Daniel Defoe

English trader, writer, and journalist (1660-1731) · United Kingdom · Writers · Died at 71

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He invented the castaway everyone knows - a shipwrecked sailor on an island who became the template for survival stories still being written three centuries later.

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A life in dates

1731Died24 April 17311726“Tis very strange Men should be so fond of being thought wickeder than they are.”In their wordsA System of Magick (1726).Read the whole statement

1715“The best of men cannot suspend their fate: / The good die early, and the bad die late.”In their wordsCharacter of the Late Dr. S. Annesley (1715).Read the whole statement

1706“All men would be tyrants if they could.”In their wordsJure divino: a satyre, Introduction, l. 2 (1706).Read the whole statement

1703“Hail, hieroglyphic State machine, / Contrived to punish fancy in; / Men that are men in thee can feel no pain, / And all thy insignificance disdain!”In their wordsHymn to the Pillory (1703).Read the whole statement

1702“Alas the Church of England! What with Popery on one hand, and schismatics on the other, how has she been crucified between two thieves!”In their wordsThe Shortest Way with the Dissenters (1702).Read the whole statement

1697“We loved the doctrine for the teacher's sake.”In their wordsThe Character of the Late Dr. S. Annesly (1697).Read the whole statement

1660Born

Also in Deutsch

Photos 5

Daniel Defoe Kneller Style

An Essay upon Projects

Daniel Defoe former house England

Finsbury bunhill defoe 1

Glasgow Bridge c.1758

In their own words 10

Daniel Defoe

10 statements, newest first

Tis very strange Men should be so fond of being thought wickeder than they are.
1726, A System of Magick (1726)., Own words
The best of men cannot suspend their fate: / The good die early, and the bad die late.
1715, Character of the Late Dr. S. Annesley (1715)., Own words
All men would be tyrants if they could.
1706, Jure divino: a satyre, Introduction, l. 2 (1706)., Own words

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Daniel Defoe

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Spouse Mary Tuffley

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About this person

Defoe moved through English life as merchant, journalist, political pamphleteer, and occasional spy before turning to fiction around 1719. Robinson Crusoe appeared that year and tore through four editions before December, launching a genre so durable it earned its own name: the Robinsonade. He followed with Moll Flanders in 1722 and Roxana: The Fortunate Mistress in 1724, helping fix the novel as a serious form in Britain alongside writers like Aphra Behn and Samuel Richardson. His political tracts landed him in prison and kept him tangled with authorities, but intellectuals and leaders sought his counsel anyway. He died in April 1731, leaving behind one of the most widely published books in history.

Country

United Kingdom

Writers from the United Kingdom 6

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