Top 260 Quotes & Sayings by William Penn - Page 2

Nothing shows our weakness more than to be so sharp-sighted at spying other men's faults, and so purblind about our own.

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

It is wise not to seek a secret, and honest not to reveal one.

No people can be truly happy... if abridged of the freedom of their consciences

Those who live to live forever, never fear dying.

Show is not substance; realities govern wise men.

The truest end of life is to know the life that never ends.

There can be no Friendship where there is no Freedom.

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.

To do evil that good may come of it is for bunglers in politics as well as morals.

Men being born with a title to perfect freedom and uncontrolled enjoyment of all the rights and privileges of the law of nature. No one can be put out of his estate and subjected to the political view of another, without his consent.

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.

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

I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do ... let me do it now.

The unspoken word never defeats one. What one does not say does not have to be explained.

We need to stop arguing about Christ and start living like Christ.

Between a Man and his Wife nothing ought to rule but Love. Believe nothing against another but on good authority; and never report what may hurt another, unless it be a greater hurt to some other to conceal it.

Inquiry is human; blind obedience brutal. Truth never loses by the one but often suffers by the other.

I shall pass through life but once. Let me show kindness now, as I shall not pass this way again.

In the rush and noise of life, as you have intervals, step home within yourselves and be still. Wait upon God, and feel His good presence; this will carry you evenly through your day's business.

The humble, meek, merciful, and just are everywhere of one religion; and when death has taken off the mask they will know one another, though the diverse liveries they wear here make them strangers.

Governments, like clocks, go from the motion men give them, and as governments are made and moved by men, so by them they are ruined too. Wherefore governments rather depend upon men, than men upon governments. Let men be good, and the government cannot be bad; if it be ill, they will cure it. But if men be bad, let the government be never so good, they will endeavour to warp and spoil it to their turn.

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.

Death cannot kill what never dies.

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

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

Oppression makes a poor country.

If you protect a man from folly, you will soon have a nation of fools.

Always remember to bound thy thoughts to the present occasion.

Never esteem people (including yourself) more because they have money, nor think less of anyone (including yourself) because they lack it. Virtue is the only just reason for respecting anyone, lack of virtue the only reason for holding anyone in low regard.

Never give out while there is hope; but hope not beyond reason, for that shows more desire than judgement.

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

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

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

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

He that lives in love lives in God.

The Remedy often proves worse than the Disease.

Truth never lost ground by enquiry.

True Godliness doesn't turn men out of the world, but enables them to live better in it, and excites their endeavors to mend it. ...We have nothing that we can call our own; no, not our selves: for we are all but Tenants, and at Will, too, of the great Lord of our selves, and the rest of this great farm, the World that we live upon.

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.

Let men be good, and the Government cannot be bad.

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.

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.

Nor must we always be neutral where our neighbors are concerned: for tho' meddling is a fault, helping is a duty.

The best recreation is to do good.

Unless virtue guide us our choice must be wrong.

To be furious in religion is to be irreligiously religious.

We have a call to do good, as often as we have the power and occasion.

Love labor: for if thou dost not want it for food, thou mayest for physic. It is wholesome for thy body and good for thy mind.

Be sure that religion cannot be right that a man is the worse for having.

Friendship is the next pleasure we may hope for: and where we find it not at home, or have no home to find it in, we may seek it abroad. It is an union of spirits, a marriage of hearts, and the bond thereof virtue.

Levity of behavior, always a weakness, is far more unbecoming in a woman than a man.

Religion itself is nothing else but Love to God and Man. He that lives in Love lives in God, says the Beloved Disciple: And to be sure a Man can live no where better.

If thou wouldn't conquer thy weakness thou must not gratify it.

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.

Do good with what thou hast, or it will do thee no good.

Death then, being the way and condition of life, we cannot love to live if we cannot bear to die.

Where Example keeps pace with Authority, Power hardly fails to be obey'd.

[Tho]ugh death be a dark passage; it leads to immortality, and that is recompense enough for suffering of it. And yet faith lights us, even through the grave....And this is the comfort of the good, and the grave cannot hold them, and they live as they die. For death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity.

Next to God, thy parents.