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
You are now fixed at the mercy of no governor that comes to make his fortune great; you shall be governed by laws of your own making and live a free, and if you will, a sober and industrious life. I shall not usurp the right of any, or oppress his person. God has furnished me with a better resolution and has given me his grace to keep it.
Men being born with a title to perfect freedom and uncontrolled enjoyment of all the rights and privileges of the law of nature... no one can be put out of his estate and subjected to the political view of another, without his consent.
Anything less than full justice is cruelty.
People are more afraid of the laws of Man than of God, because their punishment seems to be nearest.
Justice is the insurance which we have on our lives and property. Obedience is the premium which we pay for it.
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.