William Penn

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

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.

O Lord, help me not to despise or oppose what I do not understand.

To be innocent is to be not guilty; but to be virtuous is to overcome our evil inclinations.

Passion is a sort of fever in the mind, which ever leaves us weaker than it found us.

He that has more knowledge than judgment, is made for another man’s use more than his own.

As long as our civilization is essentially one of property, of fences, of exclusiveness, it will be mocked by delusions. Our riches will leave us sick; there will be bitterness in our laughter; and our wine will burn our mouth. Only that good profits, which we can taste with all doors open, and which serves all men.

Though analogy is often misleading, it is the least misleading thing we have.

When it comes to the story of my heart, I am the villain, locking it away; denying its right be free. The chains are tight, restricting its growth; long enough to see through the window of opportunity, but the only escape it has, is via the pen. Why do I deny myself the opportunities? I know it comes from a place of protection, but also of fear. I think my heart has grown a resentment because of this betrayal, and has decided, enough is enough.

Big doors swing on little hinges.

Respect the child. Be not too much his parent. Trespass not on his solitude.

If matters go badly now, they will not always be so.

One soweth and another reapeth is a verity that applies to evil as well as good.

Death is but crossing the world, as friends do the seas; they live in one another still.

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.

If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mousetrap, than his neighbor, though he build his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door.

The habit of looking on the best side of every event is worth more than a thousand pounds a years.

If you follow reason far enough it always leads to conclusions that are contrary to reason.

Once I had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue: No good in a bed, but fine up against a wall.

Cruelty would be delicious if one could only find some sort of cruelty that didn’t really hurt.

You must avoid sloth, that wicked siren.