William Penn

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

I desire to gain your Love and Friendship by a kind, Just and Peaceful Life.

If thou wouldst rule well, thou must rule for God; and to do that, thou must be ruled by him who has given to kings his grace to command themselves and their subjects, and to the people the grace to obey God and their kings.

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.

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

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.

Knowledge does not come to us in details, but in flashes of light from heaven.

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

There is always a best way of doing everything.

Flow with whatever may happen, and let your mind be free: Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.

No man is fit to command another that cannot command himself.

If life must not be taken too seriously, then so neither must death.

Those who live to the future must always appear selfish to those who live to the present.

Prosperity is the best protector of principle.

As the Spanish proverb says, He who would bring home the wealth of the Indies, must carry the wealth of the Indies with him. So it is in travelling; a man must carry knowledge with him, if he would bring home knowledge.

Courage is not the absence of fear, but the capacity to act despite our fears.

I would rather have my ignorance than another man’s knowledge, because I have so much of it.

You cannot kill time without injuring eternity.

The mark of the man of the world is absence of pretension. He does not make a speech; he takes a low business-tone, avoids all brag, is nobody, dresses plainly, promises not at all, performs much, speaks in monosyllables, hugs his fact. He calls his employment by its lowest name, and so takes from evil tongues their sharpest weapon. His conversation clings to the weather and the news, yet he allows himself to be surprised into thought, and the unlocking of his learning and philosophy.

I would rather be attacked than unnoticed. For the worst thing you can do to an author is to be silent as to his works. An assault upon a town is a bad thing; but starving it is still worse.

The applause of a single human being is of great consequence.