William Penn

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

Children, Fear God; that is to say, have an holy awe upon your minds to avoid that which is evil, and a strict care to embrace and do that which is good.

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.

Men are generally more careful of the breed of their horses and dogs than of their children.

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.

Method goes far to prevent trouble in business: for it makes the task easy, hinders confusion, saves abundance of time, and instructs those that have business depending, both what to do and what to hope.

Humility like the darkness, reveals the heavenly lights.

You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out.

The wonder is always new that any sane man can be a sailor.

Farmers are respectable and interesting to me in proportion as they are poor.

There isn’t a single human characteristic that can be safely labeled as American.

By all means let’s be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.

The momentous thing in human life is the art of winning the soul to good or evil.

Named must your fear be before banish it you can.

Nature has given us two ears, two eyes, and but one tongue-to the end that we should hear and see more than we speak.

Beware of the man who does not return your blow: he neither forgives you nor allows you to forgive yourself.

Croesus said to Cambyses; That peace was better than war; because in peace the sons did bury their fathers, but in wars the fathers did bury their sons.

Good breeding, a union of kindness and independence.

There are no secrets better kept than the secrets that everybody guesses.

Still, if you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than live as slaves.

The wilderness is near as well as dear to every man. Even the oldest villages are indebted to the border of wild wood which surrounds them, more than to the gardens of men. There is something indescribably inspiriting and beautiful in the aspect of the forest skirting and occasionally jutting into the midst of new towns, which, like the sand-heaps of fresh fox-burrows, have sprung up in their midst. The very uprightness of the pines and maples asserts the ancient rectitude and vigor of nature. Our lives need the relief of such a background, where the pine flourishes and the jay still screams.