Franklin's Quotes

Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results.

Go to heaven for the climate and hell for the company.

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.

Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.

Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see.

Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

He that can have patience can have what he will.

You may delay, but time will not.

Many people die at twenty five and aren't buried until they are seventy five.

A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned

In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is Freedom, in water there is bacteria.

Patience is a conquering virtue.

Never ruin an apology with an excuse.

We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.

Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

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

I didn't fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong.

By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.

Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.

Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Any fool can criticize, complain, and condemn—and most fools do. But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving.

I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made.

Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. [misquote of a letter about wine, see quotes/831031]

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

An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.

Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.

Well done is better than well said.

Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.

Hide not your talents, they for use were made, What's a sundial in the shade?

When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.

Lost time is never found again.

It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.

Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.

Instead of cursing the darkness, light a candle.

We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.

If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed.

The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.

The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.

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

Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.

Tis a great confidence in a friend to tell him your faults; greater to tell him his.

The person who deserves most pity is a lonesome one on a rainy day who doesn't know how to read.

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of.

Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.

A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.

Never confuse Motion with Action.

I'm not the smartest fellow in the world, but I can sure pick smart colleagues.

He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.

Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.

To reach a port we must set sail – Sail, not tie at anchor Sail, not drift.

Whatever is begun in anger, ends in shame.

Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.

If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!

Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.

Love your Enemies, for they tell you your Faults.

The bible says no man can take your joy. That means no person can make you live with a negative attitude. No circumstance, no adversity can force you to live in despair. As Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of wheelchair-bound President Franklin D. Roosevelt, often said, ‘No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

There was never a bad peace or a good war.

The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of a wise man is in his heart.

I am for doing good to the poor, but...I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. I observed...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.

Be slow in choosing a friend, slower in changing.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Educate your children to self-control, to the habit of holding passion and prejudice and evil tendencies subject to an upright and reasoning will, and you have done much to abolish misery from their future and crimes from society.

When you are finished changing, you're finished.

We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.

To find out a girl's faults, praise her to her girlfriends.

A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.

When you're testing to see how deep water is, never use two feet.

...but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.

A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over.

Life biggest tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late

The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerated the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That in its essence is fascism: ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or any controlling private power.

Books can not be killed by fire. People die, but books never die. No man and no force can abolish memory... In this war, we know, books are weapons. And it is a part of your dedication always to make them weapons for man's freedom.

A man convinced against his will Is of the same opinion still

Trouble knocked at the door, but, hearing laughter, hurried away

Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.

The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith.

If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth writing.

Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.

If you treat people right they will treat you right ... ninety percent of the time.

Happiness depends more on the inward disposition of mind than on outward circumstances.

Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards.

If Jack's in love, he's no judge of Jill's beauty.

There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still.

For the want of a nail the shoe was lost, For the want of a shoe the horse was lost, For the want of a horse the rider was lost, For the want of a rider the battle was lost, For the want of a battle the kingdom was lost, And all for the want of a horseshoe-nail.

Who is wise? He that learns from everyone. Who is powerful? He that governs his passions. Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody.

In the Affairs of this World Men are saved, not by Faith, but by the Lack of it.

We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing!

Be civil to all; sociable to many; familiar with few; friend to one; enemy to none.

The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest.

If a man could have half of his wishes, he would double his troubles.

Speak ill of no man, but speak all the good you know of everybody.

Never leave till tomorrow that which you can do today.

While we may not be able to control all that happens to us, we can control what happens inside us.

My refusing to eat flesh occasioned an inconveniency, and I was frequently chided for my singularity, but, with this lighter repast, I made the greater progress, for greater clearness of head and quicker comprehension. Flesh eating is unprovoked murder.

Were I a Roman Catholic, perhaps I should on this occasion vow to build a chapel to some saint, but as I am not, if I were to vow at all, it should be to build a light-house. [Letter to his wife, 17 July 1757, after narrowly avoiding a shipwreck; often misquoted as "Lighthouses are more helpful than churches."]

If we look back into history for the character of present sects in Christianity, we shall find few that have not in their turns been persecutors, and complainers of persecution. The primitive Christians thought persecution extremely wrong in the Pagans, but practised it on one another. The first Protestants of the Church of England, blamed persecution in the Roman church, but practised it against the Puritans: these found it wrong in the Bishops, but fell into the same practice themselves both here and in New England. [Letter to the London Packet, 3 June 1772]

In all your Amours you should prefer old Women to young ones. You call this a Paradox, and demand my Reasons. They are these: 1. Because as they have more Knowledge of the World and their Minds are better stor’d with Observations, their Conversation is more improving and more lastingly agreable. 2. Because when Women cease to be handsome, they study to be good. To maintain their Influence over Men, they supply the Diminution of Beauty by an Augmentation of Utility. They learn to do a 1000 Services small and great, and are the most tender and useful of all Friends when you are sick. Thus they continue amiable. And hence there is hardly such a thing to be found as an old Woman who is not a good Woman. 3. Because there is no hazard of Children, which irregularly produc’d may be attended with much Inconvenience. 4. Because thro’ more Experience, they are more prudent and discreet in conducting an Intrigue to prevent Suspicion. The Commerce with them is therefore safer with regard to your Reputation. And with regard to theirs, if the Affair should happen to be known, considerate People might be rather inclin’d to excuse an old Woman who would kindly take care of a young Man, form his Manners by her good Counsels, and prevent his ruining his Health and Fortune among mercenary Prostitutes. 5. Because 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. And as in the dark all Cats are grey, the Pleasure of corporal Enjoyment with an old Woman is at least equal, and frequently superior, every Knack being by Practice capable of Improvement. 6. Because the Sin is less. The debauching a Virgin may be her Ruin, and make her for Life unhappy. 7. Because the Compunction is less. The having made a young Girl miserable may give you frequent bitter Reflections; none of which can attend the making an old Woman happy. 8thly and Lastly They are so grateful!!