Benjamin Franklin Quotes (733 Quotes)

A penny saved is two pence clear, A pin a day's a groat a year

Christianity commands us to pass by injuries policy, to let them pass by us

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

Are you angry that others disappoint you Remember you cannot depend on yourself.

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

Hot things, sharp things, sweet things, cold things All rot the teeth, and make them look like old things

The Tongue is ever turning to the aching Tooth.

The good Spinner hath a large Shift.

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

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

Who is rich? He that rejoices in his portion.

A temperate Diet frees from Diseases such are seldom ill, but if they are surprised with Sickness, they bear it better, and recover sooner for most Distempers have their Original from Repletion.

The best tranquilizer is a clear conscience.

Never spare the Parson's wine, nor Baker's Pudding.

Three good meals a day is bad living.

Time is money.

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.

Remember that credit is money.

Of learned Fools I have seen ten times ten, Of unlearned wise men I have seen a hundred

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.

As sore places meet most rubs, proud folks meet most affronts

It is the eyes of other people that ruin us. If all but myself were blind, I should want neither a fine house nor fine furniture.

Three removes are as bad as a fire.

If you persuade, speak of interest, not reason.

To all apparent Beauties blind. Each Blemish strikes an envious Mind.

Be in general virtuous, and you will be happy.

Neither trust, nor contend, nor lay wagers, nor lend, And you'll have peace to your life's end.

If you would be loved, love, and be loveable.

The body of Benjamin Franklin, printer, (Like the cover of an old book, Its contents worn out, And stript of its lettering and gilding) Lies here, food for worms Yet the work itself shall not be lost, For it will, as he believed, appear once more In a new and more beautiful edition, Corrected and amended By its Author.

Like a man travelling in foggy weather, those at some distance before him on the road he sees wrapped up in the fog, as well as those behind him, and also the people in the fields on each side, but near him all appears clear, though in truth he is as much in the fog as any of them.

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

My rule, in which I have always found satisfaction, is, never to turn aside in public affairs through views of private interest but to go straight forward in doing what appears to me right at the time, leaving the consequences with Providence

One Mend-fault is worth two Findfaults, but one Findfault is better than two Makefaults

The painful Preacher, like a candle bright, Consumes himself in giving others Light.

Those who govern, having much business on their hands, do not generally like to take the trouble of considering and carrying into execution new projects. The best public measures are therefore seldom adopted from previous wisdom, but forced by the occasion.

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

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

Half a truth is often a great lie.

Observe all men, thyself most.

The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.

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

Late Children, early Orphans.

A poet is the mere wastepaper of mankind.

Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.

Would you live with ease, do what you should, and not what you please. Success has ruined many a man.

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

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

Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones.

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

When men are employed, they are best contented for on the days they worked they were good-natured and cheerful, and, with the consciousness of having done a good days work, they spent the evening jollily but on our idle days they were mutinous and quarrelsome.