Benjamin Franklin Quotes

Wine is constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy.

Take it from Richard, poor and lame, What's begun in anger ends in shame.

What signifies Philosophy that does not apply to some Use? May we not learn from hence, that black Clothes are not so fit to wear in a hot Sunny Climate or Season, as white ones; because in such Cloaths the Body is more heated by the Sun when we walk abroad, and are at the same time heated by the Exercise, which double Heat is apt to bring on putrid dangerous Fevers? The Soldiers and Seamen, who must march and labour in the Sun, should in the East or West Indies have an Uniform of white?

Hear reason, or she'll make you feel her.

To lengthen thy life, lessen thy meals.

To cease to think creatively is to cease to live

If you wouldn't live long, live well; for folly and wickedness shorten life.

You must always be prepared. Make sure to look at things from all angles. If you are not prepared you will fail.

In going on with these Experiments, how many pretty systems do we build, which we soon find ourselves oblig'd to destroy! If there is no other Use discover'd of Electricity, this, however, is something considerable, that it may help to make a vain Man humble.

He that scatters thorns, let him not go barefoot.

Life with Fools consists in Drinking; with the wise Man, living's Thinking.

If the elbow had been placed closer to the hand, the forearm would have been too short to bring the glass to the mouth; and if it had been closer to the shoulder, the forearm would have been so long that it would have carried the glass beyond the mouth.

A cheerful face is nearly as good for an invalid as healthy weather.

Cunning proceeds from want of capacity.

Each year one vicious habit discarded, in time might make the worst of us good.

I made the greater progress, from that clearness of head and quicker apprehension which generally attend temperance in eating and drinking.

When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it so that its professors are obliged to call for help of the civil power, 'tis a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one.

There are two ways to increase your wealth. Increase your means or decrease your wants. The best is to do both at the same time.

Be not sick too late, nor well too soon

Use now and then a little Exercise a quarter of an Hour before Meals, as to swing a Weight, or swing your Arms about with a small Weight in each Hand; to leap, or the like, for that stirs the Muscles of the Breast.

It's the easiest thing in the world for a man to deceive himself.

If you want something done, ask a busy person.

Never confuse motion with action.

Be studious in your profession, and you will be learned. Be industrious and frugal, and you will be rich. Be sober and temperate, and you will be healthy. Be in general virtuous, and you will be happy. At least you will, by such conduct, stand the be.

Two dry Sticks will burn a green One.

Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." He planned his routine around waking up at 5 a.m. and asking himself "What good shall I do this day?

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

The strictest law sometimes becomes the severest injustice.

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

Savages we call them, because their manners differ from ours, which we think the perfection of civility; they think the same of theirs.

Three things are men most likely to be cheated in, a horse, a wig, and a wife.

Let our Fathers and Grandfathers be valued for their Goodness, ourselves for our own.

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

Remember, Sir, that [England] began the slave trade!

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

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

He who will not be counseled cannot be helped.

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.

Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.

Why should I give my Readers bad lines of my own when good ones of other People's are so plenty?

Well done is better than well said.

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.

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.

Be neither silly, nor cunning, but wise

The good particular men may do separately, in relieving the sick, is small, compared with what they may do collectively.

God works wonders now and then; Behold a lawyer, an honest man.

We are spirits. That bodies should be lent us while they afford us pleasure, assist us in acquiring knowledge or in doing good to our fellow-creatures, is a kind of benevolent act of God. When they become unfit for these purposes and afford us pain instead of pleasure, instead of an aid become an encumbrance and answer none of these intentions for which they were given, it is equally kind and benevolent that a way is provided by which we get rid of them. Death is that way.

You may give give a man office, but you cannot give him discretion