| ... having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obligated, by better information or fuller consideration, to change my opinions even on important subjects, which I thought right but found to be otherwise.
— Speech given at the final session (17 Sept. 1787) | — Benjamin Franklin |
| ...every act of oppression will sour their tempers, lessen greatly if not annihilate the profits of your commerce with them, and hasten their final revolt; for the seeds of liberty are universally found there, and nothing can eradicate them.
— On America, in a letter to Lord Kames (11 Apr. 1767) | — Benjamin Franklin |
| ...in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. — Letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy, 1789 | — Benjamin Franklin |
| ...that the Pleasure of doing Good and Serving their Country, and the Respect such Conduct entitles them to, are sufficient Motives with some Minds to give up a great Portion of their Time to the Public, without the mean Inducement of pecuniary Satisfaction.
— Convention Speech on Salaries (unpublished) June 2, 1787 | — Benjamin Franklin |
| ...the conversation of ingenious men, give me no small pleasure; but at this time of life, domestic comforts afford the most solid satisfaction, and my uneasiness at being absent from my family, and longing desire to be with them, make me often sigh in the midst of cheerful company.
— On family, in a letter to Debrah Franklin (21 Jan. 1758) | — Benjamin Franklin |
| ...there is no Form of Government but what may be a Blessing to the People if well administred; and I believe farther that this is likely to be well adminstred for a Course of Years, and can only end in Despotism as other Forms have done before it, when the People shall become so corrupted as to need Despotic Government, being incapable of any other.
— Speech on Sept. 17 1787 | — Benjamin Franklin |
| ..they are supported by a Sense of Duty; and the Respect paid to Usefulness. It is honorable to be so employ'd, but it was never made profitable by Salaries, Fees, or Perquisites. And indeed in all Cases of public Service, the less the Profit the greater the Honor.
— Convention Speech on Salaries (unpublished) June 2, 1787 | — Benjamin Franklin |
| A countryman between two lawyers is like a fish between two cats. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| A dying man can do nothing easy. — After his daughter asked him to move, April 17, 1790 | — Benjamin Franklin |
| A fine genius in his own country is like gold in the mine. — Poor Richard's Almanack | — Benjamin Franklin |
| A good conscience is a continual Christmas. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| A great empire, like a great cake, is most easily diminished at the edges. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| A learned blockhead is a greater blockhead than an ignorant one. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| A life of leisure and a life of laziness are two things. There will be sleeping enough in the grave. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| A penny saved is a penny earned. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| A place for everything, everything in its place. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| A small leak can sink a great ship. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| A Spoonful of Honey will catch more Flies than a Gallon of Vinegar.
— Poor Richard's Almanack | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Absence sharpens love, presence strengthens it. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Admiration is the daughter of ignorance. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| All the property that is necessary to a Man, for the Conservation of the Individual and the Propagation of the Species, is his natural Right, which none can justly deprive him of: But all Property superfluous to such purposes is the Property of the Publick, who, by their Laws, have created it, and who may therefore by other laws dispose of it, whenever the Welfare of the Publick shall demand such Disposition. He that does not like civil Society on these Terms, let him retire and live among Savages. He can have no right to the benefits of Society, who will not pay his Club towards the Support of it.
— Letter to Robert Morris, December 25, 1783 | — Benjamin Franklin |
| All wars are follies, very expensive and very mischievous ones. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| All who think cannot but see there is a sanction like that of religion which binds us in partnership in the serious work of the world. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| America, an immense territory favored by nature with all advantages of climate, soil, great navigable rivers and lakes, etc., must become a great country, populous and mighty, and will, in less time than is generally conceived, be able to shake off any shackles that may be imposed on her, and perhaps place them on the imposers.
— Letter to Lord Kames (11 Apr. 1767) | — Benjamin Franklin |
| An investment in knowledge pays the best interest. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| And whether you're an honest man, or whether you're a thief, depends on whose solicitor has given me my brief. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Anger is never without a reason, but seldom with a good one. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Applause waits on success. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| As we must account for every idle word, so must we account for every idle silence. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| At twenty years of age the will reigns; at thirty, the wit; and at forty, the judgment. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Be in general virtuous, and you will be happy. — Letter to John Alleyne, August 9, 1768 | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Be slow in choosing a friend, slower in changing. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Beauty and folly are old companions. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Beware the hobby that eats. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Buy what thou hast no need of and ere long thou shalt sell thy necessities. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Content makes poor men rich; discontent makes rich men poor. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Creditors have better memories than debtors. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Diligence is the mother of good luck. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Distrust and caution are the parents of security. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Do good to your friends to keep them, to your enemies to win them. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Do not squander time for that is the stuff life is made of. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Each year one vicious habit discarded, in time might make the worst of us good. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.
