Sense shines with a double luster when it is set in humility. An able yet humble man is a jewel worth a kingdom.
William PennRead
Governments, like clocks, go from the motion men give them, and as governments are made and moved by men, so by them they are ruined too. Wherefore governments rather depend upon men, than men upon governments. Let men be good, and the government cannot be bad; if it be ill, they will cure it. But if men be bad, let the government be never so good, they will endeavour to warp and spoil it to their turn.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes that the quality of government depends on the character of its people.
William Penn argues that governments are shaped and influenced by the people who comprise them, suggesting a reciprocal relationship where good people lead to good governance and bad people can corrupt even the best governments. He highlights the responsibility of individuals in ensuring that their government reflects virtuous values and warns that if a society is composed of morally weak individuals, no amount of good governance can succeed.
In practice
This quote can be used in a political speech to emphasize the importance of civic responsibility.
Sense shines with a double luster when it is set in humility. An able yet humble man is a jewel worth a kingdom.
Where thou art Obliged to speak, be sure speak the Truth: For Equivocation is half way to Lying, as Lying, the whole way to Hell.
Man, being made reasonable, and so a thinking creature, there is nothing more worthy of his being than the right direction and employment of his thoughts; since upon this depends both his usefulness to the public, and his own present and future benefit in all respects.
Do good with what thou hast, or it will do thee no good.
To be a man's own fool is bad enough, but the vain man is everybody's.
Unless virtue guide us our choice must be wrong.
Mindfulness helps us get better at seeing the difference between what’s happening and the stories we tell ourselves about what’s happening, stories that get in the way of direct experience. Often such stories treat a fleeting state of mind as if it were our entire and permanent self.
A well governed appetite is the greater part of liberty.
The acceptance of all that God has given us and the willingness to let it go - to give it back to him at a moment's notice - that's true human freedom.
The world is governed by opinion.
The course of a river is almost always disapproved of by the source.
If a flower had a God it would not be a transcendental flower but a field.
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