The _Serious Reflections_ consist mainly of meditations on Divine Providence in times of trouble, and discourses on the supreme importance of honest dealing.
They are put into the mouth of Robinson Crusoe, but the reader is warned that they occurred to the author himself in the midst of real incidents in his own life.

Knowing what public repute said of him, he does not profess never to have strayed from the paths of virtue, but he implies that he is sincerely repentant, and is now a reformed character.

"Wild wicked Robinson Crusoe does not pretend to honesty himself." He acknowledges his early errors.

Not to do so would be a mistaken piece of false bravery.

"All shame is cowardice.