Top 1425 Quotes & Sayings by Benjamin Franklin - Page 3

Nine men in ten are would be suicides.

Who had deceived thee so often as thyself?

The strictest law sometimes becomes the severest injustice.

Even peace may be purchased at too high a price.

A countryman between two lawyers is like a fish between two cats.

As we must account for every idle word, so must we account for every idle silence.

When the well is dry, they know the worth of water.

As we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours, and this we should do freely and generously.

Wealth is not his that has it, but his that enjoys it.

He that won't be counseled can't be helped.

The absent are never without fault, nor the present without excuse.

An egg today is better than a hen to-morrow.

Who is rich? He that rejoices in his portion.

In my youth, I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.

If you would have a faithful servant, and one that you like, serve yourself.

Those have a short Lent who owe money to be paid at Easter.

For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions, even on important subjects, which I once thought right but found to be otherwise.

Beauty and folly are old companions.

He that raises a large family does, indeed, while he lives to observe them, stand a broader mark for sorrow; but then he stands a broader mark for pleasure too.

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.'

And whether you're an honest man, or whether you're a thief, depends on whose solicitor has given me my brief.

Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody.

Buy what thou hast no need of and ere long thou shalt sell thy necessities.

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

Fatigue is the best pillow.

For my own part, I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen the representative of our country. He is a bird of bad moral character. He does not get his living honestly.

Leisure is the time for doing something useful. This leisure the diligent person will obtain the lazy one never.

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.

There is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more easily and frequently fall than that of defrauding the government.

From a child I was fond of reading, and all the little money that came into my hands was ever laid out in books. Pleased with the 'Pilgrim's Progress,' my first collection was of John Bunyan's works in separate little volumes.

Gain may be temporary and uncertain; but ever while you live, expense is constant and certain: and it is easier to build two chimneys than to keep one in fuel.

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

Savages we call them because their manners differ from ours.

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

If you desire many things, many things will seem few.

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

He does not possess wealth; it possesses him.

Employ thy time well, if thou meanest to gain leisure.

Observe all men, thyself most.

I conceive that the great part of the miseries of mankind are brought upon them by false estimates they have made of the value of things.

I have never entered into any controversy in defense of my philosophical opinions; I leave them to take their chance in the world. If they are right, truth and experience will support them; if wrong, they ought to be refuted and rejected. Disputes are apt to sour one's temper and disturb one's quiet.

It is only when the rich are sick that they fully feel the impotence of wealth.

She laughs at everything you say. Why? Because she has fine teeth.

He that rises late must trot all day.

He that speaks much, is much mistaken.

Having been poor is no shame, but being ashamed of it, is.

There are two ways of being happy: We must either diminish our wants or augment our means - either may do - the result is the same and it is for each man to decide for himself and to do that which happens to be easier.

I look upon death to be as necessary to our constitution as sleep. We shall rise refreshed in the morning.

Human felicity is produced not as much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen as by little advantages that occur every day.

A good conscience is a continual Christmas.

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

Laws too gentle are seldom obeyed; too severe, seldom executed.

If a man empties his purse into his head, no one can take it from him.

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

You can bear your own faults, and why not a fault in your wife?

Beware the hobby that eats.

In the affairs of this world, men are saved not by faith, but by the want of it.

Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.

A great empire, like a great cake, is most easily diminished at the edges.

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