Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.
Meaning of the quote
When a ruler is unfair and cruel, going against that ruler is actually following God's will. This means that if a government is being unjust and oppressing its people, it is right to stand up against that government, because you are doing what God wants by defending freedom and justice.
More quotes from William Penn
For death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity.
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He that does good for good’s sake seeks neither paradise nor reward, but he is sure of both in the end.
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Force may subdue, but love gains, and he that forgives first wins the laurel.
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Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants.
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Between a man and his wife nothing ought to rule but love. Authority is for children and servants, yet not without sweetness.
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In marriage do thou be wise: prefer the person before money, virtue before beauty, the mind before the body; then thou hast a wife, a friend, a companion, a second self.
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A true friend freely, advises justly, assists readily, adventures boldly, takes all patiently, defends courageously, and continues a friend unchangeably.
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To be like Christ is to be a Christian.
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Knowledge is the treasure of a wise man.
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Avoid popularity; it has many snares, and no real benefit.
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The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves.
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Much reading is an oppression of the mind, and extinguishes the natural candle, which is the reason of so many senseless scholars in the world.
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Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.
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If thou wouldn’t conquer thy weakness thou must not gratify it.
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The tallest Trees are most in the Power of the Winds, and Ambitious Men of the Blasts of Fortune.
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Patience and Diligence, like faith, remove mountains.
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Rarely promise, but, if lawful, constantly perform.
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Love grows. Lust wastes by Enjoyment, and the Reason is, that one springs from an Union of Souls, and the other from an Union of Sense.
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O Lord, help me not to despise or oppose what I do not understand.
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We are apt to love praise, but not deserve it. But if we would deserve it, we must love virtue more than that.
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Only trust thyself, and another shall not betray thee.
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Truth often suffers more by the heat of its defenders than the arguments of its opposers.
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Nothing does reason more right, than the coolness of those that offer it: For Truth often suffers more by the heat of its defenders, than from the arguments of its opposers.
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Passion is the mob of the man, that commits a riot upon his reason.
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A good End cannot sanctify evil Means; nor must we ever do Evil, that Good may come of it.
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Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.
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Less judgment than wit is more sail than ballast.
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Some are so very studious of learning what was done by the ancients that they know not how to live with the moderns.
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True silence is the rest of the mind, and is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment.
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Speak properly, and in as few words as you can, but always plainly; for the end of speech is not ostentation, but to be understood.
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He who is taught to live upon little owes more to his father’s wisdom than he who has a great deal left him does to his father’s care.
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Force may make hypocrites, but it can never make converts.
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Love is the hardest lesson in Christianity; but, for that reason, it should be most our care to learn it.
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Let the people think they govern and they will be governed.
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Men are generally more careful of the breed of their horses and dogs than of their children.
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Humility and knowledge in poor clothes excel pride and ignorance in costly attire.
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They have a right to censure that have a heart to help.
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Sense shines with a double luster when it is set in humility. An able yet humble man is a jewel worth a kingdom.
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It would be far better to be of no church than to be bitter of any.
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Justice is the insurance which we have on our lives and property. Obedience is the premium which we pay for it.
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Passion is a sort of fever in the mind, which ever leaves us weaker than it found us.
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Kings in this world should imitate God, their mercy should be above their works.
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He that lives to live forever, never fears dying.
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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.
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Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it.
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To be a man’s own fool is bad enough, but the vain man is everybody’s.
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