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A Journal of the Plague Year Quotes by Daniel Defoe: Context & Meanings

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But nobody can account for the possession of fear when it takes hold of the mind.

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“But nobody can account for the possession of fear when it takes hold of the mind.”

Daniel Defoe

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Defoe’s narrator observes how fear can persist and spread beyond what the immediate facts justify, especially during collective crisis and rumor.

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A Journal of the Plague Year, Project Gutenberg #376. The remark follows a false rumor that meat in Newgate Market was infected. It is historical-literary plague narration, not modern psychological or medical guidance.

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