William Penn

Never play cards with a man called Doc. Never eat at a place called Moms. Never sleep with a woman whose troubles are worse than your own.

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.

Be humble. It becomes a creature, a depending and borrowed being, that lives not of itself, but breathes in another’s air with another’s breath, and is accountable for every moment of time and can call nothing its own, but is absolutely a tenant at will of the great Lord of heaven and earth.

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 is the amends of a short and troublesome life, that doing good and suffering ill entitles man to a longer and better

Force may make hypocrites, but it can never make converts.

I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.

It ain’t those parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.

When you get there, there isn’t any there there.

Not thinking about anything is Zen. Once you know this, walking, sitting, or lying down, everything you do is Zen.

It’s not about approving or liking, but just being able to allow the world to be the way it is without resenting, hating, or judging it.

As a bee gathering nectar does not harm or disturb the color & fragrance of the flower; so do the wise move through the world.

The essence of Buddhism is, if you can, to help others. If not, then at least refrain from hurting others.

You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn’t. You get to decide what to worship.

You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.

If it turns out that there is a God, I don’t think that he’s evil. But the worst that you can say about him is that basically he’s an underachiever.

[on enlightenment] Body and mind dropped off.

Harmonizing opposites by going back to their source is the distinctive quality of the Zen attitude, the Middle Way: embracing contradictions, making a synthesis of them, achieving balance.

If you are unable to find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?

I’m essentially agnostic. I don’t have a problem with God. I have a problem with religion. I’ve chosen to live my life without the certainties of religious faith. I think they’re dangerous. Music is something that gives my life value and spiritual solace.

To give pleasure to a single heart by a single kind act is better than a thousand head-bowings in prayer.