sweetness, peace, love, wit, and delight. She is every way suitable to the sublimest wish, and the man that has such a one to his portion, has nothing to do but to rejoice in her, and be thankful. (Daniel Defoe)
Tis very strange men should be so fond of being wickeder than they are.
Daniel Defoe
And I add this part here, to hint to whoever shall read it, that whenever they come to a true Sense of things, they will find Deliverance from Sin a much greater Blessing than Deliverance from Affliction.
Daniel Defoe
Wealth, howsoever got, in England makes lords of mechanics, gentlemen of rakes; Antiquity and birth are needless here; 'Tis impudence and money makes a peer.
Daniel Defoe
Alas the Church of England! What with Popery on one hand, and schismatics on the other, how has she been crucified between two thieves!
Daniel Defoe
Reason, it is true, is DICTATOR in the Society of Mankind; from her there ought to lie no Appeal; But here we want a Pope in our Philosophy, to be the infallible Judge of what is or is not Reason.
Daniel Defoe
All evils are to be considered with the good that is in them, and with what worse attends them.
Daniel Defoe
For I cannot think that God Almighty ever made them so delicate, so glorious creatures; and furnished them with such charms, so agreeable and so delightful to mankind; with souls capable of the same accomplishments with men: and all, to be only Stewards of our Houses, Cooks, and Slaves.
Daniel Defoe
In their religion they are so uneven, That each man goes his own byway to heaven.
Daniel Defoe
We never see the true state of our condition till it is illustrated to us by its contraries, nor know how to value what we enjoy, but by the want of it.
Daniel Defoe
And of all plagues with which mankind are cursed, Ecclesiastic tyranny's the worst. (Daniel Defoe)
To-day we love what to-morrow we hate; to-day we seek what to-morrow we shun; to-day we desire what to-morrow we fear, nay, even tremble at the apprehensions of.
Daniel Defoe
Expect nothing and you'll always be surprised.
Daniel Defoe
Thus fear of danger is ten thousand times more terrifying than danger itself when apparent to the eyes ; and we find the burden of anxiety greater, by much, than the evil which we are anxious about.
Daniel Defoe
We loved the doctrine for the teacher's sake.
Daniel Defoe