William Penn

The country life is to be preferred, for there we see the works of God; but in cities little else but the works of men. And the one makes a better subject for contemplation than the other.

Truth often suffers more by the heat of its defenders than the arguments of its opposers.

Passion is the mob of the man, that commits a riot upon his reason.

Equivocation is half-way to lying, and lying the whole way to hell.

Some men do as much begrudge others a good name, as they want one themselves: and perhaps that is the reason of it.

It were Happy if we studied Nature more in natural Things; and acted according to Nature; whose rules are few, plain and most reasonable.

If you believe in fate, believe in it, at least, for your good.

A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain.

Give no bounties: make equal laws: secure life and prosperity and you need not give alms.

To have striven, to have made the effort, to have been true to certain ideals – this alone is worth the struggle.

Wine makes a man more pleased with himself; I do not say it makes him more pleasing to others.

Noise proves nothing. Often a hen who has merely laid an egg cackles as if she laid an asteroid.

A lucky person gets up in the morning, puts both feet on the floor, knows what they’re about to do and thinks it still matters.

She was taken by surprise at quite how breathtaking the twinkle in her eyes was. She listened and watched attentively, magnetized. As butterflies danced on her lips, her own stomach felt butterflies.

The ancients recommended us to sacrifice to the Graces, but Milton sacrificed to the Devil.

God screens us evermore from premature ideas.

This is the ultimate end of man, to find the One which is in him; which is his truth, which is his soul; the key with which he opens the gate of the spiritual life, the heavenly kingdom.

Talent is commonly developed at the expense of character.

Money and time are the heaviest burdens of life, and the unhappiest of all mortals are those who have more of either than they know how to use.

Anger and jealousy can no more bear to lose sight of their objects than love.

The only way to know is to live, learn, and grow.