And therefore it could not be just for me to fall upon them; that this would justify the conduct of the Spaniards in all their barbarities practiced in America, where they destroyed millions of these people; who, however they were idolators and barbarians, and had several bloody and barbarous rites in their customs, such as sacrificing human bodies to their idols, were yet, as to the Spaniards, very innocent people; and that the rooting them out of the country is spoken of with the utmost abhorrence and detestation by even the Spaniards themselves at this time, and by all other Christian nations of Europe, as a mere butchery, a bloody and unnatural piece of cruelty, unjustifiable either to God or man. Earn weekly rewards. Daniel Defoe, quote from Robinson Crusoe, I should always find, the calamities of life were shared among the upper and lower part of mankind; but that middle station had the fewest disasters, and was not exposed to so many vicissitudes as the higher or lower part of mankind; nay, they were not subjected to so many distempers and uneasinesses either of body or mind, as those were who, by vicious living, luxury, and extravagances on one hand, or by hard labor, want of necessaries, and mean or insufficient diet on the other hand, bring distempers upon themselves by the natural consequences of their way of living; that the middle station of life was calculated for all kind of virtues and all kind of enjoyments; that peace and plenty were the handmaids of a middle fortune; that temperance, moderation, quietness, health, society, all agreeable diversions, and all desirable pleasures, were the blessings attending the middle station of life The tears would run plentifully down my face when I made these reflections; and sometimes I would expostulate with myself why Providence should thus completely ruin His creatures, and render them so absolutely miserable; so without help, abandoned, so entirely depressed, that it could hardly be rational to be thankful for such a life. 2dly, My people were perfectly subjected: I was absolute Lord and Law-giver; they all owed their Lives to me, and were ready to lay down their Lives, if there had been Occasion of it, for me. Robinson Crusoe: Full Book Quiz Quiz: Quick Quiz | SparkNotes Robinson Crusoe Quotes | Explanations with Page Numbers | LitCharts But I think it's a risk I'm willing to take. You'll be billed after your free trial ends. My students love how organized the handouts are and enjoy tracking the themes as a class., Requesting a new guide requires a free LitCharts account. 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. All of our discontents for what we want appear to me to . In some texts he is even referred to as one of the founders, if not the founder, of the English novel. Complete your free account to request a guide. chapter, And things no one knows. Contact us But a teacher can't wait until a pupil is dead, so a teacher punishes as soon as a pupil is bad. Sure we are all made by some secret power, who formed the earth and sea, the air and sky; and who is that?Then it followed most naturally, It is God that has made it all. Crusoe's extraordinary exertions drive the narrative, with his solitariness serving to highlight his self-reliance and enterprise. BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, Oscar Wilde, quote from An Ideal Husband, Listen to me. However, upon second thoughts, I took it away, Man is a short-sighted creature, sees but a very little way before him; and as his passions are none of his best friends, so his particular affections are generally his worst counselors., Wait on the Lord, and be of good cheer, and he shall strengthen thy heart; wait, I say, on the Lord., 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., Call on me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver, and thou shalt glorify me., How mercifully can our Creator treat His creatures, even in those conditions in which they seemed to be overwhelmed in destruction! We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and Defoe is notable for being one of the earliest practitioners of the novel and helped popularize the genre in Britain. Daniel Defoe, quote from Robinson Crusoe, Those people cannot enjoy comfortably what God has given them because they see and covet what He has not given them. Our, "Sooo much more helpful thanSparkNotes. , Well, however, I luggd this Money home to my Cave, and laid it up, as I had done that before, which I brought from our own Ship; but it was great Pity as I said, that the other Part of this Ship had not come to my Share; for I am satisfyd I might have loaded my Canoe several Times over with Money, which if I had ever escapd to England, would have lain here safe enough, till I might have come again and fetchd it., I went down afterwards into Yorkshire; but my Father was dead, and my Mother, and all the Family extinct, except that I found two Sisters, and two of the Children of one of my Brothers; and as I had been long ago given over for dead, there had been no Provision made for me;, When these Thoughts were over, my Head was for some time taken up in considering the Nature of these wretched Creatures; I mean, the Savages; and how it came to pass in the World, that the wise Governour of all Things should give up any of his Creatures to such Inhumanity; , Besides this, I shardd the Island into Parts with em, reservd to myself the Property of the whole, but gave them such Parts respectively as they agreed on; and having settled all things with them, and engaged them not to leave the Place, I left them there., In a Word, The Nature and Experience of Things dictated to me upon just Reflection, That all the good Things of this World, are no farther good to us, than they are for our Use; and that whatever we may heap up indeed to give others, we enjoy just as much as we can use, and more., He told me, I might judge of the Happiness of this State, by the one thing, viz.