William Penn

It is admirable to consider how many Millions of People come into, and go out of the World, Ignorant of themselves, and of the World they have lived in.

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

Zeal ever follows an appearance of truth, and the assured are too apt to be warm; but it is their weak side in argument; zeal being better shown against sin than persons, or their mistakes.

We meet on the broad pathway of good faith and good will; no advantage shall be taken on either side, but all shall be openness and love. I will not call you children, — for parents sometimes chide their children too severely; nor brothers only, — for brothers differ. The friendship between me and you I will not compare to a chain; for that the rains might rust, or the falling tree might break. We are the same as if one man’s body were to be divided into two parts, we are all one flesh and blood.

In all debates let truth be thy aim; not victory or an unjust interest; and endeavor to gain rather than to expose thy antagonist.

God is better served in resisting a Temptation to Evil, than in many formal Prayers.

I am the captain of my soul.

The pencil of the Holy Ghost hath labored more in describing the afflictions of Job than the felicities of Solomon.

Fierce eagles do not produce timorous doves.

Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.

Certainly virtue is like precious odors, most fragrant when they are incensed, or crushed: for prosperity does best discover vice, but adversity does best discover virtue.

Do something every day that you don’t want to do. This is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain.

If animals could speak, the dog would be a blundering outspoken fellow; but the cat would have the rare grace of never saying a word too much.

Do not tell me of my obligation to put all poor men in good situations. Are they my poor? I tell thee, thou foolish philanthropist, that I grudge the dollar, the dime, the cent, I give to such men as do not belong to me and to whom I do not belong.

I am living in a nightmare, from which from time to time I wake in sleep.

Those who trust us educate us.

There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right.

The man with a toothache thinks everyone happy whose teeth are sound. The poverty-stricken man makes the same mistake about the rich man.

It is better that some should be unhappy rather than that none should be happy, which would be the case in a general state of equality.

Men know that women are an over-match for them, and therefore they choose the weakest or most ignorant. If they did not think so, they never could be afraid of women knowing as much as themselves.

Better is the enemy of good.