There is no denying the fact that we all have grown up reading the tales of the Life of Robinson Crusoe. The challenges, pursuits and adventures of York mariner Crusoe who spent more than thirty years on an un-inhabitated island before being rescued by other travellers is a story that we all have known since the time we opened ourselves to reading books. But did you know that the man, Robinson Crusoe actually never existed? Yes, as unbelievable as this may seem to be, Robinson Crusoe is actually a fiction character crafted out of the mind of the greatest storyteller of the 18th century, Daniel Defoe. A failed merchant and an unsuccessful English businessman, Defoe wrote political pamphlets in his part-time but soon landed himself in jail for slander. It was eventually that Defoe turned his pen to writing fiction. He penned Robinson Crusoe, thus starting a legacy that has permanently etched a mark on the world of literature. It marked the beginning of realistic fiction as a literary genre and became one of the most widely read and influential novels of all time. Defoe was the earliest proponent of novels and is counted amongst the founders of English novel. A prolific, versatile and productive writer, Defoe penned more than five hundred books, pamphlets and journals in his lifetime, covering politics, crime, religion, marriage, psychology, and the supernatural. While his books are highly recommended for reading so are his quotes that say a lot about life and living in limited words. Browse through this section and update yourself with some of the best known quotes by Daniel Defoe covering a wide variety of aspects.
Thus 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.
Today we love what tomorrow we hate,
today we seek what tomorrow we shun,
today we desire what tomorrow we fear,
nay, even tremble at the apprehensions of.
He that hath truth on his side is a fool as well as a coward if he is afraid to own it because fo other mens's opinions.
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 : ...
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.
And now I saw, tho' too late, the Folly of beginning a Work before we count the Cost; and before we judge rightly of our own Strength to go through with it.
This grieved me heartily ; and now I saw, though too late, the folly of beginning a work before we count the cost, and before we judge rightly of our own strength to go through with it.
Was called Robinson Kreutznaer; but, by the usual corruption of words in England, we are now called - nay we call ourselves and write our name - Crusoe; and so my companions
Daniel Defoe
...as this is ordinarily the fate of young heads, so reflection upon the folly of it, is as ordinarily the exercise of more years, or of the dear-bought experience of time....
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.
Now I wished for my boy Xury, and the long boat with the shoulder of mutton sail, with which I sailed above a thousand miles on the coast of Africk; but this was in vain.
I had never handled a tool in my life, and yet in time, by labour, application, and contrivance, I found at last that I wanted nothing but I could have made it.
