Top 1425 Quotes & Sayings by Benjamin Franklin - Page 22

I looked around for God's judgments, but saw no signs of them.

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.

A fat kitchin, a lean Will.

Masonic ideas are the precious jewels of Speculative Masons; the should be kept bright and sparkling for all the brethren to see and to admire. As such, they should be the special care of Masonic leaders particularly those who teach and interpret the philosophy of Freemasonry.

Love of country is the Mason's deed; world citizenship is his thought.

Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself.

It was said of him that he did not say much, but that when he did everyone stopped to listen.

Remember, that money is of the prolific, generating nature.

If you would know the value of money; go, and try to borrow some! For, he that goes a borrowing, goes a sorrowing! and indeed, so does he that lends to such people, when he goes to get it in again!

There's many witty men whose brains can't fill their bellies.

Annual giving is the custom of making a gift-a-year to an institution in which one has faith.

Whenever we attempt to mend the scheme of Providence and to interfere in the Government of the world, we had need be very circumspect lest we do more harm than good.

Hereafter, if you should observe an occasion to give your officers and friends a little more praise than is their due, and confess more fault than you can justly be charged with, you will only become the sooner for it, a great captain.

Fond pride of dress is sure a very curse

It is wonderful how preposterously the affairs of the world are managed. We assemble parliaments and councils to have the benefit of collected wisdom, but we necessarily have, at the same time, the inconvenience of their collected passions, prejudices and private interests: for regulating commerce an assembly of great men is the greatest fool on earth

In humility imitate Jesus and Socrates.

A man separated from his reflective belt is no man at all.

'Tis more noble to forgive, and more manly to despise, than to revenge an Injury.

Some books we read, tho' few there are that hit the happy point where wisdom joins with wit.

Here Skugg lies snug As a bug in a rug.

Poverty, Poetry, and new Titles of Honor, make Men ridiculous

A father's a treasure; a brother's a comfort; a friend is both.

Grief for a dead Wife, and a troublesome Guest, Continues to the threshold, and there is at rest; But I mean such wives as are none of the best

Drink does not drown care, but waters it, and makes it grow faster.

Pride is as loud a beggar as want, and a great deal more saucy

If your riches are yours, why don't you take them with you to the other world?

Cheese and salt meat, should be sparingly eat.

In every animal that walks upright, the deficiency of the Fluids that fill the Muscles appears first in the highest Part: The Face first grows lank and wrinkled; then the neck; then the breast and arms; the lower parts continuing to the last as plump as ever; so that covering all above with a basket, and regarding only what is below the girdle, it is impossible of two women to know an old from a young one.

Have you something to do to-morrow; do it to-day.

Evils come not, then our fears are vain; And if they do fear but augments the pain.

Nothing's so apt to undermine your confidence in a product as knowing that the commercial selling it has been approved by the company that makes it.

Gaining money by my industry and frugality, I lived very agreeably. . . .

He that sells upon Credit expects to lose 5 per Cent. By bad Debts; therefore he charges, on all he sells upon Credit, an Advance that shall make up that Deficiency.

I think that a young state, like a young virgin, should modestly stay at home, and wait the application of suitors for an alliance with her; and not run about offering her amity to all the world; and hazarding their refusal. Our virgin is a jolly one; and tho at present not very rich, will in time be a great fortune, and where she has a favorable predisposition, it seems to me well worth cultivating.

If a man would reap praise, you must sow the seeds, gentle words and useful deeds.

The Honey is sweet, but the Bee has a Sting.

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.

Don't overload Gratitude; if you do, she'll kick.

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.

A greater Quantity of some things may be eaten than of others, some being of lighter Digestion than others.

Friends are the true Sceptres of Princes.

Strange secrets are let out by Death Who blabs so oft the follies of this world.

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."

The happy State of Matrimony is, undoubtedly, the surest and most lasting Foundation of Comfort and Love . . . the Cause of all good Order in the World, and what alone preserves it from the utmost Confusion.

The States acceded to the Union.

Every accent, every emphasis, every modulation of voice, was so perfectly well turned and well placed, that, without being interested in the subject, one could not help being pleased with the discourse; a pleasure of much the same kind with that received from an excellent piece of music. This is an advantage itinerant preachers have over those who are stationary, as the latter can not well improve their delivery of a sermon by so many rehearsals.

'tis his honesty that brought upon him the character of a heretic.

That Quantity that is sufficient, the Stomach can perfectly concoct and digest, and it sufficeth the due Nourishment of the Body.

He is ill clothed that is bare of virtue.

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

People who are wrapped up in themselves make small packages.

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.

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.

Here's to our beloved George Washington, the Joshua of America, who commanded the sun and the moon to stand still - and they obeyed.

Prayers and Provender hinder no Journey.

A wolf eats sheep but now and then, ten Thousands are devour'd by Men.

Were the offer made true, I would engage to run again, from beginning to end, the same career of life. All I would ask should be the privilege of an author, to correct, in a second edition, certain errors of the first.

The exact Quantity and Quality being found out, is to be kept to constantly.

Laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes it.

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.