Letter to the Lenape Nation (18 October 1681); as published in William Penn and the Founding of Pennsylvania 1680 - 1684: A Documentary History, (1983) edited by Jean R. Soderlund, University of Pennsylvania Press
Kontext: There is one great God and power that has made the world and all things therein, to whom you and I and all people owe their being and well-being, and to whom you and I must one day give an account for all that we do in this world. This great God has written his law in our hearts, by which we are taught and commanded to love and help and do good to one another, and not to do harm and mischief one unto another. Now this great God has been pleased to make me concerned in your parts of the world, and the king of the country where I live has given unto me a great province therein, but I desire to enjoy it with your friends, else what would the great God say to us, who has made us not to devour and destroy one another, but live soberly and kindly together in the world.
Now I would have you well observe, that I am very sensible of the unkindness and injustice that has been too much exercised towards you by the people of these parts of the world, who have sought themselves, and to make great advantages by you, rather than be examples of justice and goodness unto you; which I hear has been matter of trouble to you and caused great grudgings and animosities, sometimes to the shedding of blood, which has made the great god angry. But I am not such man as is well known in my own country. I have great love and regard toward you, and I desire to win and gain your love and friendship by a kind just, and peaceable life; and the people I send are of the same mind, and shall in all things behave themselves accordingly.
Zitate William Penn
„Truth often suffers more by the heat of its defenders than from the arguments of its opposers.“
142
Fruits of Solitude (1682), Part I
Kontext: 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.
107
Fruits of Solitude (1682), Part I
108 - 110
Fruits of Solitude (1682), Part I
„It were endless to dispute upon everything that is disputable.“
184
Fruits of Solitude (1682), Part I
„Hasty resolutions are of the nature of vows, and to be equally avoided.“
187
Fruits of Solitude (1682), Part I
Pennsylvania Charter of Privileges (28 October 1701)
„No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown.“
— William Penn, buch No Cross, No Crown
No Cross, No Crown (1682)
8
Fruits of Solitude (1682), Part I
„Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants.“
This has been quoted as Penn's in various forms since at least 1943 (Fulton J. Sheen, Philosophies at War, p. 154). James H Billington of the Library of Congress wrote (Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations, 2010, p. 145) "Numerous sources cite this remark but it has not been found in Penn's writings." Other variants include:
Unless we are governed by God, we shall be ruled by tyrants. (1949 speech by Norman Vincent Peale)
If men do not find God to rule them, they will be ruled by tyrants. (Roy Masters, How to Conquer Suffering Without Doctors, 1976, p. 50)
... those who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants. (David Barton, The Myth of Separation, 1992, p. 89
Misattributed
Sometimes attributed to Penn, this is actually from a document Concessions and Agreements of West New Jersey http://www.lonang.com/exlibris/organic/1677-cnj.htm (13 March 1677)
Misattributed
— William Penn, buch No Cross, No Crown
No Cross, No Crown (1682)