William Penn Quotes

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.

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.

Patience and Diligence, like faith, remove mountains.

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

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.

Only trust thyself, and another shall not betray thee.

Speak properly, and in as few words as you can, but always plainly; for the end of speech is not ostentation, but to be understood.

Nothing does reason more right, than the coolness of those that offer it: For Truth often suffers more by the heat of its defenders, than from the arguments of its opposers.

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.

Avoid popularity; it has many snares, and no real benefit.

Love grows. Lust wastes by Enjoyment, and the Reason is, that one springs from an Union of Souls, and the other from an Union of Sense.

I know no religion that destroys courtesy, civility, and kindness.

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

Let the people think they govern and they will be governed.

Death is but crossing the world, as friends do the seas; they live in one another still.

Men are generally more careful of the breed of their horses and dogs than of their children.

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

True godliness does not turn men out of the world, but enables them to live better in it and excites their endeavors to mend it.

Between a man and his wife nothing ought to rule but love. Authority is for children and servants, yet not without sweetness.

Less judgment than wit is more sail than ballast.

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

He that lives to live forever, never fears dying.

Truth often suffers more by the heat of its defenders than the arguments of its opposers.

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

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

It would be far better to be of no church than to be bitter of any.

He who is taught to live upon little owes more to his father's wisdom than he who has a great deal left him does to his father's care.

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 bad.

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

Avoid flatterers, for they are thieves in disguise.

A wise neuter joins with neither, but uses both as his honest interest leads him.

Passion is the mob of the man, that commits a riot upon his reason.

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

Hasty resolutions are of the nature of vows, and to be equally avoided.

Never marry but for love; but see that thou lov'st what is lovely.

If thou wouldst conquer thy weakness, thou must never gratify it.

To be a man's own fool is bad enough, but the vain man is everybody's.

He that has more Knowledge than Judgment, is made for another Man's use more than his own.

It is the amends of a short and troublesome life, that doing good and suffering ill entitles man to a longer and better.

Not to be provok'd is best: But if mov'd, never correct till the fume is spent; for every stroke our fury strikes, is sure to hit our selves at last.

Religion is nothing else but love of God and man.

She is but half a wife that is not, nor is capable of being, a friend.

Some men do as much begrudge others a good name, as they want one themselves: and perhaps that is the reason of it.

To be furious in religion is to be irreligiously religious.

To be innocent is to be not guilty; but to be virtuous is to overcome our evil inclinations.