Democracy means not "I am as good as you are" but "You are as good as I am.".

In all the world there is nothing so remarkable as a great man, nothing so rare, nothing which so well repays study.

The miraculous revelation of the Old Testament and the New, the miracles of famous men, Jews, Gentiles, or Christians, — then Franklin had no religion at all; and it would be an insult to say that he believed in the popular theology of his time, or of ours, for I find not a line from his pen indicating any such belief.

Self-denial is indispensable to a strong character, and the highest kind comes from a religious stock.

No virtue fades out of mankind. Not over-hopeful by inborn temperament, cautious by long experience, I yet never despair of human virtue.

Genius is the father of a heavenly line, but the mortal mother, that is industry.

The coat of the buffalo never pinches under the arm, never puckers at the shoulders; it is always the same, yet never old fashioned nor out of date.