Benjamin Franklin - Quotes

Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning. ---->>>

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. ---->>>

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ---->>>

Energy and persistence conquer all things. ---->>>

Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain - and most fools do. ---->>>

Honesty is the best policy. ---->>>

Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment. ---->>>

Diligence is the mother of good luck. ---->>>

He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else. ---->>>

Most people return small favors, acknowledge medium ones and repay greater ones - with ingratitude. ---->>>

To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions. ---->>>

Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools, that don't have brains enough to be honest. ---->>>

Life's Tragedy is that we get old to soon and wise too late. ---->>>

There are two ways of being happy: We must either diminish our wants or augment our means - either may do - the result is the same and it is for each man to decide for himself and to do that which happens to be easier. ---->>>

If time be of all things the most precious, wasting time must be the greatest prodigality. ---->>>

It is the eye of other people that ruin us. If I were blind I would want, neither fine clothes, fine houses or fine furniture. ---->>>

Rather go to bed with out dinner than to rise in debt. ---->>>

The discontented man finds no easy chair. ---->>>

There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know one's self. ---->>>

Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days. ---->>>

Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead. ---->>>

In my youth, I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer. ---->>>

Content makes poor men rich; discontent makes rich men poor. ---->>>

Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What's a sundial in the shade? ---->>>

A life of leisure and a life of laziness are two things. There will be sleeping enough in the grave. ---->>>

Take time for all things: great haste makes great waste. ---->>>

When in doubt, don't. ---->>>

Fatigue is the best pillow. ---->>>

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of. ---->>>

I didn't fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong. ---->>>

When will mankind be convinced and agree to settle their difficulties by arbitration? ---->>>

Be slow in choosing a friend, slower in changing. ---->>>

Human felicity is produced not as much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen as by little advantages that occur every day. ---->>>

Wise men don't need advice. Fools won't take it. ---->>>

The strictest law sometimes becomes the severest injustice. ---->>>

There never was a truly great man that was not at the same time truly virtuous. ---->>>

Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody. ---->>>

If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write something worth reading or do things worth writing. ---->>>

Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today. ---->>>

Write your injuries in dust, your benefits in marble. ---->>>

It is easier to prevent bad habits than to break them. ---->>>

God works wonders now and then; Behold a lawyer, an honest man. ---->>>

He who falls in love with himself will have no rivals. ---->>>

Distrust and caution are the parents of security. ---->>>

The doors of wisdom are never shut. ---->>>

He that has done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another, than he whom you yourself have obliged. ---->>>

If you would be loved, love, and be loveable. ---->>>

Words may show a man's wit but actions his meaning. ---->>>

A great empire, like a great cake, is most easily diminished at the edges. ---->>>

Many a man thinks he is buying pleasure, when he is really selling himself to it. ---->>>

For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions, even on important subjects, which I once thought right but found to be otherwise. ---->>>

It is a grand mistake to think of being great without goodness and I pronounce it as certain that there was never a truly great man that was not at the same time truly virtuous. ---->>>

Rebellion against tyrants is obedience to God. ---->>>

All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move. ---->>>

If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed. ---->>>

If we do not hang together, we shall surely hang separately. ---->>>

Speak ill of no man, but speak all the good you know of everybody. ---->>>

When you're finished changing, you're finished. ---->>>

Where liberty is, there is my country. ---->>>

And whether you're an honest man, or whether you're a thief, depends on whose solicitor has given me my brief. ---->>>

If a man could have half of his wishes, he would double his troubles. ---->>>

The worst wheel of the cart makes the most noise. ---->>>

A learned blockhead is a greater blockhead than an ignorant one. ---->>>

She laughs at everything you say. Why? Because she has fine teeth. ---->>>

God helps those who help themselves. ---->>>

Genius without education is like silver in the mine. ---->>>

A countryman between two lawyers is like a fish between two cats. ---->>>

I conceive that the great part of the miseries of mankind are brought upon them by false estimates they have made of the value of things. ---->>>

I look upon death to be as necessary to our constitution as sleep. We shall rise refreshed in the morning. ---->>>

Never confuse motion with action. ---->>>

Admiration is the daughter of ignorance. ---->>>

Hunger is the best pickle. ---->>>

It is much easier to suppress a first desire than to satisfy those that follow. ---->>>

The use of money is all the advantage there is in having it. ---->>>

Necessity never made a good bargain. ---->>>

Gain may be temporary and uncertain; but ever while you live, expense is constant and certain: and it is easier to build two chimneys than to keep one in fuel. ---->>>

We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately. ---->>>

Work as if you were to live a hundred years. Pray as if you were to die tomorrow. ---->>>

If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins. ---->>>

I guess I don't so much mind being old, as I mind being fat and old. ---->>>

Having been poor is no shame, but being ashamed of it, is. ---->>>

As we must account for every idle word, so must we account for every idle silence. ---->>>

The way to see by Faith is to shut the Eye of Reason. ---->>>

Do good to your friends to keep them, to your enemies to win them. ---->>>

Leisure is the time for doing something useful. This leisure the diligent person will obtain the lazy one never. ---->>>

It is only when the rich are sick that they fully feel the impotence of wealth. ---->>>

There is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more easily and frequently fall than that of defrauding the government. ---->>>

You can bear your own faults, and why not a fault in your wife? ---->>>

If you know how to spend less than you get, you have the philosopher's stone. ---->>>

Many people die at twenty five and aren't buried until they are seventy five. ---->>>

He that speaks much, is much mistaken. ---->>>

He that won't be counseled can't be helped. ---->>>

He that displays too often his wife and his wallet is in danger of having both of them borrowed. ---->>>

Savages we call them because their manners differ from ours. ---->>>

If a man empties his purse into his head, no one can take it from him. ---->>>

He that rises late must trot all day. ---->>>

Games lubricate the body and the mind. ---->>>

Who is rich? He that rejoices in his portion. ---->>>

If you would know the value of money, go and try to borrow some. ---->>>

Each year one vicious habit discarded, in time might make the worst of us good. ---->>>

Wealth is not his that has it, but his that enjoys it. ---->>>

Eat to please thyself, but dress to please others. ---->>>

The absent are never without fault, nor the present without excuse. ---->>>

Never take a wife till thou hast a house (and a fire) to put her in. ---->>>

To lengthen thy life, lessen thy meals. ---->>>

Write injuries in dust, benefits in marble. ---->>>

Applause waits on success. ---->>>

He does not possess wealth; it possesses him. ---->>>

Who had deceived thee so often as thyself? ---->>>

No nation was ever ruined by trade. ---->>>

Those that won't be counseled can't be helped. ---->>>

The eye of the master will do more work than both his hands. ---->>>

If you desire many things, many things will seem few. ---->>>

Remember that credit is money. ---->>>

Hear reason, or she'll make you feel her. ---->>>

He that's secure is not safe. ---->>>

Many foxes grow gray but few grow good. ---->>>

Since thou are not sure of a minute, throw not away an hour. ---->>>

Trouble springs from idleness, and grievous toil from needless ease. ---->>>

When befriended, remember it; when you befriend, forget it. ---->>>

Our necessities never equal our wants. ---->>>

Employ thy time well, if thou meanest to gain leisure. ---->>>

The art of acting consists in keeping people from coughing. ---->>>

Buy what thou hast no need of and ere long thou shalt sell thy necessities. ---->>>

If you would have a faithful servant, and one that you like, serve yourself. ---->>>

He that composes himself is wiser than he that composes a book. ---->>>

Where sense is wanting, everything is wanting. ---->>>

Nine men in ten are would be suicides. ---->>>

The first mistake in public business is the going into it. ---->>>

Mine is better than ours. ---->>>

I should have no objection to go over the same life from its beginning to the end: requesting only the advantage authors have, of correcting in a second edition the faults of the first. ---->>>

Those disputing, contradicting, and confuting people are generally unfortunate in their affairs. They get victory, sometimes, but they never get good will, which would be of more use to them. ---->>>

Tomorrow, every Fault is to be amended; but that Tomorrow never comes. ---->>>

Observe all men, thyself most. ---->>>

He that waits upon fortune, is never sure of a dinner. ---->>>

Industry need not wish. ---->>>

A child thinks 20 shillings and 20 years can scarce ever be spent. ---->>>

An egg today is better than a hen to-morrow. ---->>>

Blessed is he that expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed. ---->>>

Danger is sauce for prayers. ---->>>

Don't throw stones at your neighbors if your own windows are glass. ---->>>

Half the truth is often a great lie. ---->>>

He that sows thorns should never go barefoot. ---->>>

I have no private interest in the reception of my inventions by the world, having never made, nor proposed to make, the least profit by any of them. ---->>>

In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride. ---->>>

Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time. ---->>>

So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for every thing one has a mind to do. ---->>>

There cannot be a stronger natural right than that of a man's making the best profit he can of the natural produce of his lands. ---->>>

I have never entered into any controversy in defense of my philosophical opinions; I leave them to take their chance in the world. If they are right, truth and experience will support them; if wrong, they ought to be refuted and rejected. Disputes are apt to sour one's temper and disturb one's quiet. ---->>>

In 1732 I first publish'd my 'Almanack' under the name of Richard Saunders; it was continu'd by me about twenty-five years, commonly call'd 'Poor Richard's Almanack.' I endeavour'd to make it both entertaining and useful, and it accordingly came to be in such demand that I reap'd considerable profit from it, vending annually near ten thousand. ---->>>

My elder brothers were all put apprentices to different trades. I was put to the grammar-school at eight years of age, my father intending to devote me, as the tithe of his sons, to the service of the Church. ---->>>

Where there is a free government, and the people make their own laws by their representatives, I see no injustice in their obliging one another to take their own paper money. ---->>>