William Penn

Friends are true Twins in Soul; they Sympathize in every thing, and have the Love and Aversion. One is not happy without the other, nor can either of them be miserable alone. As if they could change Bodies, they take their turns in Pain as well as in Pleasure; relieving one another in their most adverse Conditions.What one enjoys, the other cannot Want. Like the Primitive Christians, they have all things in common, and no Property but in one another.

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

Those people who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants.

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

O Lord, help me not to despise or oppose what I do not understand.

To have striven, to have made the effort, to have been true to certain ideals – this alone is worth the struggle.

An empire is an immense egotism.

You cannot run faster than a bullet.

I dislike feeling at home when I am abroad.

Branching streams cannot compare to the source.

The mouth obeys poorly when the heart murmurs.

Choose the life that is most useful, and habit will make it the most agreeable.

How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book! The book exists for us, perchance, that will explain our miracles and reveal new ones. The at present unutterable things we may find somewhere uttered.

It is not enough to conquer; one must learn to seduce.

A great part of courage is the courage of having done the thing before.

Every stroke our fury strikes is sure to hit ourselves at last.

It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.

Sense never fails to give them that have it, Words enough to make them understood. It too often happens in some conversations, as in Apothecary Shops, that those Pots that are Empty, or have Things of small Value in them, are as gaudily Dress’d as those that are full of precious Drugs. They that soar too high, often fall hard, making a low and level Dwelling preferable. The tallest Trees are most in the Power of the Winds, and Ambitious Men of the Blasts of Fortune. Buildings have need of a good Foundation, that lie so much exposed to the Weather.

We should distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes.

How many are the things I can do without!

Personally, I’m always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.