William Penn

To be a man's own fool is bad enough, but the vain man is everybody's.

Speak properly, and in as few words as you can, but always plainly; for the end of speech is not ostentation, but to be understood.

Between a man and his wife nothing ought to rule but love. Authority is for children and servants, yet not without sweetness.

Only trust thyself, and another shall not betray thee.

Force may subdue, but love gains, and he that forgives first wins the laurel.

The tallest Trees are most in the Power of the Winds, and Ambitious Men of the Blasts of Fortune.

If thou wouldst conquer thy weakness, thou must never gratify it.

They have a right to censure that have a heart to help.

Avoid popularity; it has many snares, and no real benefit.

He that lives to live forever, never fears dying.

Sense shines with a double luster when it is set in humility. An able yet humble man is a jewel worth a kingdom.

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

Love is the hardest lesson in Christianity; but, for that reason, it should be most our care to learn it.

To be like Christ is to be a Christian.

It would be far better to be of no church than to be bitter of any.

Kings in this world should imitate God, their mercy should be above their works.

Less judgment than wit is more sail than ballast.

We are apt to love praise, but not deserve it. But if we would deserve it, we must love virtue more than that.

He that does good for good's sake seeks neither paradise nor reward, but he is sure of both in the end.

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

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

Justice is the insurance which we have on our lives and property. Obedience is the premium which we pay for it.

Nothing does reason more right, than the coolness of those that offer it: For Truth often suffers more by the heat of its defenders, than from the arguments of its opposers.

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

The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves.