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If I had my life to live over again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once a week; for perhaps the parts of my brain now atrophied would have thus been kept active through use. The loss of these tastes is a loss of happiness, and may possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral character, by enfeebling the emotional part of our nature. Charles Robert Darwin		Wednesday Dec 24, 2025
		Quotes: 53419 Authors: 9969

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Much reading is an oppression of the mind, and extinguishes the natural candle, which is the reason there are so many senseless scholars in the world. William Penn

Quote Author: William Penn

William Penn

William Penn

William Penn (October 14, 1644 - July 30, 1718) was founder and "Absolute Proprietor" of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future U.S. state of Pennsylvania. He was known as an early champion of democracy and religious freedom and famous for his treaty with the Lenape Indians.

William Penn was one of the founding fathers of the United States and the only one among them to have single-handedly created a democratic constitution and ruled a huge territory a century before 1776. Well ahead of his time, Penn wrote and urged for a Union of all the English colonies in what was to become the United States of America. The democratic principles that he set forth in the Pennsylvania Frame(s) of Government served as an inspiration for the United States Constitution. As a pacifist Quaker, Penn considered the problems of war and peace deeply, and included a plan for a United States of Europe, "European Dyet, Parliament or Estates," in his voluminous writings.

Other William Penn Quotes

For death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity.

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

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

To be innocent is to be not guilty; But to be virtuous is to overcome our evil inclinations.

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

Much reading is an oppression of the mind, and extinguishes the natural candle, which is the reason there are so many senseless scholars in the world.

Cunning to wisdom is as an ape to man.

A good End cannot sanctify evil Means; nor must we ever do Evil, that Good may come of it.

It is a reproach to religion and government to suffer so much poverty and excess.

Knowledge is the treasure, but judgment is the treasurer of a wise man.

Always rise from the table with an appetite, and you will never sit down without one.

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

The country life is to be preferred, for there we see the works of God, but in cities little else but the works of men.

He that lives to live forever, never fears dying.

They that love beyond the world cannot be separated by it. Death cannot kill what never dies, nor can spirits ever be divided that love and live in the same divine principle.

We have a call to do good, as often as we have the power and occasion.

Do good with what thou hast, or it will do thee no good.

Where Example keeps pace with Authority, Power hardly fails to be obeyd.

A good end cannot sanctify evil means; nor must we ever do evil, that good may come of it. We are too 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.

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

A Garden, an Elaboratory, a Workhouse, Improvements and Breeding, are pleasant and Profitable Diversions to the Idle and Ingenious: For here they miss Ill Company, and converse with Nature and Art; whose Variety are equally grateful and instructing; and preserve a good Constitution of Body and Mind.

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

I shall pass through life but once. Let me show kindness now, as I shall not pass this way again.

Knowledge is the treasure, but judgment the treasurer, of a wise man.

No man is fit to command another that cannot command himself.

It is a cruel folly to offer up to ostentation so many lives of creatures, as to make up the state of our treats.

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

Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants.

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

Rarely promise. But, if lawful, constantly perform.

It is wise not to seek a secret; and honest, not to reveal one.

Some are so very studious of learning what was done by the ancients that they know not how to live with the moderns.

The Country is both the Philosopher's Garden and his Library, in which he Reads and Contemplates the Power, Wisdom and Goodness of God.

There is nothing of which we are apt to be so lavish as of time, and about which we ought to be more solicitous; since without it we can do nothing in this world.

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

Unless virtue guides us, our choice must be wrong.

If thou wouldst conquer thy weakness thou must not gratify it.

Many able Gardeners and Husbandmen are yet Ignorant of the Reason of their Calling; as most Artificers are of the Reason of their own Rules that govern their excellent Workmanship. But a Naturalist and Mechanick of this sort is Master of the Reason of both, and might be of the Practice too, if his Industry kept pace with his Speculation; which were every commendable; and without which he cannot be said to be a complete Naturalist or Mechanick.

No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown.

Governments, like docks, go from the motion men give them, and as governments are made and moved by men, so by them they are ruined also. Therefore governments depend upon men rather then men upon governments.

The tallest trees are most in the power of the winds, and ambitious men of the blasts of fortune.