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
True godliness does not turn men out of the world, but enables them to live better in it and excites their endeavors to mend it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True godliness helps individuals improve their lives and the world around them rather than withdrawing from it.
The quote by William Penn suggests that genuine spirituality or 'godliness' is not about escaping the challenges of the world or rejecting life’s complexities. Instead, it empowers individuals to engage with the world actively and strive for improvement, both personally and in their communities, inspiring them to contribute positively to society.
Themes
GodlinessServiceImprovementWorldSpirituality
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about community service, one might quote this to inspire volunteers.
More from William Penn
All quotes →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.
William PennRead
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.
William PennRead
Do good with what thou hast, or it will do thee no good.
William PennRead
To be a man's own fool is bad enough, but the vain man is everybody's.
William PennRead
Unless virtue guide us our choice must be wrong.
William PennRead
Similar quotes
One day old Thrashbarg said that Almighty Bob had declared that he, Thrashbarg, was to have first pick of the sandwiches. The villagers asked him when this had happened, exactly, and Thrashbarg said it had happened yesterday, when they weren't looking. 'Have faith,' Old Thrashbarg said, 'or burn!' They let him have first pick of the sandwiches. It seemed easiest.
Douglas AdamsRead
The agnostic, the skeptic, is neurotic, but this does not imply a false philosophy; it implies the discovery of facts to which he does not know how to adapt himself. The intellectual who tries to escape from neurosis by escaping from the facts is merely acting on the principle that “where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise.
Alan WattsRead
The opposite of compromise is character.
Frederick DouglassRead
We were the people who were not in the papers. We lived in the blank white spaces at the edges of print. It gave us more freedom. We lived in the gaps between the stories.
Margaret AtwoodRead
As a human being, I'm concerned about the world that I live in. So, I'm concerned about peace. I'm concerned about - about man's inhumanity to man. I'm concerned about the environment.
Herbie HancockRead
This demand follows from an insight that I was the first to articulate: that there are no moral facts.
Friedrich NietzscheRead