William Penn Quotes


"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."
- William Penn
(Related: Truth, Arguments, Coolness, Nothing, Reason, Right)

"Much reading is an oppression of the mind, and extinguishes the natural candle, which is the reason of so many senseless scholars in the world."
- William Penn
(Related: Mind, Oppression, Reading, Reason, World)

"Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants."
- William Penn
(Related: Men, God, Will)

"Men are generally more careful of the breed of their horses and dogs than of their children."
- William Penn
(Related: Men, Children, Dogs, Horses)

"Love is the hardest lesson in Christianity; but, for that reason, it should be most our care to learn it."
- William Penn
(Related: Love, Christianity, Care, Reason)

"Love grows. Lust wastes by Enjoyment, and the Reason is, that one springs from an Union of Souls, and the other from an Union of Sense."
- William Penn
(Related: Love, Enjoyment, Lust, Reason, Sense)

"Let the people think they govern and they will be governed."
- William Penn
(Related: People, Will)

"He that does good for good's sake seeks neither paradise nor reward, but he is sure of both in the end."
- William Penn
(Related: End, Paradise, Reward)

"Knowledge is the treasure of a wise man."
- William Penn
(Related: Knowledge, Man, Treasure)

"Passion is a sort of fever in the mind, which ever leaves us weaker than it found us."
- William Penn
(Related: Mind, Passion)

"Justice is the insurance which we have on our lives and property. Obedience is the premium which we pay for it."
- William Penn
(Related: Justice, Obedience, Property)

"It would be far better to be of no church than to be bitter of any."
- William Penn
(Related: Church)

"In marriage do thou be wise: prefer the person before money, virtue before beauty, the mind before the body; then thou hast a wife, a friend, a companion, a second self."
- William Penn
(Related: Marriage, Beauty, Money, Wife, Friend, Virtue, Body, Mind, Self)

"If thou wouldn't conquer thy weakness thou must not gratify it."
- William Penn
(Related: Weakness)

"Humility and knowledge in poor clothes excel pride and ignorance in costly attire."
- William Penn
(Related: Knowledge, Clothes, Humility, Ignorance, Poor, Pride)

"He who is taught to live upon little owes more to his father's wisdom than he who has a great deal left him does to his father's care."
- William Penn
(Related: Wisdom, Father, Care)

"He that lives to live forever, never fears dying."
- William Penn
(Related: Dying)

"Less judgment than wit is more sail than ballast."
- William Penn
(Related: Judgment, Wit)

"The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves."
- William Penn
"We are apt to love praise, but not deserve it. But if we would deserve it, we must love virtue more than that."
- William Penn
(Related: Love, Virtue, Praise)

"Truth often suffers more by the heat of its defenders than the arguments of its opposers."
- William Penn
(Related: Truth, Arguments)

"True silence is the rest of the mind, and is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment."
- William Penn
(Related: Body, Mind, Rest, Silence, Sleep, Spirit)

"True godliness does not turn men out of the world, but enables them to live better in it and excites their endeavors to mend it."
- William Penn
(Related: Men, World)

"To be like Christ is to be a Christian."
- William Penn
(Related: Christian)

"To be a man's own fool is bad enough, but the vain man is everybody's."
- William Penn
(Related: Fool, Man)

"Time is what we want most, but what we use worst."
- William Penn
(Related: Time, Want)

"O Lord, help me not to despise or oppose what I do not understand."
- William Penn
(Related: Help)

"The tallest Trees are most in the Power of the Winds, and Ambitious Men of the Blasts of Fortune."
- William Penn
(Related: Men, Power, Fortune, Trees)

"Only trust thyself, and another shall not betray thee."
- William Penn
(Related: Trust)

"Some are so very studious of learning what was done by the ancients that they know not how to live with the moderns."
- William Penn
(Related: Learning)

"Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it."
- William Penn
(Related: Right, Wrong)

"Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God."
- William Penn
(Related: God, Obedience, Rebellion)

"Rarely promise, but, if lawful, constantly perform."
- William Penn
(Related: Promise)

"Patience and Diligence, like faith, remove mountains."
- William Penn
(Related: Faith, Diligence, Mountains, Patience)

"Passion is the mob of the man, that commits a riot upon his reason."
- William Penn
(Related: Man, Mob, Passion, Reason, Riot)

"Sense shines with a double luster when it is set in humility. An able yet humble man is a jewel worth a kingdom."
- William Penn
(Related: Humility, Man, Sense, Worth)

"They have a right to censure that have a heart to help."
- William Penn
(Related: Heart, Censure, Help, Right)

"Between a man and his wife nothing ought to rule but love. Authority is for children and servants, yet not without sweetness."
- William Penn
(Related: Love, Wife, Authority, Children, Man, Nothing, Sweetness)

"Speak properly, and in as few words as you can, but always plainly; for the end of speech is not ostentation, but to be understood."
- William Penn
(Related: End, Ostentation, Speech, Words)

"Avoid popularity; it has many snares, and no real benefit."
- William Penn
(Related: Popularity)

"Force may subdue, but love gains, and he that forgives first wins the laurel."
- William Penn
(Related: Love, First, Force, May)

"For death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity."
- William Penn
(Related: Death, Time, Eternity)

"A good End cannot sanctify evil Means; nor must we ever do Evil, that Good may come of it."
- William Penn
(Related: End, Evil, May)

"Force may make hypocrites, but it can never make converts."
- William Penn
(Related: Force, May)

"A true friend freely, advises justly, assists readily, adventures boldly, takes all patiently, defends courageously, and continues a friend unchangeably."
- William Penn
(Related: Friend)