Frasi di William Penn
William Penn
Data di nascita: 14. Ottobre 1644
Data di morte: 30. Luglio 1718
William Penn è stato un esploratore e filosofo britannico.
Figlio dell'ammiraglio inglese William Penn e di Margaret Jasper, fu il fondatore della colonia britannica della Pennsylvania, che successivamente si trasformò in due degli Stati Uniti d'America . I principi democratici che egli sostenne durante la sua vita furono un'importante fonte di ispirazione per la successiva costituzione statunitense. A Penn si deve anche la prima proposta di un Parlamento europeo eletto, con il compito di risolvere pacificamente le controversie tra stati. Wikipedia
Frasi William Penn
The Preface
Fruits of Solitude (1682)
Contesto: There is nothing of which we are apt to be so lavish as of Time, and about which we ought to be more solicitous; since without it we can do nothing in this World. Time is what we want most, but what, alas! we use worst; and for which God will certainly most strictly reckon with us, when Time shall be no more.
Frame of Government (1682)
Contesto: I know what is said by the several admirers of monarchy, aristocracy and democracy, which are the rule of one, a few, and many, and are the three common ideas of government, when men discourse on the subject. But I chuse to solve the controversy with this small distinction, and it belongs to all three: Any government is free to the people under it (whatever be the frame) where the law rules, and the people are a party to those laws, and more than this is tyranny, oligarchy, or confusion.
„A good End cannot sanctifie evil Means; nor must we ever do Evil, that Good may come of it.“
537-539
Fruits of Solitude (1682), Part I
Contesto: A good End cannot sanctifie evil Means; nor must we ever do Evil, that Good may come of it. Some Folks think they may Scold, Rail, Hate, Rob and Kill too; so it be but for God's sake. But nothing in us unlike him, can please him.
221
Fruits of Solitude (1682), Part I
549
Fruits of Solitude (1682), Part I
Contesto: It is a severe Rebuke upon us, that God makes us so many Allowances, and we make so few to our Neighbor: As if Charity had nothing to do with Religion; Or Love with Faith, that ought to work by it.
Letter to Peter the Great, the Czar of Russia, 2 July 1698, in Samuel McPherson Janney, The Life of William Penn (Philadelphia, 1852), p. 407
554-556
Fruits of Solitude (1682), Part I
Contesto: Love is indeed Heaven upon Earth; since Heaven above would not be Heaven without it: For where there is not Love; there is Fear: But perfect Love casts out Fear. And yet we naturally fear most to offend what we most Love. What we Love, we'll Hear; what we Love, we'll Trust; and what we Love, we'll serve, ay, and suffer for too. If you love me says our Blessed Redeemer) keep my Commandments. Why? Why then he'll Love us; then we shall be his Friends; then he'll send us the Comforter; then whatsover we ask, we shall receive; and then where he is we shall be also, and that for ever. Behold the Fruits of Love; the Power, Vertue, Benefit and Beauty of Love! Love is above all; and when it prevails in us all, we shall all be Lovely, and in Love with God and one with another.
„They that love beyond the world cannot be separated by it. Death cannot kill, what never dies.“
127 - 134
Fruits of Solitude (1682), Part II
Contesto: They that love beyond the world cannot be separated by it. Death cannot kill, what never dies. Nor can Spirits ever be divided that love and live in the same Divine Principle; the Root and Record of their Friendship. If Absence be not death, neither is theirs. Death is but Crossing the World, as Friends do the Seas; They live in one another still. For they must needs be present, that love and live in that which is Omnipresent. In this Divine Glass, they see Face to Face; and their Converse is Free, as well as Pure. 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.