— Advice to a Young Tradesman, 1748 | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Eat to please thyself, but dress to please others. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Employ thy time well, if thou meanest to gain leisure. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Energy and persistence conquer all things. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Even peace may be purchased at too high a price. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Experience keeps a dear school, yet fools will learn in no other. — Poor Richard's Almanack | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Fatigue is the best pillow. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Finally, there seem to be but three Ways for a Nation to acquire Wealth. The first is by War as the Romans did in plundering their conquered Neighbours. This is Robbery. The second by Commerce which is generally Cheating. The third by Agriculture the only honest Way; wherein Man receives a real Increase of the Seed thrown into the Ground, in a kind of continual Miracle wrought by the Hand of God in his favour, as a Reward for his innocent Life, and virtuous Industry.
— Positions to be Examined, April 4, 1769 | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Fish and visitors smell in three days.
— Poor Richard's Almanack | — Benjamin Franklin |
| 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. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| For when you assemble a Number of Men to have the Advantage of their joint Wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those Men all their Prejudices, their Passions, their Errors of Opinion, their local Interests, and their selfish Views. From such an Assembly can a perfect Production be expected? It therefore astonishes me, Sir, to find this System approaching so near to Perfection as it does; and I think it will astonish our Enemies, who are waiting with Confidence to hear that our Councils are confounded, like those of the Builders of Babel, and that our States are on the Point of Separation, only to meet hereafter for the Purpose of cutting one anothers Throats.
— Speech on Sept. 17 1787 | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Frugality is an enriching virtue, a virtue I never could acquire in myself, but I was once lucky enough to find it in a wife, who thereby became a fortune to me.
— To Miss Alexander (24 June 1782) | — Benjamin Franklin |
| 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. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Games lubricate the body and the mind. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Genius without education is like silver in the mine. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| God helps them that help themselves — Poor Richard's Almanack | — Benjamin Franklin |
| God works wonders now and then; Behold a lawyer, an honest man. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Grievances cannot be redressed unless they are known; and they cannot be known but through complaints and petitions. if these are deemed affronts, and the messengers punished as offenders, who will henceforth send petitions? And who will deliver them?
— Letter to Thomas Cushing (15 Feb. 1774) | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Half a truth is often a great lie. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Happiness depends more on the inward disposition of mind than on outward circumstances. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Having been poor is no shame, but being ashamed of it, is. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| He does not possess wealth; it possesses him. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| He that can have patience can have what he will. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| He that composes himself is wiser than he that composes a book. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| He that displays too often his wife and his wallet is in danger of having both of them borrowed. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| He that falls in love with himself will have no rivals. — Poor Richard's Almanack | — Benjamin Franklin |
| He that has done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another, than he whom you yourself have obliged. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| He that lives upon hope will die fasting. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| 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. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| He that rises late must trot all day. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| He that speaks much, is much mistaken. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| He that waits upon fortune, is never sure of a dinner. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| He that won't be counseled can't be helped. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| He that would live in peace and at ease must not speak all he knows or all he sees. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| He that's secure is not safe. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| He who falls in love with himself will have no rivals. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| He's a fool that makes his doctor his heir.
— Poor Richard's Almanack | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Hear reason, or she'll make you feel her. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Here comes the orator! With his flood of words, and his drop of reason.
— Poor Richard's Almanack | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What's a sundial in the shade? | — Benjamin Franklin |
| History affords us many instances of the ruin of states, by the prosecution of measures ill suited to the temper and genius of their people. The ordaining of laws in favor of one part of the nation, to the prejudice and oppression of another, is certainly the most erroneous and mistaken policy. An equal dispensation of protection, rights, privileges, and advantages, is what every part is entitled to, and ought to enjoy... These measures never fail to create great and violent jealousies and animosities between the people favored and the people oppressed; whence a total separation of affections, interests, political obligations, and all manner of connections, by which the whole state is weakened.
— Emblematical Representations, Circa 1774 | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Honesty is the best policy. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| How few there are who have courage enough to own their faults, or resolution enough to mend them. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| How many observe Christ's birth-day! How few, his precepts! O! 'tis easier to keep Holidays than Commandments.
— Poor Richard's Almanack | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Human felicity is produced not as much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen as by little advantages that occur every day. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Hunger is the best pickle. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. 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. 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.
— On the Price of Corn and Management of the Poor, November 1766 | — Benjamin Franklin |
| I conceive for many reasons that He is a good being; as I should be happy to have so wise, good, and powerful a being my friend, let me consider in what manner I shall make myself most acceptable to Him.
