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October 19, 2020
370. Private Life is to be preferr'd; the Honor and Gain of publick Posts, bearing no proportion with the Comfort of it. The one is free and quiet, the other servile and noisy. 371. It was a great Answer of the Shunamite Woman, I dwell among my own People. 372. They that live of their own, neither need, nor often list to wear the Livery of the Publick. 373. Their Subsistance is not during Pleasure; nor have they patrons to please or present. 374. If they are not advanced, neither can they be disgraced. And as they know not the Smiles of Majesty, so they feel not the Frowns of Greatness; or the
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380. Five Things are requisite to a good Officer; Ability, Clean Hands, Dispatch, Patience and Impartiality.
The taking of a Bribe or Gratuity, should be punished with as severe Penalties, as the defrauding of the State.
Let Men have sufficient Salaries, and exceed them at their Peril.
It is a Dishonor to Government, that its Officers should live of Benevolence; as it ought to be Infamous for Officers to dishonor the Publick, by...
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406. If our Compassions must not sway us; less should our Fears, Profits or Prejudices.
407. Justice is justly represented Blind, because she sees no Difference in the Parties concerned. 408. She has but one Scale and Weight, for Rich and Poor, Great and Small.
431. A Neuter only has room to be a Peace - maker: For being of neither side, he has the Means of mediating a Reconciliation of both.
440. The Humble, in the Parable of the Day of Judgment, forgot their good Works; Lord, when did we do so and so?
441. He that does Good, for Good's sake, seeks neither Praise nor Reward; tho' sure of both at last.
445. If thou hast not conquer'd thy self in that which is thy own particular Weakness, thou hast no Title to Virtue,
because if would carry but little Authority with it.
It?
546. Force may subdue, but Love gains: And he that forgives first, wins the Lawrel.
548. Love is the hardest Lesson in Christianity; but, for that reason, it should be most our care to learn it.
13. In short, The Moral Man is he that Loves God above All, and his Neighbor as himself, which fulfils both Tables at once.
just Enterprises never want any Just Ways to succeed them.
56. To do Evil, that Good may come of it, is for Bunglers in Politicks, as well as Morals.
58. The Wise Man is Cautious, but not cunning; Judicious, but not Crafty; making Virtue the Measure of using his Excellent Understanding in the Conduct of his Life.
59. The Wise Man is equal, ready, but not officious; has in every Thing an Eye to Sure Footing: He offends no Body, nor easily is offended, and always willing to Compound for Wrongs, if not forgive them. 60. He is never Captious, nor Critical; hates Banter and Jests: He may be Pleasant, but not Light; he never deals but in Substantial Ware,
61. He is always for some solid Good, Civil or Moral; as, to make his Country more Virtuous, Preserve her Peace and Liberty, Imploy her Poor, Improve Land, Advance Trade, Suppress Vice, Incourage Industry, and all Mechanick Knowledge; and that they should be the Care of the Government, and the Blessing and Praise of the People. 62. To conclude: He is Just, and fears God, hates Covetousness, and eschews Evil, and loves his Neighbor as himself.
63. Man being made a 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 Publick, and his own present and future Benefit in all Respects. 64. The Consideration of this, has often obliged me to Lament the Unhappiness of Mankind, that through too great a Mixture and Confusion of Thoughts, have been hardly able to make a Right or Mature Judgment of Things. 65. To this is owing the various Uncertainty and Confusion we see in the World, and the Intemperate Zeal
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68. Clear therefore thy Head, and Rally and Manage thy Thoughts Rightly, and thou wilt Save Time, and See and Do thy Business Well; for thy Judgment will be Distinct, thy Mind Free, and the Faculties Strong and Regular.
69. Always remember to bound thy Thoughts to the present Occasion. 70. If it be thy Religious Duty, suffer nothing else to Share in them. And if any Civil or Temporal Affair, observe the same Caution, and thou wilt be a whole Man to every Thing, and do twice the Business in the same Time. 71. If any Point over-Labors thy Mind, divert and relieve it, by some other Subject, of a more Sensible, or Manual Nature, rather than what may affect the Understanding; for this were to write one Thing upon another, which blots out our former Impressions, or renders them illegible. 72. They that are least
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if it fall out that thou hast more Affairs than one upon thy Hand, be sure to prefer that which is of most Moment, and will least wait thy Leisure.
74. He that Judges not well of the Importance of his Affairs, though he may be always Busy, he must make but a small Progress.
