Benjamin Franklin T Quotations

To be proud of knowledge is to be blind with light.

Historians relate not so much what is done as what they would have believed.

Praise to the undeserving is severe satire.

An education is the investment with the greatest returns.

A Bible and a newspaper in every house, a good school in every district; all studied and appreciated as they merit; are the principal support of virtue, morality, and civil liberty.

There are more old drunkards than old doctors.

If gymnastics were easy, it would be called football. 10% talent, 90% hard workEnergy and persistence conquer all things.

One today is worth two tomorrows. Lost time is never found again. Time is money. Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff that life is made of. You may delay, but time will not.

Ambition has its disappointments to sour us, but never the good fortune to satisfy us. Its appetite grows keener by indulgence and all we can gratify it with at present serves but the more to inflame its insatiable desires.

The Body of B. Franklin, Printer Like the Cover of an old Book Its Contents turn out And Stript of its Lettering & Guilding Lies here. Food for Worms For, it will as he believed appear once more In a new and more elegant Edition corrected and improved By the Author.

In rivers and bad governments the lightest things swim at top.

If we restrict liberty to attain security we will lose them both.

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

Work while it is called today, for you know not how much you may be hindered tomorrow. One today is worth two tomorrows; never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.

I have been apt to think that there has never been, nor ever will be, any such thing as a good war, or a bad peace.

Unless the Stream of their Importation could be turned... they will soon so outnumber us, that all the advantages we have, will not in my Opinion be able to preserve our Language, and even our Government will become precarious.

Who has deceived thee as oft as thyself.

Wouldst thou enjoy a long Life, a healthy Body, and a vigorous Mind, and be acquainted also with the wonderful Works of God? labour in the first place to bring thy Appetite into Subjection to Reason.

Before Noah, men having only water to drink, could not find the truth. Accordingly...they became abominably wicked, and they were justly exterminated by the water they loved to drink. This good man, Noah, having seen that all his contemporaries had perished by this unpleasant drink, took a dislike to it; and God, to relieve his dryness, created the vine and revealed to him the art of making le vin. By the aid of this liquid he unveiled more and more truth.

There have been as great souls unknown to fame as any of the most famous.

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 previosly unsusceptible.

Nothing is more important for the public wealth than to form and train youth in wisdom and virtue. Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.

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

If you would not be laughed at, be the first to laugh at yourself.

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

Doing an injury puts you below your enemy; revenging one make you but even with him; forgiving it sets you above him.

Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in the world nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes.

Read much, but not too many books.

People who are wrapped up in themselves make small packages.

Love your Neighbour; yet don't pull down your Hedge.

He that hath a Trade, hath an Estate.

Keep thy shop, and thy shop will keep thee.

Moses lifting up his wand, and dividing the Red Sea, and Pharaoh in his chariot overwhelmed with the waters. This motto: "Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God."

In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for Divine protection," he stated. "Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered. ... Do we imagine we no longer need His assistance?

He is ill clothed that is bare of virtue.

One good husband is worth two good wives, for the scarcer things are, the more they are valued.

Who is wise? He that learns from everyone.

Honesty is the best policy.

A traveller should have a hog's nose, a deer's legs, and an ass's back.

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

Every other sect supposes itself in possession of the truth, and that those who differ are so far in the wrong. Like a man traveling in foggy weather they see those at a distance before them wrapped up in a fog, as well as those behind them, and also people in the fields on each side; but near them, all appears clear, though in truth they are as much in the fog as any of them.

Life is rather a state of embryo, a preparation for life; a man is not completely born till he has passed through death.

The general policy of the past has been to drive, but the era of force must give way to that of knowledge, and the policy of the future will be to teach and to lead, to the advantage of all concerned. Henry Gantt If a man empties his purse into his head no man can take it from him. An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.

Give me 26 lead soldiers and I will conquer the world.

No man ought to own more property than needed for his livelihood; the rest, by right, belonged to the state.

The apostle Paul very seriously advised Timothy to put some wine in his water for health's sake, but not one of the apostles nor any of the holy fathers have ever recommended putting water in wine

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 cancelling them out, one against the other, I take the course indicated by what remains.

Fart for freedom, fart for liberty—and fart proudly.

He who gives up freedom for safety deserves neither.

It is the religion of ignorance that tyranny begins.

There's no gain, without pain.

Every pot must sit on its own bottom.

In order for three people to keep a secret, two must be dead.

After crosses and losses men grow humbler and wiser.

The handshake of the host affects the taste of the roast

Courteous Reader, Astrology is one of the most ancient Sciences, held in high esteem of old, by the Wise and the Great. Formerly, no Prince would make War or Peace, nor any General fight in Battle, in short, no important affair was undertaken without first consulting an Astrologer.

The busy man has few idle visitors; to the boiling pot the flies come not.

We are more thoroughly an enlightened people, with respect to our political interests, than perhaps any other under heaven. Every man among us reads, and is so easy in his circumstances as to have leisure for conversations of improvement and for acquiring information.

Little minds think and talk about people. Average minds think and talk about things and actions. Great minds think and talk about ideas.

Genius is the ability to hold one's vision steady until it becomes reality

I was put to the grammar-school at eight years of age, my father intending to devote me, as the tithe of his sons, to the service of the Church.

Cunning proceeds from lack of capacity.

Let honesty be as the breath of thy soul; then shalt thou reach the point of happiness, and independence shall be thy shield and buckler, thy helmet and crown; then shall thy soul walk upright, nor stoop to the silken wretch because he hath riches, nor pocket an abuse because the hand which offers it wears a ring set with diamonds.

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

Content makes poor men rich; discontent makes rich men poor.

To cease to think creatively is to cease to live

Who is rich? He that rejoices in his portion.

Distrust and caution are the parents of security.

He that can have patience can have what he will.

Whoever shall introduce into public affairs the principles of primitive Christianity will change the face of the world.

Motivation is when your dreams put on work clothes

No European who has tasted savage life can afterwards bear to live in our societies.

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest. When it comes to investing, nothing will pay off more than educating yourself. Do the necessary research, study and analysis before making any investment decisions.

Waste neither time nor money, but make the best use of both.

I would rather have it said, 'He lived usefully,' than, 'He died rich.'

The doors of wisdom are never shut.

A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle.

Nothing is more fatal to health than an over care of it.

By playing at Chess then, we may learn: First: Foresight... Second: Circumspection... Third: Caution...And lastly, we learn by Chess the habit of not being discouraged by present bad appearances in the state of our affairs, the habit of hoping for a favorable chance, and that of persevering in the secrets of resources

Wise men learn by others' harms, fools scarcely by their own.

And where is the Prince who can afford to so cover his country with troops for its defense, as that ten thousand men descending from the clouds, might not in many places do an infinite deal of mischief, before a force could be brought together to repel them?

Handle your tools without mittens.

Time is money'... Waste it now. Pay for it later!

Most fools think they are only ignorant.

How many observe Christ's birthday! How few, His precepts!

Flesh eating is unprovoked murder.

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

Our necessities never equal our wants.

Necessity never made a good bargain.

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

Fatigue is the best pillow.

He that has done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another, than he whom you yourself have obliged.

He that composes himself is wiser than he that composes a book.

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

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

He does not possess wealth; it possesses him.

To lengthen thy life, lessen thy meals.

In general, mankind, since the improvement of cookery, eats twice as much as nature requires.

Tomorrow, every Fault is to be amended; but that Tomorrow never comes.

Applause waits on success.