— On God, Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion, 20 Nov. 1728 | — Benjamin Franklin |
| 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. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| I didn't fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| I grew convinced that truth, sincerity, and integrity in dealings between man and man were of the utmost importance to the felicity of life.... Revelation had indeed, no weight with me as such; but I entertained an opinion that, though certain actions might not be bad because they were forbidden by it, or good because it commanded them, yet probably those actions might be forbidden because they were bad for us, or commanded because they were beneficial to us, in their own natures.
— Autobiography (1771) | — Benjamin Franklin |
| I guess I don't so much mind being old, as I mind being fat and old. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| I have from my Youth been indefatigable studious to gain and treasure up in my Mind all useful and desirable Knowledge, especially such as tends to improve the Mind, and enlarge the Understanding.
— Silence Dogood Letter #3 - April 30, 1722 | — Benjamin Franklin |
| I hope our people will keep up their courage. I have not doubt of their finally succeeding by the blessing of GOD, nor have I any doubt that so good a cause will fail of that blessing
— Letter to an unknown correspondent (25 Oct. 1776) | — Benjamin Franklin |
| I look upon death to be as necessary to our constitution as sleep. We shall rise refreshed in the morning. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| I reflected in my Mind on the extream Folly of those Parents, who, blind to their Childrens Dulness, and insensible of the Solidity of their Skulls, because they think their Purses can afford it, will needs send them to the Temple of Learning, where, for want of a suitable Genius, they learn little more than how to carry themselves handsomely, and enter a Room genteely, (which might as well be acquir'd at a Dancing-School,) and from whence they return, after Abundance of Trouble and Charge, as great Blockheads as ever, only more proud and self-conceited.
— Silence Dogood, No. 4 | — Benjamin Franklin |
| I saw few die of hunger; of eating, a hundred thousand. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| I should have no objection to go over the same life from its beginning to the end: requesting only the advantage authors have, of correcting in a second edition the faults of the first. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| I think also, that general virtue is more probably to be expected and obtained from the education of youth, than from exhortations of adult persons; bad habits and vices of the mind being, like diseases of the body, more easily prevented than cured. I think moreover, that talents for the education of youth are the gift of God; and that he on whom they are bestowed, whenever a way is opened for use of them, is as strongly called as if he heard a voice from heaven... | — Benjamin Franklin |
| I think with you , that nothing is more important for the public weal, than to form and train up youth in wisdom and virtue. Wise and good men are in my opinion, the strength of the state; more so than riches or arms... | — Benjamin Franklin |
| I wake up every morning at nine and grab for the morning paper. Then I look at the obituary page. If my name is not on it, I get up. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| If a man could have half of his wishes, he would double his troubles. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| If a man empties his purse into his head, no one can take it from him. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| If by the liberty of the press were understood merely the liberty of discussing the propriety of public measures and political opinions, let us have as much of it as you please: But if it means the liberty of affronting, calumniating and defaming one another, I, for my part, own myself willing to part with my share of it, whenever our legislators shall please so to alter the law and shall chearfully consent to exchange my liberty of abusing others for the privilege of not being abused myself.
— An Account of the Supremest Court of Judicature in Pennsylvania, viz. The Court of the Press, September 12, 1789 | — Benjamin Franklin |
| If free governments the rulers are the servants, and the people their superiors and sovereigns. For the former, therefore, to return among the latter was not to degrade but to promote them.
— Convention debate (26 July 1787) | — Benjamin Franklin |
| If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| If time be of all things the most precious, wasting time must be the greatest prodigality. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| If you desire many things, many things will seem few. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| If you know how to spend less than you get, you have the philosopher's stone. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| If you would be loved, love, and be loveable. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| If you would have a faithful servant, and one that you like, serve yourself. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| If you would know the value of money, go and try to borrow some. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write something worth reading or do things worth writing. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| In general, mankind, since the improvement of cookery, eats twice as much as nature requires. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| In the affairs of this world, men are saved not by faith, but by the want of it. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Industry need not wish. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| It has been thought a dangerous thing in any state to stop up the vent of griefs. Wise governments have therefore generally received petitions with some indulgence, even when but slightly founded.
— Letter to Thomas Cushing (15 Feb. 1774) | — Benjamin Franklin |
| It is a common observation here [Europe] that our cause is the cause of all mankind, and that we are fighting for their liberty in defending our own. It is a glorious task assigned us by Providence, which has, I trust, given us spirit and virtue equal to it, and will at last crown it with success.
