William Penn

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 ever so good, they will endeavor to warp and spoil it to their turn.

I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore there be any kindness I can show…let me do it now.- William Penn

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.

I will never do this, says one, yet does it: I am resolved to do this, says another; but flags upon second Thoughts: Or does it, tho’ awkwardly, for his Word’s sake: As if it were worse to break his Word, than to do amiss in keeping it.

Do what good thou canst unknown, and be not vain of what ought rather to be felt than seen.

Fidelity has enfranchised slaves, and adopted servants to be sons.

If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love. Don’t be surly at home, then go out in the street and start grinning Good morning at total strangers.

You are a constant. Forever in my mind; forever in my heart. It seems that most matter how much I try I can’t get rid of you. You are a thorn, stuck in deep; painful to remove, and even when I do, still I’ll bleed and feel the soreness. It will take time, but it will heal. No matter the pain, I will still dare to pick roses.

Injustice in the end produces independence.

Aim for the moon. If you miss, you may hit a star.

Valor consists in the power of self recovery.

Speech is often barren; but silence also does not necessarily brood over a full nest. Your still fowl, blinking at you without remark, may all the while be sitting on one addled egg…

You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.

He that thinks he can afford to be negligent is not far from being poor.

If women were as fastidious as men, morally or physically, there would be an end of the race.

Nature… She pardons no mistakes. Her yea is yea, and her nay, nay.

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 Vertue.

Follow your own passion – not your parents’, not your teachers’- yours.

That observation which is called knowledge of the world will be found much more frequently to make men cunning than good.

We live in an atmosphere of shame. We are ashamed of everything that is real about us; ashamed of ourselves, of our relatives, of our incomes, of our accents, of our opinions, of our experience, just as we are ashamed of our naked skins.

I can teach anybody how to get what they want out of life. The problem is that I can’t find anybody who can tell me what they want.