William Penn

Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.

Sexes make no Difference; since in Souls there is none: And they are the Subjects of Friendship.

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

The tallest trees are most in the power of the winds, and ambitious men of the blasts of fortune.

We are apt to love praise, but not deserve it. But if we would deserve it, we must love virtue more than that.

Method goes far to prevent trouble in business: for it makes the task easy, hinders confusion, saves abundance of time, and instructs those that have business depending, both what to do and what to hope.

I was brought up in a very ordinary family, in fact, a worker’s family. Both my father and mother were ordinary citizens.

You can’t cheat kids. If you cheat them when they’re children they’ll make you pay when they’re sixteen or seventeen by revolting against you or hating you or all those so-called teenage problems. I think that’s finally when they’re old enough to stand up to you and say, ‘What a hypocrite you’ve been all this time. You’ve never given me what I really wanted, which is you’.

On the farm, I had chores. I had a calf. We had a herd of cattle in the pasture. We’d go and get me a calf at a cow auction with Amish people, which I would raise. I gave it a bottle every day, in this cute little coop, like a giant dog coop almost. I’ve always been a big animal person.

With every word we utter, with every action we take, we know our kids are watching us. We as parents, are their most important role models.

We’re all mad here.

We all acquire damage as infants and children and we work on removing those scars all of our lives. You won’t heal everything, but what’s important is the work.

Kids instinctively know – although they will argue to the contrary – that they really are not mature enough to make good decisions on some important issues.

Once you’re grown up you can’t come back.

Youth is a wonderful thing. What a crime to waste it on children.

The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.

I am convinced that every effort must be made in childhood to teach the young to use their own minds. For one thing is sure: If they don’t make up their minds, someone will do it for them.

[Postpartum depression] is something that’s completely uncontrollable. It’s really painful and it’s really scary and women need a lot of support.

The more risks you allow children to take, the better they learn to take care of themselves. If you never let them take any risks, then I believe they become very prone to injury.

If you’re bringing up kids, you just want to smother them with love and praise and enthusiasm. So I don’t think you can mollycoddle your kids too much really.

They say that every child learns from their mother – it’s ingrained from babyhood.