— Letter to Samuel Cooper (1 May 1777) | — Benjamin Franklin |
| It is a grand mistake to think of being great without goodness and I pronounce it as certain that there was never a truly great man that was not at the same time truly virtuous. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| It is easier to prevent bad habits than to break them. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| It is much easier to suppress a first desire than to satisfy those that follow. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| It is only when the rich are sick that they fully feel the impotence of wealth. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| It is the eye of other people that ruin us. If I were blind I would want, neither fine clothes, fine houses or fine furniture. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| It is the working man who is the happy man. It is the idle man who is the miserable man. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| It is undoubtedly the Duty of all Persons to server the Country they live in, according to their abilities..
— Silence Dogood Letter #3 - April 30, 1722 | — Benjamin Franklin |
| It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Keep thy shop, and thy shop will keep thee. — Poor Richard's Almanack | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards. — Poor Richard's Almanack | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Laws too gentle are seldom obeyed; too severe, seldom executed. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Leisure is the time for doing something useful. This leisure the diligent person will obtain the lazy one never. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Let me add that only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters. — 1787 | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Let me, then, not fail to praise my God continually, for it is his due, and it is all I can return for his many favors and great goodness to me; and let me resolve to be virtuous, that I may be happy, that I may please him who is delighted to see me happy.
— Articles of belief and Acts of Religion, 20 Nov. 1728 | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Life's tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Lost time is never found again. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Man will ultimately be governed by God or by tyrants. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Many a man thinks he is buying pleasure, when he is really selling himself to it. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Many foxes grow gray but few grow good. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Many people die at twenty five and aren't buried until they are seventy five. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Marriage is...the most natural state of man, and therefore the state in which you are most likely to find solid happiness.... It is the man and woman united that makes the complete human being..... man has not nearly the value he would have in the state of union. He is an incomplete animal; he resembles the odd half of a pair of scissors.
— Advice on the Choice of a Mistress, 25 Jun 1745 | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Men and melons are hard to know. — Poor Richard's Almanack | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Men are commonly complaining how hard they are forc'd to labour, only to maintain their Wives in Pomp and Idleness, yet if you go among the Women, you will learn, that they have always more Work upon their Hands than they are able to do; and that a Woman's Work is never done, &c.
— Silence Dogood Letter No. 5 (May 28, 1722) | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Mine is better than ours. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Money has never made man happy, nor will it, there is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more of it one has the more one wants. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Most people return small favors, acknowledge medium ones and repay greater ones - with ingratitude. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Much of the Strength and Efficiency of any Government in procuring and securing Happiness to the People depends on Opinion, on the general Opinion of the Goodness of that Government as well as of the Wisdom and Integrity of its Governors. I hope therefore that for our own Sakes, as a Part of the People, and for the sake of our Posterity we shall act heartity and unanimously in recommending this Constitution, wherever our Influence may extend, and turn our future Thoughts and Endeavours to the Means of having it well administred.
— Speech on Sept. 17 1787 | — Benjamin Franklin |
| 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.
— Letter to Jane Mecom (30 Dec. 1770) | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Necessity never made a good bargain. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Never confuse motion with action. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Never take a wife till thou hast a house (and a fire) to put her in. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Nine men in ten are would be suicides. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| No nation was ever ruined by trade. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Observe all men, thyself most. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| One today is worth two tomorrows. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Our necessities never equal our wants. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Rather go to bed with out dinner than to rise in debt. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Rebellion against tyrants is obedience to God. — Pennsylvania Evening Post, 14 Dec. 1775 | — Benjamin Franklin |
| 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. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Remember that credit is money. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Savages we call them because their manners differ from ours. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| She laughs at everything you say. Why? Because she has fine teeth. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Since thou are not sure of a minute, throw not away an hour. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Some people die at 25 and aren't buried until 75. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Speak ill of no man, but speak all the good you know of everybody. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Take time for all things: great haste makes great waste. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| The absent are never without fault, nor the present without excuse. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| The art of acting consists in keeping people from coughing. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| The best thing to give your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all men, charity. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| The discontented man finds no easy chair. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| The doors of wisdom are never shut. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is a knowledge of our own ignorance. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| The eye of the master will do more work than both his hands. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| The first mistake in public business is the going into it. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| The rapid progress true science now makes occasions my regretting sometimes that I was born so soon. It is impossible to imagine the height to which may be carried, in a thousand years, the power of man over matter... O that moral science were in as far a way of improvement, that men would cease to be wolves to one another, and that human beings would at length learn what they now improperly call humanity!
