William Penn

Religion is nothing else but love of God and man.

Knowledge is the treasure, but judgment is the treasurer of the one who is wise.

If thou art clean and warm, it is sufficient; for more doth but rob the Poor, and please the Wanton.

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 the people think they govern and they will be governed.

You are now fixed at the mercy of no governor that comes to make his fortune great; you shall be governed by laws of your own making and live a free, and if you will, a sober and industrious life. I shall not usurp the right of any, or oppress his person. God has furnished me with a better resolution and has given me his grace to keep it.

If we do not maintain Justice, Justice will not maintain us.

The secret of all good writing is sound judgment.

Only poetry inspires poetry.

Arguments are like fire-arms which a man may keep at home but should not carry about with him.

Croesus said to Cambyses; That peace was better than war; because in peace the sons did bury their fathers, but in wars the fathers did bury their sons.

Whether the flower looks better in the nosegay than in the meadow where it grew and we had to wet our feet to get it! Is the scholastic air any advantage?

God as now generally conceived of is only the last witch.

The hottest love has the coldest end.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

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

In the highest civilization, the book is still the highest delight. He who has once known its satisfactions is provided with a resource against calamity.

There are no days in life so memorable as those which vibrate to some stroke of the imagination.

Undeservedly you will atone for the sins of your fathers.

We rail at trade, but the historian of the world will see that it was the principle of liberty; that it settled America, and destroyed feudalism, and made peace and keeps peace; that it will abolish slavery.

No mistake is more common and more fatuous than appealing to logic in cases which are beyond her jurisdiction.