Sentence No. 161 · 4 September 2026
But I, that was born to be my own destroyer, could no more resist the offer than I could restrain my first rambling designs when my father’s good counsel was lost upon me.
Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
Daniel Defoe — Robinson Crusoe (1719) · Read it at Project Gutenberg
What holds this sentence together
This sentence runs a comparison: 'could no more resist the offer' is completed by 'than I could restrain my first rambling designs'. Also notice the subordinate clause opening 'when my father’s good counsel' — a 'when' fragment usually attaches to what precedes it, so it belongs last here.
How it appears in Sentle
On Sentle this sentence arrives in 8 pieces, shuffled, with the lines that lead up to it for context. A castaway reflects on the folly of restless ambition. Putting it back in the author’s order is the puzzle — and the order is rarely arbitrary, which is what the note above is about.
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