Employ thy Thoughts as thy Business requires, and let that have a Place according to Merit and Urgency; giving every Thing a Review and due Digestion, and thou wilt prevent many Errors and Vexations, as well as save much Time to thy self in the Course of thy Life.
92. Why is Man less durable than the Works of his Hands, but because This is not the Place of his Rest? 93. And it is a Great and Just Reproach upon him, that he should fix his Mind where he cannot stay himself. 94. Were it not more his Wisdom to be concerned about those Works that will go with him, and erect a Mansion for him where Time has Power neither over him nor it? 95. ’T is a sad Thing for Man so often to miss his Way to his Best, as well as most Lasting Home. Of Ambition Table of Contents 96. They that soar too high, often fall hard; which makes a low and level Dwelling preferrable.
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125. But it too often happens in some Conversations, as in Apothecary-Shops, that those Pots that are Empty, or have things of Small Value in them, are as gaudily Dress’d and Flourish’d, as those that are full of precious Drugs. 126. This Laboring of slight Matter with flourish’d Turns of Expression, is fulsome, and worse than the Modern Imitation of Tapestry, and East-India Goods, in Stuffs and Linnens. In short, ’t is but Taudry Talk, and next to very Trash.
I Love this vivid turn of expression. Penn is very clever.
134. This is the Comfort of Friends, that though they may be said to Die, yet their Friendship and Society are, in the best Sense, ever present, because Immortal.
137. They narrow their own Freedom and Comforts, that make so much requisite to enjoy them. 138. To be Easy in Living, is much of the Pleasure of Life: But Difficult Tempers will always want it.
140. And he that is taught to live upon a little, owes more to his Father’s Wisdom, than he that has a great deal left him, does to his Father’s Care.
144. The Memory of the Ancients is hardly in any Thing more to be celebrated, than in a Strict and Useful Institution of Youth. 145. By Labor they prevented Luxury in their young People, till Wisdom and Philosophy had taught them to Resist and Despise it.
154. There lies a Proviso upon every Thing in this World, and we must observe it at our own Peril, viz. To love God above all, and Act for Judgment, the Last
167. And if Men would once consider one another reasonably, they would either reconcile their Differences, or more Amicably maintain them. 168. Let That therefore be the Standard, that has most to say for itself. Tho’ of that let every Man be Judge for himself. 169. Reason, like the Sun, is Common to All; And ’t is for want of examining all by the same Light and Measure, that we are not all of the same Mind: For all have it to that End, though all do not use it So.
174. Nothing more shews the low Condition Man is fallen into, than the unsuitable Notion we must have of God, by the Ways we take to please him. 175. As if it availed any Thing to him that we performed so many Ceremonies and external Forms of Devotion, who never meant more by them, than to try our Obedience, and, through them, to shew us something more Excellent and Durable beyond them.
179. ’T is a most dangerous Error for a Man to think to excuse himself in the Breach of a Moral Duty, by a Formal Performance of Positive Worship;
216. But it is strange, that Old Men should excel: For generally Money lies nearest them that are nearest their Graves; As if they would augment their Love in Proportion to the little Time they have left to enjoy it: And yet their Pleasure is without Enjoyment, since none enjoy what they do not use. 217. So that instead of learning to leave their greath Wealth easily, they hold the Faster, because they must leave it: So Sordid is the Temper of some Men.
221. Hardly any Thing is given us for our Selves, but the Publick may claim a Share with us. But of all we call ours, we are most accountable to God and the Publick for our Estates: In this we are but Stewards, and to Hord up all to ourselves is great Injustice as well as Ingratitude. 222. If all Men were so far Tenants to the Publick, that the Superfluities of Gain and Expence were applied to the Exigencies thereof, it would put an End to Taxes, leave never a Beggar, and make the greatest Bank for National Trade in Europe.
225. I confess I have wondered that so many Lawful and Useful Things are excised by Laws, and Pride left to Reign Free over them and the Publick.
246. And truly then it is, that Sense shines with the greatest Beauty when it is set in Humility.
287. God sends the Poor to try us, as well as he tries them by being such: And he that refuses them a little out of the great deal that God has given him, Lays up Poverty in Store for his own Posterity.
END OF PART II
Reached On 12,6,2020 MJA
Book One
Book Two
Book Three
Book Four
Book Five
Book Six
Book Seven
Book Eight
