Who is William Penn
William Penn, (born October 14, 1644, London, England—died July 30, 1718, Buckinghamshire), English Quaker leader and advocate of religious freedom, who oversaw the founding of the American Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as a refuge for Quakers and other religious minorities of Europe.
William was the son of Admiral Sir William Penn. He acquired the foundations of a classical education at the Chigwell grammar school in the Essex countryside, where he came under Puritan influences. After Admiral Penn’s naval defeat in the West Indies in 1655, the family moved back to London and then to Ireland. In Ireland William heard Thomas Loe, a Quaker itinerant, preach to his family at the admiral’s invitation, an experience that apparently intensified his religious feelings. In 1660 William entered the University of Oxford, where he rejected Anglicanism and was expelled in 1662 for his religious Nonconformity. Determined to thwart his son’s religiosity, Admiral Penn sent his son on a grand tour of the European continent and to the Protestant college at Saumur, in France, to complete his studies. Summoned back to England after two years, William entered Lincoln’s Inn and spent a year reading law. This was the extent of his formal education.
William Penn Quotes
1. Time is what we want most,but what we use worst.
2. They have a Right to censure, that have a Heart to help: The rest is Cruelty, not Justice.
(Frequently misquoted as “He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help.”)”
3. Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it.
4. In all debates, let truth be thy aim, not victory, or an unjust interest.
5. A true friend unbosoms freely, advises justly, assists readily, adventures boldly, takes all patiently, defends courageously, and continues a friend unchangeably
6. They that love beyond the world cannot be separated by it.
Death cannot kill what never dies.
Nor can spirits ever be divided, that love and live in the same divine principle, the root and record of their friendship.
If absence be not death, neither is theirs.
Death is but crossing the world, as friends do the seas; they live in one another still.
For they must needs be present, that love and live in that which is omnipresent.
In this divine glass they see face to face; and their converse is free, as well as pure.
This is the comfort of friends, that though they may be said to die, yet their friendship and society are, in the best sense, ever present, because immortal.
7. Death is but crossing the world, as friends do the seas; they live in one another still. For they must needs be present, that love and live in that which is omnipresent. In this divine glass, they see face to face; and their converse is free as well as pure. This is the comfort of friends, that though they may be said to die, yet their friendship and society are, in the best sense, ever present, because immortal.
8. I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again.
9. Those people who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants.
10. True silence is the rest of the mind; it is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment.
11. All Excess is ill: But Drunkenness is of the worst Sort. It spoils Health, dismounts the Mind, and unmans Men: It reveals Secrets, is Quarrelsome, Lascivious, Impudent, Dangerous and Mad. In fine, he that is drunk is not a Man: Because he is so long void of Reason, that distinguishes a Man from a Beast.
12. 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.
13. I know no religion that destroys courtesy, civility, and kindness.
14. Avoid popularity it has many snares and no real benefit.
15. Let the people think they govern and they will be governed
16. A good end cannot sanctify evil means; nor must we ever do evil that good may come of it.
17. No man is fit to command another that cannot command himself.
18. Let us try what love will do.
19. Death is but crossing the world, as friends do the seas; they live in one another still.
20. Only trust theyself, and another shall noet betray thee
21. Men are generally more careful of the breed of their horses and dogs than of their children.
22. Let us see what love can do.
23. No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown.
24. If we would mend the World,
we should mend Ourselves;
and teach our Children to be,
not what we are,
but what they should be.
25. 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.
26. This is the comfort of the godly: the grave cannot hold them, and they live as soon as they die.
For death is no more than turning us over from time to eternity.
27. My prison will be my grave before I budge a jot, for I owe my conscience to no mortal man.
28. 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.
29. He who is taught to live upon little owes more to his father’s wisdom than he who has a great deal left to him owes to his father’s care.
30. Justice is the insurance which we have on our lives and property. Obedience is the premium which we pay for it.
31. The jealous are troublesome to others, but torment to themselves.
32. Wear none of thine own Chains; but keep free, whilst thou art free.
33. Let us then try what love can do to mend a broken world.
34. I will never do this, says one, yet does it: I am resolved to do this, says another; but flags upon second Thoughts: Or does it, tho’ awkwardly, for his Word’s sake: As if it were worse to break his Word, than to do amiss in keeping it.
35. 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.
36. If men be good, government cannot be bad.
37. For death is no more than turning us over from time to eternity.
38. Knowledge is the Treasure, but Judgment the Treasurer of a Wise Man.
39. Tis admirable to consider, how Powerful the Kings are, yet they move by the Breath of their People.
40. This is the comfort of friends, that though they may be said to die, yet their friendship and society are, in the best sense, ever present, because immortal.
41. Between a Man and his Wife nothing ought to rule but Love. Authority is for Children and Servants; yet not without Sweetness
42. All Excess is ill: But Drunkenness is of the worst Sort.
43. He that has more Knowledge than Judgment, is made for another Man’s use more than his own.
44. They must first judge themselves, that presume to censure others: And such will not be apt to overshoot the Mark. We are too ready to retaliate, rather than forgive, or gain by Love and Information. And yet we could hurt no Man that we believe loves us. Let us then try what Love will do: For if Men did once see we Love them, we should soon find they would not harm us. Force may subdue, but Love gains: And he that forgives first, wins the [Laurel]. If I am even with my Enemy, the Debt is paid; but if I forgive it, I oblige him for ever.
45. Excess in Apparel is another costly Folly. The very Trimming of the vain World would cloath all the naked one.
46. If thou art clean and warm, it is sufficient; for more doth but rob the Poor, and please the Wanton.
47. For disappointments, that come not by our own folly, they are the trials or corrections of Heaven: and it is our own fault, if they prove not our advantage.
48. Never marry but for love; but see that thou lovest what is lovely.
49. Amuse not thy self therefore with the numerous Opinions of the World, nor value thy self upon verbal Orthodoxy, Philosophy, or thy Skill in Tongues, or Knowledge of the Fathers; (too much the Business and Vanity of the World). But in this rejoyce, That thou knowest God, that is the Lord, who exerciseth loving Kindness, and Judgment; and Righteousness in the Earth.
50. Not to be provok’d is best: But if mov’d, never correct till the Fume is spent; For every Stroke our Fury strikes, is sure to hit our selves at last.
