William Penn

Private men, in fine, are so much their own, that, paying common dues, they are sovereigns of all the rest. Yet the public must and will be served; and they that do it well, deserve public marks of honour and respect. To do so, men must have public minds, as well as salaries; or they will serve private ends at the public cost. Government can never be well administered, but where those intrusted make conscience of well discharging their places.

It were endless to dispute upon everything that is disputable.

Equivocation is half-way to lying, and lying the whole way to hell.

Excess in Apparel is another costly Folly. The very Trimming of the vain World would cloath all the naked one.

Seek not to be Rich, but Happy. The one lies in Bags, the other in Content: which Wealth can never give.

Did we believe a final Reckoning and Judgment; or did we think enough of what we do believe, we would allow more Love in Religion than we do; since Religion it self is nothing else but Love to God and Man. He that lives in Love lives in God, says the Beloved Disciple: And to be sure a Man can live no where better. It is most reasonable Men should value that Benefit, which is most durable. Now Tongues shall cease, and Prophecy fail, and Faith shall be consummated in Sight, and Hope in Enjoyment; but Love remains.

Things do not change; we change.

It is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.

I look on that man as happy, who, when there is question of success, looks into his work for a reply.

Beware what you set your heart upon. For it shall surely be yours.

To himself everyone is an immortal. He may know that he is going to die, but he can never know that he is dead.

Therefore if a man look sharply and attentively, he shall see Fortune; for though she be blind, yet she is not invisible.

I never worry about action, but only inaction.

Glances of true beauty can be seen in the faces of those who live in true meekness.

If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life.

The easy confidence with which I know another man’s religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also.

Nay, Madam, when you are declaiming, declaim; and when you are calculating, calculate.

The ship of heaven guides itself and will not accept a wooden rudder.

Few people know how to take a walk. The qualifications are endurance, plain clothes, old shoes, an eye for nature, good humor, vast curiosity, good speech, good silence and nothing too much.

There are innumerable questions to which the inquisitive mind can in this state receive no answer: Why do you and I exist? Why was this world created? Since it was to be created, why was it not created sooner?

What if… everything you are going through is preparing you for what you asked for?