Literary Birthday – 13 September – Daniel Defoe

Daniel Defoe was born 13 September 1660 (the exact date of his birth is unknown), died 24 April 1731.

Quotes

1. It is never too late to be wise.
2. I have often thought of it as one of the most barbarous customs in the world, considering us as a civilised and a Christian country, that we deny the advantages of learning to women.
3. Misfortunes seldom come alone.
4. The best of men cannot suspend their fate: The good die early, and the bad die late.
5. All our discontents about what we want appeared to me to spring from the want of thankfulness for what we have.
6. For sudden joys, like griefs, confound at first.
7. Justice is always violent to the party offending, for every man is innocent in his own eyes.
8. I hear much of people’s calling out to punish the guilty, but very few are concerned to clear the innocent.
9. Fear of danger is ten thousand times more terrifying than danger itself.

Daniel Defoe was an English trader, writer, journalist, pamphleteer, and spy. He is most famous for his novel, Robinson Crusoe. Defoe helped to popularise the novel in Britain. He wrote more than 500 books, pamphlets, and journals on various topics, including politics, crime, religion, marriage, psychology, and the supernatural. He was also a pioneer of economic journalism.

Image

Public domain

UnknownUnknown , style of Sir Godfrey Kneller, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

 by Amanda Patterson

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