"Whenever we attempt to mend the scheme..." - Quote by Benjamin Franklin

“He that hath a trade hath an estate; and he that hath a calling hath a place of profit and honor. A ploughman on his legs is higher than a gentleman on his knees.”

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

“Let every one ascertain his special business and calling, and then stick to it if he wants to be successful.”

“Democracy appears to be safer and less liable to revolution than oligarchy. For in oligarchies there is the double danger of the oligarchs falling out among themselves and also with the people; but in democracies there is only the danger of a quarrel with the oligarchs. No dissension worth mentioning arises among the people themselves. And we may further remark that a government which is composed of the middle class more nearly approximates to democracy than to oligarchy, and is the safest of the imperfect forms of government.”

“In my opinion there is no other salvation for civilization and even for the human race than the creation of a world government with security on the basis of law. As long as there are sovereign states with their separate armaments and armament secrets, new world wars cannot be avoided.”

“Government's first duty and highest obligation is public safety.”

“Be prudent, and if you hear, * * * some insult or some threat, * * * have the appearance of not hearing it.”

“Life is a festival only to the wise. Seen from the nook and chimneyside of prudence, it wears a ragged and dangerous front.”

“Can you also, Lucullus, affirm that there is any power united with wisdom and prudence which has made, or, to use your own expression, manufactured man? What sort of a manufacture is that? Where is it exercised? when? why? how?”