But how just has it been—and how should all men reflect, that when they compare their present conditions with others that are worse, Heaven may oblige them to make the exchange, and be convinced of their former felicity by their experience—I say, how just has it been, that the truly solitary life I reflected on, in an island of mere desolation, should be my lot, who had so often unjustly compared it with the life which I then led, in which, had I continued, I had in all probability been exceeding prosperous and rich.
A helyemben minden ember másképp gondolkodna adott helyzetéről és szerencsésnek ítélné azt, mert más ennél sokkal rosszabb sorsokkal vetné össze. Milyen igazságot tett az ég, amikor az emlegetett teljes magány, melyhez meggondolatlanul az itteni életemet mértem, valóban részem lett egy lakatlan szigeten.