Benjamin Franklin Quotations
- " The absent are never without fault. Nor the present without excuse."
- "Words may show a man's wit but actions his meaning."
- "Those that won't be counseled can't be helped."
- "They that will not be counseled, cannot be helped. If you do not hear reason she will rap you on the knuckles."
- "Wise men don't need advice. Fools won't take it."
- "If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins."
- "All human situations have their inconveniences. We feel those of the present but neither see nor feel those of the future; and hence we often make troublesome changes without amendment, and frequently for the worse."
- "Let thy discontents be thy secrets."
- "The discontented man finds no easy chair."
- "What has become clear to you since we last met? " No nation was ever ruined by trade."
- "If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write things worth reading or do things worth writing."
- "There have been as great souls unknown to fame as any of the most famous."
- "Admiration is the daughter of ignorance."
- "The proof of gold is fire..."
- "Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight."
- "Content makes poor men rich; discontentment makes rich men poor."
- "Who is wise? He that learns from everyone. Who is powerful? He that governs his passions. Who is rich? He who is content. Who is that? Nobody."
- "To bear other people's afflictions, everyone has courage and enough to spare."
- "An old young man, will be a young old man. " At twenty years of age the will reigns; at thirty, the wit; and at forty, the judgment."
- "If you wouldn't live long, live well; for folly and wickedness shorten life."
- "Many foxes grow gray but few grow good."
- "Those who love deeply never grow old; they may die of old age, but they die young."
- "I think that a young state, like a young virgin, should modestly stay at home, and wait the application of suitors for an alliance with her; and not run about offering her amity to all the world; and hazarding their refusal. Our virgin is a jolly one; and tho at present not very rich, will in time be a great fortune, and where she has a favorable predisposition, it seems to me well worth cultivating."
- "Clearly spoken, Mr. Fogg; you explain English by Greek."
- "Ambition has its disappointments to sour us, but never the good fortune to satisfy us. Its appetite grows keener by indulgence and all we can gratify it with at present serves but the more to inflame its insatiable desires."
- "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."
- "Whatever is begun in anger, ends in shame."
- "The great secret of succeeding in conversation is to admire little, to hear much; always to distrust our own reason, and sometimes that of our friends; never to pretend to wit, but to make that of others appear as much as possibly we can; to hearken to what is said and to answer to the purpose. Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed."
- "He that blows the coals in quarrels that he has nothing to do with, has no right to complain if the sparks fly in his face. "
- "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to prosper."
- " 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."
- "That which resembles most living one's life over again, seems to be to recall all the circumstances of it; and, to render this remembrance more durable, to record them in writing."
- "A single man has not nearly the value he would have in a state of union. He is an incomplete animal. He resembles the odd half of a pair of scissors."
- "If you teach a poor young man to shave himself, and keep his razor in order, you may contribute more to the happiness of his life than in giving him a thousand guineas. This sum may be soon spent, the regret only remaining of having foolishly consumed it; but in the other case, he escapes the frequent vexation of waiting for barbers, and of their sometimes dirty fingers, offensive breaths, and dull razors."
- "Read much, but not many books. "
The Declaration of Indepe... - " Reading makes a full man, meditation a profound man, discourse a clear man."
- "If you would know the value of money try to borrow some."
- "Drive your business, let not you're business drive you. If you can't pay for a thing, don't buy it. If you can't get paid for it, don't sell it. Do this, and you will have calm and drowsy nights, with all of the good business you have now and none of the bad. If you have time, don't wait for time."
- "So much for industry, my friends, and attention to one's own business; but to these we must add frugality if we would make our industry more certainly successful. A man may, if he knows not how to save as he gets, keep his nose all his life to the grindstone, and die not worth a grout at last."
- "Beware the hobby that eats."
- "Certainty? In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes."
- "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."
- "When you're finished changing, you're finished."
- "Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship."
- "Sloth, like rust, consumes faster than labor wears, while the used key is always bright."
- "Trouble springs from idleness, and grievous toil from needless ease."
- "A learned blockhead is a greater blockhead than an ignorant one. Being ignorant is not so much a shame as being unwilling to learn."
- "He was so learned that he could name a horse in nine languages; so ignorant that he bought a cow to ride on."
- "A cheerful face is nearly as good for an invalid as healthy weather."
- "Let the child's first lesson be obedience, and the second will be what thou wilt."
- "Constant complaint is the poorest sort of pay for all the comforts we enjoy."
- "Singularity in the right hath ruined many; happy those who are convinced of the general opinion."
- "Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."
- "Drive thy business or it will drive thee."
- "While we may not be able to control all that happens to us, we can control what happens inside us."
- "If we do not hang together, we will all hang separately. We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately."
- "Remember that credit is money."
- "If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed."
- "I look upon death to be as necessary to our constitution as sleep. We shall rise refreshed in the morning."
- "Many people die at twenty five and aren't buried until they are seventy five."
- "Rather go to bed with out dinner than to rise in debt."
- "Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools, that don't have brains enough to be honest."
- "Who had deceived thee so often as thyself? "
- " If you desire many things, many things will seem few."
- "It is much easier to suppress a first desire than to satisfy those that follow."
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