Benjamin Franklin Quotes

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

Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.

By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.

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

Well done is better than well said.

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

It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.

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

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.

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

Lost time is never found again.

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

The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all others, charity.

Beer is proof that God wants us to be happy

If everyone is thinking alike, then no one is thinking.

Women are books, and men the readers be...

Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.

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.

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

Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.

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.

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

Never confuse motion with action.

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

Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame.

The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of a wise man is in his heart.

Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.

Be slow in choosing a friend, slower in changing.

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

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

A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over.

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

Trouble knocked at the door, but, hearing laughter, hurried away

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

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

Love your Enemies, for they tell you your Faults.

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

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

Fish and visitors smell in three days.

Make yourself sheep and the wolves will eat you.

When the people find that they can vote themselves money that will herald the end of the republic.

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.

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

The best way to see Faith is to shut the eye of Reason.

When the well is dry, we know the worth of water.

To be humble to superiors is a duty, to equals courtesy, to inferiors nobleness.

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.

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

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

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

While we may not be able to control all that happens to us, we can control what happens inside us.

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

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

Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.

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

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

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

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

The only thing that is more expensive than education is ignorance.

To lengthen thy life, lessen thy meals.

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

Those things that hurt, instruct.

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

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

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

Fools make feasts and wise men eat them.

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

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

Genius without education is like silver in the mine.

A good example is the best sermon.

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

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

There will be sleeping enough in the grave.

Reading makes a full man, meditation a profound man, discourse a clear man.

Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom - and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech.

One today is worth two tomorrows.

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

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.

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

Rebellion against tyrants is obedience to God.

A false friend and a shadow attend only while the sun shines.

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

There cannot be good living where there is not good drinking.

God grant that not only the love of liberty but a thorough knowledge of the rights of man may pervade all the nations of the earth, so that a philosopher may set his foot anywhere on its surface and say: 'This is my country.'

Critics are our friends, they show us our faults.

Sloth makes all things difficult, but industry all easy; and he that riseth late must trot all day, and shall scarce overtake his business at night; while laziness travels so slowly, that poverty soon overtakes him.

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

If Passion drives, let Reason hold the Reins.

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

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

He that speaks much, is much mistaken.

Glass, China, and Reputation, are easily cracked, and never well mended.

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

Be studious in your profession, and you will be learned. Be industrious and frugal, and you will be rich. Be sober and temperate, and you will be healthy. Be in general virtuous, and you will be happy. At least you will, by such conduct, stand the be.

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

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

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

If you want to be loved, love and be loveable.

He that lives upon hope will die fasting."

A place for everything, everything in its place.

Little strokes fell great oaks.

Genius is nothing but a greater aptitude for patience.

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

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

Search others for their virtues, thyself for thy vices.

When in doubt, don't.

It is hard for an empty bag to stand upright.

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

Admiration is the daughter of ignorance.

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

To Follow by faith alone is to follow blindly.

Serving God is doing good to man, but praying is thought an easier service and therefore more generally chosen.

A good conscience is a continual Christmas.

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

God helps those who help themselves.

Write your injuries in dust, your benefits in marble.

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

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

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

The doors of wisdom are never shut.

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

God heals, and the doctor takes the fees.

He that cannot obey, cannot command.

Games lubricate the body and the mind.

Wine makes daily living easier, less hurried with fewer tensions and more tolerance.

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

Beware of the young doctor and the old barber.

He was so learned that he could name a horse in nine languages; so ignorant that he bought a cow to ride on.

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

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

Who is rich? He that rejoices in his portion.

Half a truth is often a great lie.

Originality is the art of concealing your sources.

All would live long, but none would be old.

After three days men grow weary, of a wench, a guest, and weather rainy.

Necessity never made a good bargain.

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.

Tis easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follow it.

Believe none of what you hear and half of what you see.

Energy and persistence conquer all things.

Even peace may be purchased at too high a price.

Fatigue is the best pillow.

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

He does not possess wealth; it possesses him.

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

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

Hear not ill of a friend, nor speak any of an enemy.

Despair ruins some, presumption many.

A small leak will sink a great ship.

I know not which lives more unnatural lives, obeying husbands, or commanding wives.

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

No gains without pains.

Nothing is more fatal to health than an over care of it.

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

The cat in gloves catches no mice.

The discontented man finds no easy chair.

Sin is not hurtful because it is forbidden, but it is forbidden because it is hurtful.

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

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

Time is money.

Force shites upon Reason's Back.

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

He is ill clothed that is bare of virtue.

To err is human, to repent divine; to persist devilish.

Most fools think they are only ignorant.

Constant complaint is the poorest sort of pay for all the comforts we enjoy.

You and I were long friends: you are now my enemy, and I am yours.

Wish not so much to live long as to live well.

Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.

Lend money to an enemy, and thou will gain him, to a friend and thou will lose him.

Without justice, courage is weak.

Laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes it.

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

If Men are so wicked as we now see them with Religion what would they be if without it?

Handle your tools without mittens.

Some are weatherwise, some are otherwise.

Tis easy to see, hard to foresee.

Waste neither time nor money, but make the best use of both. Without industry and frugality, nothing will do, and with them everything.

