Benjamin Franklin Quotes

Be neither silly, nor cunning, but wise

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

Admiration is the daughter of ignorance.

Be sober and temperate, and you will be healthy.

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

Be cheerful -- the problems that worry us most are those that never arrive.

He that spends a Groat a day idly, spends idly above 6 l. a year, which is the Price of using 100 l.

He's the best physician that knows the worthlessness of most medicines.

For Age and Want save while you may; No morning Sun lasts a whole day.

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

Arguing is a game that two can play at. But it is a strange game in that neither opponent ever wins.

That Quantity that is sufficient, the Stomach can perfectly concoct and digest, and it sufficeth the due Nourishment of the Body.

And we daily in our experiments electrise bodies plus or minus, as we think proper. [These terms we may use till your Philosophers give us better.] To electrise plus or minus, no more needs to be known than this, that the parts of the Tube or Sphere, that are rubb'd, do, in the Instant of Friction, attract the Electrical Fire, and therefore take it from the Thin rubbing; the same parts immediately, as the Friction upon them ceases, are disposed to give the fire they have received, to any Body that has less.

A penny saved is two pence clear.

When about 16 Years of Age, I happened to meet with a Book written by one Tryon, recommending a Vegetable Diet. I determined to go into it.... My refusing to eat Flesh occasioned an inconveniency, and I was frequently chid for my singularity.

Don't think so much of your own Cunning, as to forget other Men's; a Cunning Man is overmatched by a cunning Man and a Half.

The States acceded to the Union.

Pride that dines on vanity, sups on contempt.

In New England they once thought blackbirds useless, and mischievous to the corn. They made efforts to destroy them. The consequence was, the blackbirds were diminished; but a kind of worm, which devoured their grass, and which the blackbirds used to feed on, increased prodigiously; then, finding their loss in grass much greater than their saving in corn, they wished again for their blackbirds.

I would advise you to read with a pen in your hand and enter in a little book short hints of what you feel that is common or that may be useful; for this will be the best method of imprinting such portcullis in your memory.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

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

If you have something to do tomorrow, do it today.

He does not possess wealth; it possesses him.

When you are in debt, then you are a slave.

If you watch your pennies, the pounds will take care of themselves.

Friends are the true Sceptres of Princes.

To bear other people's afflictions, everyone has courage and enough to spare.

There never was a good knife made of bad steel.

Life is rather a state of embryo, a preparation for life; a man is not completely born till he has passed through death.

Diligence is the mother of good luck, and God gives all things to industry. Work while it is called today, for you know not how much you may be hindered by tomorrow. One today is worth two tomorrows; never leave that till tomorrow which you can do to-day.

From a child I was fond of reading, and all the little money that came into my hands was ever laid out in books. Pleased with the 'Pilgrim's Progress,' my first collection was of John Bunyan's works in separate little volumes.

If you would not be laughed at, be the first to laugh at yourself.

When you taste honey, remember gall.

Happiness consists more in small conveniences or pleasures that occur every day, than in great pieces of good fortune that happen but seldom to a man in the course of his life.

History affords us many instances of the ruin of states,by the prosecution of measures ill suited to the temper andgenius of their people. The ordaining of laws in favor of onepart of the nation, to the prejudice and oppression of another, is certainly the most erroneous and mistaken policy. ... These measures never fail to create great and violent jealousies and animosities between the people favored and the people oppressed; whence a total separation of affections, interests, political obligations, and all manner of connections, by which the whole state is weakened.

If you want to be rich, think of the savings and get them.

Beware of meat twice boiled, and an old foe reconciled.

Necessity is our quickest excuse.

He that would live in peace and at ease, must not speak all he knows nor judge all he sees.

Your best investment is to pour your purse into your head, and no one can take it away from you.

Wink at small faults; remember thou hast great ones.

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

Most people dislike vanity in others, whatever share they have of it themselves; but I give it fair quarter, wherever I meet with it, being persuaded that it is often productive of good to the possessor, and to others who are within his sphere of action: and therefore, in many cases, it would not be altogether absurd if a man were to thank God for his vanity among the other comforts of life.

Take the money in your wallet and invest it in your mind. And in return, your mind will fill up your wallet!

The wise man draws more advantage from his enemies than the fool from his friends

You cannot always run from a weakness. You must sometime fight it out or perish.

[It was] the poverty caused by the bad influence of the English bankers on the Parliament which has caused in the colonies hatred of the English and . . . the Revolutionary War.

The best investment is in the tools of one's own trade.

Take one thing with another, and the world is a pretty good sort of a world, and it is our duty to make the best of it, and be thankful.

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

The same man cannot be both Friend and Flatterer.

Men are subject to various inconveniences merely through lack of a small share of courage, which is a quality very necessary in the common occurrences of life, as well as in a battle. How many impertinences do we daily suffer with great uneasiness, because we have not courage enough to discover our dislike.

Unless the Stream of their Importation could be turned... they will soon so outnumber us, that all the advantages we have, will not in my Opinion be able to preserve our Language, and even our Government will become precarious.

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

If we give up freedom for security, we are in danger of losing both.

If you have no Honey in your Pot, have some in your Mouth.

It is easier to build two chimneys than to keep one in fuel.

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

Setting too good an Example is a Kind of slander seldom forgiven.