— Letter to Joseph Priestley (8 Feb. 1780) | — Benjamin Franklin |
| The strictest law sometimes becomes the severest injustice. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| The use of money is all the advantage there is in having it. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| The used key is always bright — Poor Richard's Almanack | — Benjamin Franklin |
| The way to see by Faith is to shut the Eye of Reason. — Poor Richard's Almanack, 1758 | — Benjamin Franklin |
| The worst wheel of the cart makes the most noise. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| There are three faithful friends - an old wife, an old dog, and ready money. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know one's self. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| There are two Passions which have a powerful Influence in the Affairs of Men. These are Ambition and Avarice; the Love of Power, and the Love of Money. Separately each of these has great Force in prompting Men to Action; but when united in View of the same Object, they have in many Minds the most violent Effect. Place before the Eyes of such Men a [Post] of Honor that shall at the same time be a Place of Profit, and they will move Heaven and Earth to obtain it.
— Convention Speech on Salaries (unpublished) June 2, 1787 | — Benjamin Franklin |
| 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. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| There is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more easily and frequently fall than that of defrauding the government. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| There is perhaps no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat id won, stifle it, mortify it, as much as one pleases, it is still alive and will ever now than then peep out and show itself...
— Autobiography (1784) | — Benjamin Franklin |
| There never was a truly great man that was not at the same time truly virtuous. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| There was never a good war, or a bad peace. — Letter to Josiah Quincy, September 11 1783 | — Benjamin Franklin |
| They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. — 1775 | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Those disputing, contradicting, and confuting people are generally unfortunate in their affairs. They get victory, sometimes, but they never get good will, which would be of more use to them. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Those that won't be counseled can't be helped. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Those who govern, having much business on their hands, do not generally like to take the trouble of considering and carrying into execution new projects. The best public measures are therefore seldom adopted from previous wisdom, but forced by the occasion. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Those who think themselves injured by their rulers are sometimes, by a mild and prudent answer, convinced of their error. But where complaining is a crime, hope becomes despair.
— Letter to Thomas Cushing (15 Feb. 1774) | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Three may keep a secret if two of them are dead. — Poor Richard's Almanack | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Time is money. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| To follow by faith alone is to follow blindly. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| To lengthen thy life, lessen thy meals. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Tomorrow, every Fault is to be amended; but that Tomorrow never comes. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools, that don't have brains enough to be honest. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Trouble springs from idleness, and grievous toil from needless ease. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Upon the whole, I conclude, that it will be impossible to lash any Vice, of which the Men are not equally guilty with the Women, and consequently deserve an equal (if not a greater) Share in the Censure. However, I exhort both to amend, where both are culpable, otherwise they may expect to be severely handled
— Silence Dogood Letter No. 5 (May 28, 1722) | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Wars are not paid for in wartime, the bill comes later. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| 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. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Wealth is not his that has it, but his that enjoys it. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Well done is better than well said. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| 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 lighthouse. — July 1757 | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| When a broad table is to be made and the edges of planks do not fit the artist takes a little from both and makes a good joint. In like manner here, both sides must part with some of their demands in order that they may join in some accommodating proposition.
— Convention debate (30 June 1787) | — Benjamin Franklin |
| When befriended, remember it; when you befriend, forget it. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| When in doubt, don't. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| When men and woman die, as poets sung, his heart's the last part moves, her last, the tongue. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| When we launch our little Fleet of Barques into the Ocean, bound to different Ports, we hope for each a prosperous Voyage; but contrary Winds, hidden Shoals, Storms and Enemies, come in for a Share in the Disposition of Events; and though those occasion a Mixture of Disappointment, yet considering the Risque where we can make no Insurance, we should think ourselves happy if some return with Success.
— On family, in a letter to Jonathan Shipley (Feb 24. 1786) | — Benjamin Franklin |
| When will mankind be convinced and agree to settle their difficulties by arbitration? | — Benjamin Franklin |
| When you're finished changing, you're finished. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Where liberty is, there is my country. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Where sense is wanting, everything is wanting. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Where there's marriage without love, there will be love without marriage. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Who had deceived thee so often as thyself? | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Who is rich? He that rejoices in his portion. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| 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. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Wine is constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Wise men don't need advice. Fools won't take it. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Without virtue, man can have no happiness in this world. — 1728 | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Words may show a man's wit but actions his meaning. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Work as if you were to live a hundred years. Pray as if you were to die tomorrow. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Would you live with ease, do what you out and not what you please.
— Poor Richard's Almanack | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Write injuries in dust, benefits in marble. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Write your injuries in dust, your benefits in marble. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| You can bear your own faults, and why not a fault in your wife? | — Benjamin Franklin |
| You may delay, but time will not. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones. | — Benjamin Franklin |
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A collection of notable quotations from a variety of Early Modern Era individuals. See the Guide for more details.
| Letter | Author | Find | Selected |
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