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Portrait of William Penn

William Penn

(1644–1718) Colonial Proprietor Kingdom of England

291 quotes in 971 categories

Penn contrasts love, which grows and mends, with lust that wastes and excess that harms health. He warns that failing to conquer a weakness leaves one vulnerable, and he calls drunkenness the worst excess because it spoils mind and reveals secrets. He also says perfect love casts out fear.

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William Penn was a Colonial proprietor from the Kingdom of England.

Quick Facts About William Penn

Born: October 14, 1644
Died: July 30, 1718
Nationality: Kingdom of England
Profession: Colonial Proprietor
Notable works: Some fruits of solitude, in reflections and maxims relating to the conduct of human life
Spouse: Hannah Callowhill Penn

About William Penn

He was also a theologian and religious thinker who championed democracy and religious freedom. Penn is remembered for his friendly relations and successful treaties with the Lenape peoples who lived in what is now Pennsylvania before European colonisation.

Awards & Honors

honorary citizen of the United States Fellow of the Royal Society

Quotes by William Penn

Death cannot kill what never dies.

Bereavement

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The usefulest truths are the plainest.

Truth

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Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.

Time

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Wisdom is a life that knows it is living

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Anything less than full justice is cruelty.

Cruelty

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Religion is nothing else but love of God and man.

God and man

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Perfect love casteth out fear.

Bible

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Be rather bountiful, than expensive.

Bountiful

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Charity is ... a universal remedy against discord, and an holy cement for mankind.

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Let men be good, and the Government cannot be bad.

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

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Truth often suffers more by the heat of its defenders than the arguments of its opposers.

Argument

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The unspoken word never defeats one. What one does not say does not have to be explained.

Defeat

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False-dealing travels a short road, and surely detected.

Falsity

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They that censure, should practice. Or else let them have the first stone, and the last too.

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A man, like a watch, is to be valued for his manner of going.

Men

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The only fountain in the wilderness of life, where man drinks of water totally unmixed with bitterness, is that which gushes for…

Bitterness

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It is a coal from God's altar must kindle our fire; and without fire, true fire, no acceptable sacrifice.

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Is it reasonable to take it ill, that anybody desires of us that which is their own? All we have is the…

Almighty

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Excess in apparel is another costly folly. The very trimming of the vain world would clothe all the naked ones.

Apparel

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

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He who is taught to live upon little owes more to his father's wisdom than he who has a great deal left…

Care

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Children, Fear God; that is to say, have an holy awe upon your minds to avoid that which is evil, and a…

Awe

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Religion itself is nothing else but Love to God and Man. He that lives in Love lives in God, says the Beloved…

Beloved

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It would go a long way to caution and direct people in their use of the world that they would better studied…

Abuse

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You are now fixed at the mercy of no governor that comes to make his fortune great; you shall be governed by…

Compassion

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All excess is ill, but drunkenness is of the worst sort. It spoils health, dismounts the mind, and unmans men. It reveals…

Alcohol

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Never esteem people (including yourself) more because they have money, nor think less of anyone (including yourself) because they lack it. Virtue…

Character

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A good end sanctify evil means; not must we ever do evil, that good might come of it. We are ready to…

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Love labour: for if thou dost not want it for food, thou mayest for physique. It is wholesome for the body, and…

Body

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Let us, then, try what love will do, for if people once see we love them, we should soon find that they…

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Method goes far to prevent trouble in business: for it makes the task easy, hinders confusion, saves abundance of time, and instructs…

Abundance

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1 - 2 - 3 To be a man's own fool is bad enough, but the vain man is everybody's. William Penn…

Godliness

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Did we believe a final Reckoning and Judgment; or did we think enough of what we do believe, we would allow more…

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“They that love beyond the world cannot be separated by it. Death cannot kill what never dies. Nor can spirits ever be…

Death

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That which the people called Quakers lay down as a main fundamental in religion is this- That God, through Christ, hath placed…

Ancient

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“Sense never fails to give them that have it, Words enough to make them understood. It too often happens in some conversations,…

Intelligence

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A good end cannot sanctify evil means; nor must we ever do evil, that good may come of it... It is as…

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We meet on the broad pathway of good faith and good will; no advantage shall be taken on either side, but all…

Flesh and blood

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Death is but crossing the world, as friends do the seas; they live in one another still. For they must needs be…

Comfort

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William Penn by topic

Men (54) Love (54) Inspirational (43) Religion (22) Death (22) World (18) Wisdom (18) Mind (16) Life (16) Truth (14) Friendship (14) Psychology (13) People (13) Virtue (12) Evil (12) Friend (11) Fear (11)