Benjamin Franklin Quotes (733 Quotes)

Hunger is the best pickle.

The Master-piece of Man, is to live to the purpose

Many estates are spent in the getting, since women for tea forsake spinning and knitting, and men for punch forsake hewing and splitting

We are taxed twice as much by our idleness, three times as much by our pride and four times as much by our foolishness.

Here you would know and enjoy what posterity will say of Washington. For a thousand leagues have nearly the same effect with a thousand years.

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

Industry pays debts, while despair increaseth them

Speak with contempt of none, from slave to king, The meanest Bee hath, and will use, a sting.

All would live long, but none would be old.

Whate'er's begun in anger ends in shame.

Eat and drink such an exact Quantity as the Constitution of thy Body allows of, in reference to the Services of the Mind.

Many have quarreled about religion that never practice it.

When confronted with two courses of action I jot down on a piece of paper all the arguments in favor of each one then on the opposite side I write the arguments against each one. Then by weighing the arguments pro and con and canceling them out, one against the other, I take the course indicated by what remains.

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 previously unsusceptible.

For the want of a nail, the shoe was lose for the want of a shoe the horse was lose and for the want of a horse the rider was lost, being overtaken and slain by the enemy, all for the want of care about a horseshoe nail.

The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either.

I look upon death to be as necessary to our constitution as sleep. We shall rise refreshed in the morning.

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

After getting the first hundred pounds, it is more easy to get the second, money itself being of a prolific nature.

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

Where liberty dwells, there is my country.

He that would have a short Lent, let him borrow Money to be repaid at Easter.

All wars are follies, very expensive and very mischievous ones.

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

Furnished as all Europe now is with Academies of Science, with nice instruments and the spirit of experiment, the progress of human knowledge will be rapid and discoveries made of which we have at present no conception. I begin to be almost sorry I was born so soon, since I cannot have the happiness of knowing what will be known a hundred years hence.

Marriage is the most natural state of man, and... the state in which you will find solid happiness.

The world is full of fools and faint hearts and yet everyone has courage enough to bear the misfortunes, and wisdom enough to manage the affairs, of his neighbor.

Our necessities never equal our wants.

Said of the Irish itinerant preacher the Reverend Mr. Whitefield, who arrived in Philadelphia in 1739. Every accent, every emphasis, every modulation of voice, was so perfectly well turned and well placed, that, without being interested in the subject, one could not help being pleased with the discourse ....

The most trifling actions that affect a man's credit are to be regarded. The sound of your hammer at five in the morning, or at nine at night, heard by a creditor, makes him easy six months longer but if he sees you at the billiard-table, or hears your voice at a tavern, when you should be at work, he sends for his money the next day.

Be temperate in wine, in eating, girls, and sloth Or the Gout will seize you and plague you both

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

The way to see by Faith is to shut the Eye of Reason.

Let thy discontents be thy secrets if the world knows them 'twill despise thee and increase them

A full Belly is the Mother of all Evil.

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

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

A spoonful of honey will catch more flies than a gallon of vinegar.

After crosses and losses men grow humbler and wiser.

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

Anyone who trades liberty for security deserves neither liberty nor security.

Remember this saying, The good payer is lord of another man's purse. He that is known to pay punctually and exactly to the time he promises, may at any time, and on any occasion, raise all the money his friends can spare.

The church the state, and the poor, are 3 daughters which we should maintain, but not portion off.

The way to wealth depends on just two words, industry and frugality.

Those who pay for what they buy upon Credit, pay their Share of this Advance.

Great Beauty, great strength, great Riches, are really truly of no great Use a right Heart exceeds all.

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

Want of care does us more damage than want of knowledge

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

He does not possess wealth that allows it to possess him.