William Penn. (1644–1718). Fruits of Solitude.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| Part I |
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| A Private Life |
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| 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. | 1 |
| 371. It was a great Answer of the Shunamite Woman, I dwell among my own People. | 2 |
| 372. They that live of their own, neither need, nor often list to wear the Livery of the Publick. | 3 |
| 373. Their Subsistance is not during Pleasure; nor have they patrons to please or present. | 4 |
| 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 Effects of Envy. | 5 |
| 375. If they want the Pleasures of a Court, they also escape the Temptations of it. | 6 |
| 376. Private Men, in fine, are so much their own, that paying common Dues, they are Sovereigns of all the rest. | 7 |
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