Date: 1719

A "strange Impression upon the Mind, from we know not what Springs, and by we know not what Power," may over-rule us

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1719

"I now began to consider seriously my Condition, and the Circumstance I was reduc'd to, and I drew up the State of my Affairs in Writing, not so much to leave them to any that were to come after me, for I was like to have but few Heirs, as to deliver my Thoughts from daily poring upon them, and a...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1719

"I thought he was not a Monarch only, but a great Conqueror; for that he that has got a Victory over his own exorbitant Desires, and has the absolute Dominion over himself, whose Reason entirely governs his Will, is certainly greater than he that conquers a City"

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1720

"The prodigious stupid Bigottry of the People also was irksome to me; I thought there was something in it very sordid, the entire Empire the Priests have over both the Souls and Bodies of the People, gave me a Specimen of that Meanness of Spirit which is no where else to be seen but in Italy, esp...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1720

"Well, I know that too, William, said I; but the Captain is a Man will be ruled by Reason; what have you to say to it?."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1721, 1722

"With us there is an uniformity of character, as it is all forced: we do not see people as they are, but as they are obliged to appear: in this state of slavery, both of body and mind, it is their fears only that speak, which have but one language, and that not of nature, which expresses herself ...

— Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (1689-1755)

Date: 1721, 1722

"This prince is, besides, a great magician; he exercises his empire even over the minds of his subjects, and makes them think as he pleases."

— Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (1689-1755)

Date: 1721, 1722

"The soul united to a body is continually under its tyrannical power."

— Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (1689-1755)

Date: 1722

"There is nothing so absurd, so surfeiting, so ridiculous as a Man heated by Wine in his Head, and a wicked Gust in his Inclination together; he is in the possession of two Devils at once, and can no more govern himself by his Reason than a Mill can Grind without Water."

— 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)