William Penn Quotes

I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again.

Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it.

The secret of happiness is to count your blessings while others are adding up their troubles.

Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.

Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants.

Knowledge is the treasure, but judgment the treasurer, of a wise man.

True silence is the rest of the mind, and is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment.

No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown.

They that love beyond the world cannot be separated by it. Death cannot kill what never dies.

Humility and knowledge in poor clothes excel pride and ignorance in costly attire.

Death is only a horizon, and a horizon is only the limit of your sight. Open your eyes to see more clearly.

No man is fit to command another that cannot command himself.

If it be an evil to judge rashly or untruly any single man, how much a greater sin it is to condemn a whole people.

A true friend freely, advises justly, assists readily, adventures boldly, takes all patiently, defends courageously, and continues a friend unchangeably.

The adventure of the Christian life begins when we dare to do what we would never tackle without Christ.

O Lord, help me not to despise or oppose what I do not understand.

The country life is to be preferred, for there we see the works of God; but in cities little else but the works of men. And the one makes a better subject for contemplation than the other.

If thou wouldst rule well, thou must rule for God, and to do that, thou must be ruled by him. Those who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants.

The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves.

In marriage do thou be wise: prefer the person before money, virtue before beauty, the mind before the body; then thou hast a wife, a friend, a companion, a second self.

The only fountain in the wilderness of life, where man drinks of water totally unmixed with bitterness, is that which gushes for him in the calm and shady recess of domestic life.

The wisdom of nations lies in their proverbs, which are brief and pithy. Collect and learn them; they are notable measures of directions for human life; you have much in little; they save time in speaking; and upon occasion may be the fullest and safest answer.

The wisdom of nations lies in their proverbs, which are brief and pithy.

We are inclined to call things by the wrong names. We call prosperity 'happiness', and adversity 'misery' eventhough adversity is the school of wisdom and often the way to eternal happiness.

A good End cannot sanctify evil Means; nor must we ever do Evil, that Good may come of it.

Patience and Diligence, like faith, remove mountains.

Did we believe a final Reckoning and Judgment; or did we think enough of what we do believe, we would allow more Love in Religion than we do; since Religion it self is nothing else but Love to God and Man. Love is indeed Heaven upon Earth; since Heaven above would not be Heaven without it: For where there is not Love; there is Fear: But perfect Love casts out Fear. Love is above all; and when it prevails in us all, we shall all be Lovely, and in Love with God and one with another.

It were happy if we studied nature more in natural things; and acted according to nature, whose rules are few, plain, and most reasonable.

Let us see what love can do.

Passion is a sort of fever in the mind, which ever leaves us weaker than it found us.

All excess is ill, but drunkenness is of the worst sort. It spoils health, dismounts the mind, and unmans men. It reveals secrets, is quarrelsome, lascivious, impudent, dangerous and mad. In fine, he that is drunk is not a man: because he is so long void of Reason, that distinguishes a Man from a Beast.

Covetousness is the greatest of monsters, as well as the root of all evil.

Peace can only be secured by justice; never by force of arms.

Justice is the insurance which we have on our lives and property. Obedience is the premium which we pay for it.

If we would mend the World, we should mend Ourselves; and teach our Children to be, not what we are, but what they should be.

We are told truly that meekness and modesty are the rich and charming garments of the soul. The less showy our outward attire is, the more distinctly and brilliantly does the beauty of these inner garments shine.

There can be no friendship where there is no freedom. Friendship loves a free air, and will not be fenced up in straight and narrow enclosures.

Avoid flatterers, for they are thieves in disguise.

Death cannot kill what never dies.

Much reading is an oppression of the mind, and extinguishes the natural candle, which is the reason of so many senseless scholars in the world.

My prison shall be my grave before I will budge a jot; for I owe my conscience to no mortal man.

For death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity.

Always remember to bound thy thoughts to the present occasion.

Force may subdue, but love gains, and he that forgives first wins the laurel.

In all debates, let truth be thy aim, not victory, or an unjust interest.

Some are so very studious of learning what was done by the ancients that they know not how to live with the moderns.

Those who live to live forever, never fear dying.

For nothing reaches the heart but what is from the heart, or pierces the conscience but what comes from a living conscience

He that does good for good's sake seeks neither paradise nor reward, but he is sure of both in the end.

Friendship is the union of spirits, a marriage of hearts, and the bond thereof virtue