Benjamin Franklin Quotes (733 Quotes)

Pollio, who values nothing that's within, Buys books as men hunt Beavers, -- for their Skin.

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

Keep out of the Sight of Feasts and Banquets as much as may be for 'tis more difficult to refrain good Cheer, when it's present, than from the Desire of it when it is away the like you may observe in the Objects of all the other Senses.

He that buys upon Credit, pays Interest for what he buys.

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.

It is remarkable that soldiers by profession, men truly and unquestionably brave, seldom advise war but in cases of extreme necessity.

Righteousness, or justice, is, undoubtedly of all the virtues, the surest foundation on which to create and establish a new state. But there are two nobler virtues, industry and frugality, which tend more to increase the wealth, power and grandeur of the community, than all the others without them.

Eat to please thyself, but dress to please others.

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

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

A modern Wit is one of David's Fools.

Many foxes grow gray but few grow good.

A cheerful face is nearly as good for an invalid as healthy weather.

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.

It is wonderful how preposterously the affairs of the world are managed. We assemble parliaments and councils to have the benefit of collected wisdom, but we necessarily have, at the same time, the inconvenience of their collected passions, prejudices and private interests for regulating commerce an assembly of great men is the greatest fool on earth,

Write your injuries in dust, your benefits in marble.

Nine men in ten are would be suicides.

Mine is better than ours.

Folly is wisdom spun too fine.

Lawyers, Preachers, and Tomtits Eggs, there are more of them hatch'd than come to perfection

Consider then, when you are tempted to buy any unnecessary Housholdstuff, or any superfluous thing, whether you will be willing to pay Interest, and Interest upon Interest for it as long as you live and more if it grows worse by using

To be humble to Superiors is Duty, to Equals Courtesy, to Inferiors Nobleness.

Nothing's so apt to undermine your confidence in a product as knowing that the commercial selling it has been approved by the company that makes it.

He who shall introduce into public affairs the principle of primitive Christianity will change the face of the world.

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

Be studious in your profession, and you will be learned. Be industrious and frugal, and you will be rich.

Games lubricate the body and the mind.

The way to secure peace is to be prepared for war.

Trouble springs from idleness.

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

It is easy to see, hard to foresee.

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

Nor Eye in a letter, nor Hand in a purse, nor Ear in the secret of another

Write injuries in dust, benefits in marble.

To lengthen thy life, lessen thy meals.

Beauty and folly are old companions.

A benevolent man should allow a few faults in himself, to keep his friends in countenance.

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

They that are on their guard and appear ready to receive their adversaries, are in much less danger of being attacked than the supine, secure and negligent.

I shall never ask, never refuse, nor ever resign an office.

Avarice and Happiness never saw each other, how then should they become acquainted.

Fear not Death for the sooner we die, the longer shall we be immortal.

Love your enemies, for they will tell you your faults.

You will find the key to success under the alarm clock.

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

What is the use of a new-born child.

Dewey felt that since ideals are not perfectly attainable, they may demoralize students who try to measure up to them. The general tendency of reading good history must be to fix in the minds of youth deep impressions of the beauty and usefulness of virtue of all kinds, public spirit, fortitude, etc.

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

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

The best is the cheapest.