Benjamin Franklin

He that's secure is not safe.

— Benjamin Franklin

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.

— Benjamin Franklin

Three can keep a secret if two are dead.

— Benjamin Franklin

There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know one's self.

— Benjamin Franklin

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

— Benjamin Franklin

Observe all men, thyself most.

— Benjamin Franklin

Write injuries in dust, benefits in marble.

— Benjamin Franklin

If you would have a faithful servant, and one that you like, serve yourself.

— Benjamin Franklin

I am about courting a girl I have had but little acquaintance with. How shall I come to a knowledge of her faults, and whether she has the virtues I imagine she has? Answer. Commend her among her female acquaintances.

— Benjamin Franklin

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

— Benjamin Franklin

Half wits talk much, but say little.

— Benjamin Franklin

He that speaks much, is much mistaken.

— Benjamin Franklin

He's a fool that makes his doctor his heir.

— Benjamin Franklin

We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.

— Benjamin Franklin

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

— Benjamin Franklin

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

— Benjamin Franklin

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

— Benjamin Franklin

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

— Benjamin Franklin

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

— Benjamin Franklin

A small leak can sink a great ship

— Benjamin Franklin

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

— Benjamin Franklin

Since thou are not sure of a minute, throw not away an hour.

— Benjamin Franklin

If time be of all things the most precious, wasting time must be the greatest prodigality.

— Benjamin Franklin

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

— Benjamin Franklin

Do not squander time for that is the stuff life is made of.

— Benjamin Franklin

He that rises late must trot all day.

— Benjamin Franklin

Tomorrow every fault is to be amended; but tomorrow never comes.

— Benjamin Franklin

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

— Benjamin Franklin

Most people dislike vanity in others, whatever share they have of it themselves; but I give it fair quarter, wherever I meet with it, being persuaded that it is often productive of good to the possessor, and to others who are within his sphere of action: and therefore, in many cases, it would not be altogether absurd if a man were to thank God for his vanity among the other comforts of life.

— Benjamin Franklin

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

— Benjamin Franklin

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.

— Benjamin Franklin

God will certainly reward virtue and punish vice, either here or hereafter.

— Benjamin Franklin

Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of filling a vacuum, it makes one.

— Benjamin Franklin

Our necessities never equal our wants.

— Benjamin Franklin

What vast additions to the conveniences and comforts of living might mankind have acquired, if the money spent in wars had been employed in works of public utility; what an extension of agriculture even to the tops of our mountains; what rivers rendered navigable, or joined by canals; what bridges, aqueducts, new roads, and other public works, edifices, and improvements might not have been obtained by spending those millions in doing good, which in the last war have been spent in doing mischief.

— Benjamin Franklin

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

— Benjamin Franklin

Industry, perseverance, and frugality make fortune yield.

— Benjamin Franklin

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

— Benjamin Franklin

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

— Benjamin Franklin

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

— Benjamin Franklin

Where sense is wanting, everything is wanting.

— Benjamin Franklin

The doors of wisdom are never shut.

— Benjamin Franklin

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

— Benjamin Franklin

Industry need not wish.

— Benjamin Franklin

Never take a wife till thou hast a house (and a fire) to put her in.

— Benjamin Franklin

It is the working man who is the happy man. It is the idle man who is the miserable man.

— Benjamin Franklin

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.

— Benjamin Franklin

A plural Legislature is as necessary to good Government as a single Executive. It is not enough that your Legislature should be numerous; it should also be divided. Numbers alone are not a sufficient Barrier against the Impulses of Passion, the Combinations of Interest, the Intrigues of Faction, the Haste of Folly, or the Spirit of Encroachment. One Division should watch over and controul the other, supply its Wants, correct its Blunders, and cross its Designs, should they be criminal or erroneous. Wisdom is the specific Quality of the Legislature, grows out of the Number of the Body, and is made up of the Portions of Sense and Knowledge which each Member brings to it.

— Benjamin Franklin

Who is wise? He that learns from every One. Who is powerful? He that governs his Passions. Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody.

— Benjamin Franklin

For want of a Nail the Shoe was lost; for want of a Shoe the Horse was lost; and for want of a Horse the Rider was lost; being overtaken and slain by the Enemy, all for want of Care about a Horse-shoe Nail.

— Benjamin Franklin

I am about courting a girl I have had but little acquaintance with. How shall I come to a knowledge of her faults, and whether she has the virtues I imagine she has? Answer. Commend her among her female acquaintance.

— Benjamin Franklin

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.

— Benjamin Franklin

We must not in the course of public life expect immediate approbation and immediate grateful acknowledgment of our services. But let us persevere through abuse and even injury. The internal satisfaction of a good conscience is always present, and time will do us justice in the minds of the people, even those at present the most prejudiced against us.

— Benjamin Franklin

Well, Doctor, what have we got? A republic or a monarchy? A republic, if you can keep it

— Benjamin Franklin

Rich widows are the only secondhand goods that sell at first-class prices.

