Benjamin Franklin quotes

I am a strong believer in luck and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.

Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.

Half a truth is often a great lie.

At twenty years of age the will reigns; at thirty, the wit; and at forty, the judgment.

By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.

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

The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.

Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.

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.

Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards.

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

'Tis a common observation here that our cause is the cause of all mankind, and that we are fighting for their liberty in defending our own.

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

Absence sharpens love, presence strengthens it.

Admiration is the daughter of ignorance.

All wars are follies, very expensive and very mischievous ones.

Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship.

Certainty? In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.

Games lubricate the body and the mind.

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

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

He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money.

He that speaks much, is much mistaken.

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

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

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

I wake up every morning at nine and grab for the morning paper. Then I look at the obituary page. If my name is not on it, I get up.

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

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

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

If you would persuade, you must appeal to interest rather than intellect.

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

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

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

One today is worth two tomorrows.

So convienent a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do.

Some people die at 25 and aren't buried until 75.

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.

There is no such thing as a good war and there is no such thing as a bad peace.

Those that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

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

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

A good conscience is a continual Christmas.

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

A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body.

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

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

A little neglect may breed great mischief.

A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle.

A penny saved is a penny earned.

A place for everything, everything in its place.

A small leak can sink a great ship.

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

All who think cannot but see there is a sanction like that of religion which binds us in partnership in the serious work of the world.

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.

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

Anger is never without a reason, but seldom with a good one.

Anger is one of the sinews of the soul; he that wants it hath a maimed mind.

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

Anyone who trades liberty for security deserves neither liberty nor security.

Applause waits on success.

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

Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.

Be civil to all; sociable to many; familiar with few; friend to one; enemy to none.

Be slow in choosing a friend, slower in changing.

Beauty and folly are old companions.

Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.

Beware the hobby that eats.

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

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

Creditors have better memories than debtors.

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.

Diligence is the mother of good luck.

Distrust and caution are the parents of security.

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

Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out.

Do not squander time for that is the stuff life is made of.

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

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time; for that's the stuff life is made of.

Drive thy business or it will drive thee.

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

Eat to please thyself, but dress to please others.

Educate your children to self-control, to the habit of holding passion and prejudice and evil tendencies subject to an upright and reasoning will, and you have done much to abolish misery from their future and crimes from society.

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

Employ thy time well, if thou meanest to get leisure.

Energy and persistence conquer all things.

Even peace may be purchased at too high a price.

Experience is a dear teacher, but fools will learn at no other.

Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other.

Fatigue is the best pillow.

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.

For the want of a nail, the shoe was lost; for the want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for the want of a horse the rider was lost, being overtaken and slain by the enemy, all for the want of care about a horseshoe nail.

Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature.

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.

Genius without education is like silver in the mine.

God helps those who help themselves.

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

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

He does not possess wealth; it possesses him.

He that can have patience can have what he will.

He that cannot obey, cannot command.

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

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

He that falls in love with himself will have no rivals.

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

He that lives upon hope will die fasting.

He that raises a large family does, indeed, while he lives to observe them, stand a broader mark for sorrow; but then he stands a broader mark for pleasure too.

He that rises late must trot all day.

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

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

He that would live in peace and at ease must not speak all he knows or all he sees.

He that's secure is not safe.

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

Honesty is the best policy.

How few there are who have courage enough to own their faults, or resolution enough to mend them.

How many observe Christ's birthday! How few, his precepts! O! 'tis easier to keep holidays than commandments.

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

Hunger is the best pickle.

I cannot conceive otherwise than that He, the Infinite Father, expects or requires no worship or praise from us, but that He is even infinitely above it.

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

I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth -- that God Governs the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?

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

I saw few die of hunger; of eating, a hundred thousand.

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.

I think vital religion has always suffered when orthodoxy is more regarded than virtue. The scriptures assure me that at the last day we shall not be examined on what we thought but what we did.

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

If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.

