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
Between a man and his wife nothing ought to rule but love. Authority is for children and servants, yet not without sweetness.
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.
Children, Fear God; that is to say, have an holy awe upon your minds to avoid that which is evil, and a strict care to embrace and do that which is good.
Men are generally more careful of the breed of their horses and dogs than of their children.
If we would mend the World, we should mend Ourselves; and teach our Children to be, not what we are, but what they should be.
Drunkenness spoils health, dismounts the mind, and unmans man. It reveals secrets, is quarrelsome, lascivious, impudent, dangerous, and mad.
Equivocation is half-way to lying, and lying the whole way to hell
Seek not to be Rich, but Happy. The one lies in Bags, the other in Content: which Wealth can never give.
Have wholesome, but not costly Food, and be rather cleanly than dainty in ordering it.
Have a care, therefore, where there is more sail than ballast.
Friendship . . . is an Union of Spirits, a Marriage of Hearts, and the Bond thereof Vertue.
Sexes make no Difference; since in Souls there is none: And they are the Subjects of Friendship.
To do evil that good may come of it is for bunglers in politics as well as mortals
Those who would mend the world must first mend themselves.