Let no pleasure tempt thee, no profit allure thee, no persuasion move thee, to do anything which thou knowest to be evil; so shalt thou always live jollity; for a good conscience is a continual Christmas.

If your head is made of wax, don't walk in the sun

After crosses and losses men grow humbler and wiser.

What maintains one vice would bring up two children.

Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in the world nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes.

The nearest I can make it out, "Love your Enemies" means, "Hate your Friends"

I am in the prime of senility.

Want of care does us more damage than want of knowledge

At the working man’s house, hunger looks in but dares not enter.

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.

Then plough deep while sluggards sleep, and you shall have corn to sell and to keep.

He that blows the coals in quarrels he has nothing to do with has no right to complain if the sparks fly in his face.

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

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.

Read much, but not too many books.

Drive thy business or it will drive thee.

He is not well bred, that cannot bear ill breeding in others

Poverty wants some things, Luxury many things, Avarice all things

He that goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing.

Idleness and pride tax with a heavier hand than kings and governments.

Plough deep while sluggards sleep.

A ploughman on his legs is higher than a gentleman on his knees.

Pride breakfasted with plenty, dined with poverty, and supped with infamy.

Eat to please thyself, but dress to please others.

Don't judge men's wealth or godliness by their Sunday appearance.

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.

Beer is God's way of telling us that he loves us and wants us to be happy.

Deny Self for Self's sake

Be civil to all sociable to many familiar with few

Applause waits on success.

He that's secure is not safe.

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.

Industry, perseverance, and frugality make fortune yield.

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

Where liberty is, there is my country.

You made delay, but time will not, and lost time is never found again.

The best is the cheapest.

He that can take rest is greater than he that can take cities.

I have met the enemy, and it is the eyes of other people.

The proud hate pride in others.

An undutiful daughter will prove an unmanageable wife.

What you would seem to be, be really.

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

Poverty often deprives a man of all spirit and virtue; it is hard for an empty bag to stand upright.

There is no little enemy

Vice knows she is ugly, so puts on her mask.

A fat kitchin, a lean Will.

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.

Many have quarreled about religion that never practice 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.

Let honesty and industry be thy constant companions, and spend one penny less than thy clear gains; then shall thy pocket begin to thrive; creditors will not insult, nor want oppress, nor hungerness bite, nor nakedness freeze thee

Would you persuade, speak of interest, not of reason.

Whoever feels pain in hearing a good character of his neighbor, will feel a pleasure in the reverse. And those who despair to rise in distinction by their virtues, are happy if others can be depressed to a level of themselves.

He who multiplies riches multiplies cares.

In humility imitate Jesus and Socrates.

Idleness is the Dead Sea that swallows all virtues

Fond pride of dress is sure a very curse

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

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

Trusting too much to others care is the ruin of many.

A life of leisure and a life of laziness are two different things.

At 20 years of age the will reigns; at 30, the wit; at 40, the judgment.

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

In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.

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

Pride that dines on vanity, sups on contempt.

Those have a short Lent who owe money to be paid at Easter.

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

To the generous mind the heaviest debt is that of gratitude, when it is not in our power to repay it.

If you would be wealthy, think of saving as well as getting.

Distrust and caution are the parents of security.

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

One good husband is worth two good wives, for the scarcer things are, the more they are valued.

Lighthouses are more helpful than churches.

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

Eat not to dullness, drink not to elevation.

Take counsel in wine, but resolve afterwards in water.

The things which hurt, instruct.

A wise man will desire no more than what he may get justly, use soberly, distribute cheerfully, and leave contently.

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

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

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

Whoever shall introduce into public affairs the principles of primitive Christianity will change the face of the world.

The most exquisite folly is made of wisdom spun too fine.

If you wouldn't live long, live well; for folly and wickedness shorten life.

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

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.

Mine is better than ours.

Diligence is the mother of good luck.

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

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

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

Our necessities never equal our wants.

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

The learned fool writes his nonsense in better language than the unlearned, but it is still nonsense.

Work while it is called today, for you know not how much you may be hindered tomorrow. One today is worth two tomorrows; never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.

Who has deceived thee as oft as thyself.

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.

Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, nor liberty to purchase power.

The second vice is lying, the first is running in debt.

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.

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.

Think of these things, whence you came, where you are going, and to whom you must account.

No nation was ever ruined by trade.

Let the child's first lesson be obedience, and the second will be what thou wilt.

Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.

Our whole life is but a greater and longer childhood.

Before you consult your fancy, consult your purse.

There is much difference between imitating a good man and counterfeiting him.

To be thrown upon one's own resources is to be cast into the very lap of fortune; for our faculties then undergo a development and display an energy of which they were previosly unsusceptible.

Teach your child to hold his tongue; he'll learn fast enough to speak.

Creditors have better memories than debtors.

Remember that credit is money.

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.

Little boats should keep near shore

That it is better 100 guilty Persons should escape than that one innocent Person should suffer, is a Maxim that has been long and generally approved.

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

You can not pluck roses without fear of thorns, Nor enjoy a fair wife without danger of horns.

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

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

Many complain of their memory, few of their judgment.