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

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

If Jack's in love, he's no judge of Jill's beauty.

If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.

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

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

If you would be loved, love and be lovable.

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

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

If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth the writing.

In general, mankind, since the improvement of cookery, eats twice as much as nature requires.

In the affairs of this world, men are saved not by faith, but by the want of it.

In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.

In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.

Industry need not wish.

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.

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

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

It is the working man who is the happy man. It is the idle man who is the miserable man.

It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.

Laws too gentle are seldom obeyed; too severe, seldom executed.

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

Lost time is never found again.

Man will ultimately be governed by God or by tyrants.

Many a long dispute among divines may be thus abridged: It is so. It is not so. It is so. It is not so.

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

Many foxes grow gray but few grow good.

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

Marriage is the most natural state of man, and... the state in which you will find solid happiness.

Mine is better than ours.

Money can help you to get medicines but not health. Money can help you to get soft pillows, but not sound sleep. Money can help you to get material comforts, but not eternal bliss. Money can help you to get ornaments, but not beauty. Money will help you to get an electric earphone, but not natural hearing. Attain the supreme wealth, wisdom, and you will have everything.

Money has never made man happy, nor will it, there is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more of it one has the more one wants.

Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of filling a vacuum, it makes one.

Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. There is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of its filling a vacuum, it makes one. If it satisfies one want, it doubles and trebles that want another way. That was a true proverb of the wise man, rely upon it; Better is little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure, and trouble therewith.

Necessity never made a good bargain.

Never confuse motion with action.

Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.

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

Nine men in ten are would be suicides.

No nation was ever ruined by trade.

Observe all men, thyself most.

Our necessities never equal our wants.

Plough deep while sluggards sleep.

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

Rebellion against tyrants is obedience to God.

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.

Remember that credit is money.

Savages we call them because their manners differ from ours.

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

Some are weather-wise, some are otherwise.

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

Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.

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

The art of acting consists in keeping people from coughing.

The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.

The discontented man finds no easy chair.

The doors of wisdom are never shut.

The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is a knowledge of our own ignorance.

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

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

The greatest monarch on the proudest throne is obliged to sit upon his own arse.

The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either.

The sleeping fox catches no poultry.

The strictest law sometimes becomes the severest injustice.

The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself.

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

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

The worst wheel of the cart makes the most noise.

There are three faithful friends - an old wife, an old dog, and ready money.

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

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

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

There was never a good war, or a bad peace.

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

They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security.

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.

Those who govern, having much business on their hands, do not generally like to take the trouble of considering and carrying into execution new projects. The best public measures are therefore seldom adopted from previous wisdom, but forced by the occasion.

Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Three can keep a secret if two are dead.

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

Time is money.

To find out a girl's faults, praise her to her girl friends.

To Follow by faith alone is to follow blindly.

To lengthen thy life, lessen thy meals.

Tomorrow every fault is to be amended; but tomorrow never comes.

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

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

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

Wars are not paid for in wartime, the bill comes later.

We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.

We are more thoroughly an enlightened people, with respect to our political interests, than perhaps any other under heaven. Every man among us reads, and is so easy in his circumstances as to have leisure for conversations of improvement and for acquiring information.

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

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

Well done is better than well said.

Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame.

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

When in doubt, don't.

When men and woman die, as poets sung, his heart's the last part moves, her last, the tongue.

When the well's dry, we know the worth of water.

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

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

Where liberty is, there is my country.

Where sense is wanting, everything is wanting.

Where there's marriage without love, there will be love without marriage.

Who had deceived thee so often as thyself?

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

Who is rich? He that rejoices in his portion.

Who is wise? He that learns from everyone. Who is powerful? He that governs his passions. Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody.

Wine is constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy.

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

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

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

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

Would you live with ease? Do what you ought, not what you please.

Write injuries in dust, benefits in marble.

Write your injuries in dust, your benefits in marble.

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

You may delay, but time will not.

Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones.