Benjamin Franklin Quotes, Status, and Thoughts

If you want a thing done - go. If not - send.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

I fear the man who drinks water and so remembers this morning what the rest of us said last night

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

If you watch your pennies, the pounds will take care of themselves.

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

There never was a truly great man that was not at the same time truly virtuous.

I have found Christian dogma unintelligible. Early in life, I absenteed myself from Christian assemblies.

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

The noblest question in the world is: 'What good may I do in it?'

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

Leisure is the time for doing something useful.

Promises may get thee friends, but non-performance will turn them into enemies.

A good conscience is a continual Christmas.

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

Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have either one.

The doors of wisdom are never shut.

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

It is very hard to dislike someone you have helped

We should make the poor uncomfortable and kick them out of poverty.

None but the well-bred man knows how to confess a fault, or acknowledge himself in an error.

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

Great beauty, great strength, and great riches are really and truly of no great use; a right heart exceeds all

Those that won’t be counseled can’t be helped.

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

God heals, and the Doctor takes the Fees.

A fat kitchen makes a lean will.

Be not sick too late, nor well too soon.

Fear to do ill, and you need fear naught else.

The most trifling actions of a man, in my opinion, as well as the smallest features and lineaments of the face give a nice observer some notion of his mind.

He that’s content, hath enough; He that complains has too much

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

Speak little, do much.

He that lies down with dogs shall rise up with fleas.

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

Women are books, and men the readers be…

The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason.

In the Affairs of this World, Men are saved, not by faith, but by the Lack of it.

When you’re testing to see how deep water is, never use two feet.

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

Wink at small faults; remember thou hast great ones.

Content makes poor men rich; discontentment makes rich men poor.

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

The ancients tell us what is best, but we must learn of the moderns what is fittest.

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

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

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

If you would know the value of money, go try to borrow some; for he that goes a-borrowing goes a-sorrowing.

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

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

Hide not your talents; they for use were made. What’s a sun-dial in the shade?

Common sense is something that everyone needs, few have, and none think they lack.

I never knew a man who was good at making excuses who was good at anything else.

Having been poor is no shame; being ashamed of it is.

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.

Employ your time well, if you mean to get leisure.

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

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

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

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

Words may show a man’s wit, actions his meaning.

Work as if you were to live a thousand years, play as if you were to die tomorrow.

Never confuse Motion with Action.

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

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

By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.

An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.

I didn’t fail the test; I just found 100 ways to do it wrong.

Tell me, and I forget, teach me, and I may remember, involve me, and I learn.

He that can have patience can have what he will.

You may delay, but time will not.

A penny saved is a penny earned.

Security without liberty is called prison.

It seems to me that if statesmen had a little more arithmetic or were accustomed to calculation, wars would be much less frequent.

No nation was ever ruined by trade.

He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither.

When there is so much to be done for yourself, your family, and your country, be up by peep of day! Let not the sun look down and say, ‘Inglorious here he lies!

We need a revolution every 200 years because all governments become stale and corrupt after 200 years.

Our opinions are not in our own power; they are formed and governed much by circumstances that are often as inexplicable as they are irresistible.

Where liberty is, there is my country.

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

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

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

I believe there is one Supreme most perfect being. […] I believe He is pleased and delights in the happiness of those He has created; and since without virtue man can have no happiness in this world, I firmly believe He delights to see me virtuous.

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.

From a persuasion that equal liberty was originally the portion, it is still the birthright of all men.

Every man…is, of common right, and by the laws of God, a freeman, and entitled to the free enjoyment of liberty.

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

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

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

It is better to take many Injuries than to give one.

Haste makes Waste

When you’re good to others, you’re best to yourself.

Pardoning the Bad, is injuring the Good.

Hide not your Talents, they for Use were made. What’s a Sun-Dial in the shade!

Glass, China, and Reputation, are easily crack’d, and never well mended.

What more valuable than Gold? Diamonds. Than Diamonds? Virtue.

Lost Time is never found again.

A true Friend is the best Possession.

No gains without pains.

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander Time; for that’s the Stuff Life is made of.

A right Heart exceeds all.

What you seem to be, be really.

He that would live in peace & at ease, Must not speak all he knows or judge all he sees.

Well done is better than well said.

Don’t throw stones at your neighbors, if your own windows are glass.

Look before, or you’ll find yourself behind.

Better slip with foot than tongue.

He that lies down with Dogs, shall rise up with fleas.

There never was a good war or a bad peace.

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

Three may keep a secret if two of them are dead.

Love your Enemies, for they tell you your Faults.