Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is
made of.
-- Benjamin Franklin
Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is
made of.
-- Benjamin Franklin
God helps them that themselves.
-- Benjamin Franklin, "Poor Richard's Almanac"
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759
The grand leap of the whale up the Fall of Niagara is esteemed, by all
who have seen it, as one of the finest spectacles in nature.
-- Benjamin Franklin.
There was never a good war or a bad peace.
-- Benjamin Franklin
There was never a good war or a bad peace.
-- Benjamin Franklin
In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.
-- Benjamin Franklin
In this world, nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes.
-- Benjamin Franklin
The grand leap of the whale up the Fall of Niagara is esteemed, by all
who have seen it, as one of the finest spectacles in nature.
-- Benjamin Franklin.
To err is human, to repent, divine, to persist, devilish.
-- Benjamin Franklin
Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.
-- Benjamin Franklin
He that teaches himself has a fool for a master.
-- Benjamin Franklin
“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
-- Benjamin Franklin, 1759
“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
-- Benjamin Franklin, 1759
An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.
-- Benjamin Franklin
“We must all hang together, or we will surely all hang separately”
- Benjamin Franklin
Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.
-- Benjamin Franklin
I made it a rule to forbear all direct contradictions to the sentiments of
others, and all positive assertion of my own. I even forbade myself the use
of every word or expression in the language that imported a fixed opinion,
such as "certainly", "undoubtedly", etc. I adopted instead of them "I
conceive", "I apprehend", or "I imagine" a thing to be so or so; or "so it
appears to me at present".
When another asserted something that I thought an error, I denied myself the
pleasure of contradicting him abruptly, and of showing him immediately some
absurdity in his proposition. In answering I began by observing that in
certain cases or circumstances his opinion would be right, but in the present
case there appeared or semed to me some difference, etc.
I soon found the advantage of this change in my manner; the conversations I
engaged in went on more pleasantly. The modest way in which I proposed my
opinions procured them a readier reception and less contradiction. I had
less mortification when I was found to be in the wrong, and I more easily
prevailed with others to give up their mistakes and join with me when I
happened to be in the right.
-- Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Poverty often deprives a man of all spirit and virtue. It is hard for an empty
bag to stand upright.
-- Benjamin Franklin
An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.
-- Benjamin Franklin
In this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes.
-- Benjamin Franklin
I made it a rule to forbear all direct contradictions to the sentiments
of others, and all positive assertion of my own. I even forbade myself the use
of every word or expression in the language that imported a fixed opinion, such
as “certainly", "undoubtedly", etc. I adopted instead of them "I conceive”,
"I apprehend", or "I imagine" a thing to be so or so; or "so it appears to me
at present".
When another asserted something that I thought an error, I denied
myself the pleasure of contradicting him abruptly, and of showing him
immediately some absurdity in his proposition. In answering I began by
observing that in certain cases or circumstances his opinion would be right,
but in the present case there appeared or semed to me some difference, etc.
I soon found the advantage of this change in my manner; the
conversations I engaged in went on more pleasantly. The modest way in which I
proposed my opinions procured them a readier reception and less contradiction.
I had less mortification when I was found to be in the wrong, and I more easily
prevailed with others to give up their mistakes and join with me when I
happened to be in the right.
-- Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
All governments are more or less combinations against the
people. . .and as rulers have no more virtue than the ruled. . .
the power of government can only be kept within its constituted
bounds by the display of a power equal to itself, the collected
sentiment of the people.
-- Benjamin Franklin Bache, in a Phildelphia Aurora editorial 1794
People will accept your ideas much more readily if you tell them that
Benjamin Franklin said it first.
Benjamin Franklin invented Daylight Savings Time.
Let thy maid servant be faithful, strong, and homely.
-- Benjamin Franklin
To find out a girl's faults, praise her to her girl friends.
-- Benjamin Franklin
Eat to please thyself, but dress to please others.
-- Benjamin Franklin
The oldest person to sign the Constitution was Benjamin Franklin (81). The youngest was Jonathan Dayton of New Jersey (26).
Because of his poor health, Benjamin Franklin needed help to sign the Constitution. As he did so, tears streamed down his face.