Sense shines with a double luster when it is set in humility. An able yet humble man is a jewel worth a kingdom.
Peace can only be secured by justice; never by force of arms.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True peace can only be achieved through fairness and justice, rather than through violence or military power.
William Penn's quote emphasizes the fundamental idea that lasting peace is rooted in justice. Using force or military might may temporarily suppress conflict, but it does not create genuine harmony among people. Instead, when justice is established and upheld, it paves the way for a deeper and more sustainable peace that resonates within society. This perspective suggests that moral and ethical considerations should guide our actions towards resolving disputes and fostering understanding, rather than relying on aggression as a means to achieve security.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a speech about conflict resolution.
More from William Penn
All quotes βWhere 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.
Similar quotes
Every state begins in compulsion; but the habits of obedience become the content of conscience, and soon every citizen thrills with loyalty to the flag. The citizen is right; for however the state begins, it soon becomes an indispensable prop to order.
I haven't any allegiance, any responsibilities, any hatreds, any worries, any prejudices, any passion. I'm neither for nor against. I'm a neutral.
The woof and warp of all thought and all research is symbols, and the life of thought and science is the life inherent in symbols; so that it is wrong to say that a good language is important to good thought, merely; for it is the essence of it.
In philosophy, as in politics, the longest distance between two points is a straight line.
History isn't what happened, history is just what historians tell us.
One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important.