— Benjamin Franklin

When I was a child of seven years old, my friends, on a holiday, filled my pocket with coppers. I went directly to a shop where they sold toys for children; and, being charmed with the sound of a whistle, that I met by the way in the hands of another boy, I voluntarily offered and gave all my money for one. I then came home, and went whistling all over the house, much pleased with my whistle, but disturbing all the family. My brothers, and sisters, and cousins, understanding the bargain I had made, told me I had given four times as much for it as it was worth; put me in mind what good things I might have bought with the rest of the money; and laughed at me so much for my folly, that I cried with vexation; and the reflection gave me more chagrin than the whistle gave me pleasure. This however was afterwards of use to me, the impression continuing on my mind; so that often, when I was tempted to buy some unnecessary thing, I said to myself, Dont give too much for the whistle; and I saved my money.

— Benjamin Franklin

Has not the famous political Fable of the Snake, with two Heads and one Body, some useful Instruction contained in it? She was going to a Brook to drink, and in her Way was to pass thro a Hedge, a Twig of which opposed her direct Course; one Head chose to go on the right side of the Twig, the other on the left, so that time was spent in the Contest, and, before the Decision was completed, the poor Snake died with thirst.

— Benjamin Franklin

I confess that there are several parts of this Constitution which I do not at present approve, but I am not sure I shall never approve them. 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.

— Benjamin Franklin

In these sentiments, sir, I agree to this Constitution, with all its faults, if they are such; because I think a General Government necessary for us, and there is no form of government, but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered; and believe further, that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government, being incapable of any other.

— Benjamin Franklin

Whilst the last members were signing [the Constitution], Doctor Franklin, looking towards the Presidents chair, at the back of which a rising sun happened to be painted, observed to a few members near him, that painters had found it difficult to distinguish in their art, a rising, from a setting, sun. I have, said he, often and often, in the course of the session, and the vicissitudes of my hopes and fears as to its issue, looked at that behind the President, without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting; but now at length, I have the happiness to know, that it is a rising, and not a setting sun.

— Benjamin Franklin

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.

— Benjamin Franklin

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

— Benjamin Franklin

We assemble parliaments and councils, to have the benefit of their collected wisdom; but we necessarily have, at the same time, the inconvenience of their collected passions, prejudices, and private interests. By the help of these, artful men overpower their wisdom, and dupe its possessors; and if we may judge by the acts, arrets, and edicts, all the world over, for regulating commerce, an assembly of great men is the greatest fool upon earth.

— Benjamin Franklin

Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as publick Liberty, without Freedom of Speech.

— Benjamin Franklin

I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truththat God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?

— Benjamin Franklin

The small progress we have made after four or five weeks close attendance and continual reasonings with each other is, methinks, a melancholy proof of the imperfection of the human understanding. We indeed seem to feel our own want of political wisdom, since we have been running about in search of it. We have gone back to ancient history for models of government, and examined the different forms of those republics which, having been formed with seeds of their own dissolution, now no longer exist.

— Benjamin Franklin

Dr. FRANKLIN mentioned the case of the Prince of Orange [William V], during the late war. An arrangement was made between France and Holland, by which their two fleets were to unite at a certain time and place. The Dutch fleet did not appear. Every body began to wonder at it. At length it was suspected that the stadtholder was at the bottom of the matter. This suspicion prevailed more and more. Yet, as he could not be impeached, and no regular examination took place, he remained in his office; and strengthening his own party, as the party opposed to him became formidable, he gave birth to the most violent animosities and contentions. Had he been impeachable, a regular and peaceful inquiry would have taken place, and he would, if guilty, have been duly punished,if innocent, restored to the confidence of the public.

— Benjamin Franklin

Dr. Franklin was for retaining the clause [on impeachment], as favorable to the executive. History furnishes one example only of a first magistrate being formally brought to public justice. Every body cried out against this as unconstitutional. What was the practice before this, in cases where the chief magistrate rendered himself obnoxious? Why, recourse was had to assassination, in which he was not only deprived of his life, but of the opportunity of vindicating his character. It would be the best way, therefore, to provide in the Constitution for the regular punishment of the executive, where his misconduct should deserve it, and for his honorable acquittal, where he should be unjustly accused.

— Benjamin Franklin

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.

— Benjamin Franklin

If a man empties his purse into his head no one can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.

— Benjamin Franklin

Energy and persistence conquer all things.

— Benjamin Franklin

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

— Benjamin Franklin

I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I travelled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.

— Benjamin Franklin

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

— Benjamin Franklin

3 can keep a secret, if two are dead.

— Benjamin Franklin

Well done is better than well said.

— Benjamin Franklin

God heals, and the doctor takes the fees.

— Benjamin Franklin

It is the will of God and Nature that these mortal bodies be laid aside, when the soul is to enter into real life; 'tis rather an embrio state, a preparation for living; a man is not completely born until he be dead: Why then should we grieve that a new child is born among the immortals?

— Benjamin Franklin

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

— Benjamin Franklin

It is the Man and Woman united that make the compleat human Being. Separate, she wants his Force of Body and Strength of Reason; he, her Softness, Sensibility and acute Discernment. Together they are more likely to succeed in the World. A single Man . . . resembles the odd Half of a Pair of Scissors. If you get a prudent, healthy Wife, your industry in your Profession, with her good Economy, will be a Fortune sufficient.

— Benjamin Franklin