William Penn
William Penn
William Penn24 October 1644 – 30 July 1718) was an English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, early Quaker and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was an early advocate of democracy and religious freedom, notable for his good relations and successful treaties with the Lenape Native Americans. Under his direction, the city of Philadelphia was planned and developed...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth14 October 1644
CityLondon, England
Cunning to wise, is as an Ape to a Man.
Make few resolutions, but keep them strictly
Never despise what you don't understand.
Less judgment than wit is more sail than ballast. Yet it must be confessed that wit given an edge to sense, and recommends it extremely.
Above all things endeavor to breed them up the love of virtue, and that holy plain way of it which we have lived in, that the world in no part of it get into my family. I had rather they we're homely than finely bred as to outward behavior; yet I love sweetness mixed with gravity, and cheerfulness tempered with sobriety.
Show is not substance; realities govern wise men.
We are too careless of posterity; not considering that as they are, so the next generation will be.
Death then, being the way and condition of life, we cannot love to live if we cannot bear to die.
Knowledge is the treasure, but judgment is the treasurer of the one who is wise.
Haste makes work which caution prevents.
We are too apt to love praise, but not to deserve it.
Some are so very studious of learning what was done by the ancients that they know not how to live with the moderns.
Religion itself is nothing else but Love to God and Man. He that lives in Love lives in God, says the Beloved Disciple: And to be sure a Man can live no where better.
A good end sanctify evil means; not must we ever do evil, that good might come of it. We are ready to retaliate, rather than forgive or gain by love and information . . . Force may subdue, but love gains. And one that forgives first wins the laurel.