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A rich man is an honest man--no thanks to him for he would be a double knave, to cheat mankind when he had no need of it: he has no occasion to press upon his integrity, nor so much as to touch upon the borders of dishonesty.

Daniel Defoe

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Daniel Defoe
Age: 70 †
Born: 1660
Born: September 30
Died: 1731
Died: April 24
Businessperson
Journalist
Novelist
Opinion Journalist
Poet
Prosaist
Publicist
Publisher
Writer
London
England
Daniel Foe
Honest
Occasions
Rich
Presses
Knave
Upon
Thanks
Knaves
Need
Press
Dishonesty
Needs
Integrity
Occasion
Much
Touch
Cheat
Would
Mankind
Double
Men
Wealth
Borders

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As covetousness is the root of all evil, so poverty is the worst of all snares.
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I could not forbear getting up to the top of a little mountain, and looking out to sea, in hopes of seeing a ship : then fancy that, at a vast distance, I spied a sail, please myself with the hopes of it, and, after looking steadily, till I was almost blind, lose it quite, and sit down and weep like a child, and thus increase my misery by my folly.
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Justice is always Violence to the Party offending, for every Man is Innocent in his own Eyes.
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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.
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Wherever God erects a house of prayer the Devil always builds a chapel there And 't will be found, upon examination, the latter has the largest congregation.
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Things as certain as death and taxes, can be more firmly believed.
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Self-destruction is the effect of cowardice in the highest extreme.
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Wit, like the Belly, if it be not fed, Will starve the Members, and distract the Head.
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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.
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Law is but a heathen word for power.
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The soul is placed in the body like a rough diamond, and must be polished, or the luster of it will never appear.
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I know not what to call this, nor will I urge that it is a secret, overruling decree, that hurries us on to be the instruments of our own destruction, even though it be before us, and that we rush upon it with our eyes open.
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Manchester, one of the greatest, if not really the greatest mere village in England.
Daniel Defoe
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I had dropped a good design, which I had once bent my thoughts upon, and that was to try if I could not make some of my barley into malt, and then try to brew myself some beer.
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Nature has left this tincture in the blood, That all men would be tyrants if they could.
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It is never too late to be wise.
Daniel Defoe
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Fear of danger is ten thousand times more terrifying than danger itself.
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Call upon me in the Day of Trouble, and I will deliver, and thou shalt glorify me...Wait on the Lord, and be of good Cheer, and he shall strengthen thy Heart wait, I say, on the Lord:' It is impossible to express the Comfort this gave me. In Answer, I thankfully laid down the Book, and was no more sad, at least, not on that Occasion.
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How strange a checker-work of Providence is the life of man!
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It put me upon reflecting how little repining there would be among mankind at any condition of life, if people would rather compare their condition with those that were worse, in order to be thankful, than be always comparing them with those which are better, to assist their murmurings and complaining.
Daniel Defoe