Quotes By Benjamin Franklin

Nothing preaches better than the act.

A penny saved is two pence clear, A pin a day's a groat a year.

If you'ld have a servant that you like, serve yourself.

Grace thou thy house and let not that grace thee.

Be not niggardly of what costs thee nothing, as courtesy, counsel and countenance.

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

I believe in one God, the creator of the universe. That he governs it by his Providence. That he ought to be worshipped. That the most acceptable service we can render to him is doing good to his other children.

If we do not hang together, we will all hang separately.

I fear the man who drinks water and so remembers this morning what the rest of us said last night.

Proclaim not all thou knowest, all thou owest, all thou hast, nor all thou can'st.

Hear reason or she will make you feel her.

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

Where there is Hunger, Law is not regarded; and where Law is not regarded, there will be Hunger.

Many have quarreled about religion that never practised it.

An open foe may prove a curse but a pretended friend is worse.

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

Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you'll understand what little chance you have in trying to change others.

Observe all men; thyself most.

Love your enemies; for they shall tell you all your faults.

The rule is simple: Be sober and temperate, and you will be healthy.

Philosophy as well as foppery often changes fashion.

He that blows the coals in quarrels that he has nothing to do with, has no right to complain if the sparks fly in his face.

Don't halloo until you're out of the wood.

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

A quarrelsome man has no good neighbours.

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

If passion drives, let reason hold the reins.

After crosses and losses, men grow humbler and wiser.

Be neither silly, nor cunning, but wise.

Virtue and happiness are mother and daughter.

Taxes on consumption, like those on capital or income, to be just, must be uniform.

The busy man has few idle visitors; to the boiling pot, the flies come not.

For every minute spent organizing, an hour is earned.

Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of filling a vacuum, it makes one.

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

Where liberty dwells there is my country.

If we do do not hang together then we will surely hang separately.

He that's content has enough. He that complains hath too much.

It is wise not to seek a secret and honest not to reveal it.

We do not stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing.

Wealth is nothing more or less than a tool to do things with. It is like the fuel that runs the furnace or the belt that runs the wheel only a means to an end.

Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.

One man may be more cunning than another, but not more cunning than everybody else.

Neglect kills injuries, revenge increases them.

Tart Words make no Friends: a spoonful of honey will catch more flies than Gallon of Vinegar.

What signifies knowing the names, if you know not the natures of things.

Wise men learn by others' harms; fools by their own.

That as soon as a party has gained its general point, each member becomes intent upon his particular interest; which, thwarting others, breaks that party into divisions and occasions more confusion.

The sting of a reproach is the truth of it.

Pay what you owe and what you're worth you'll know.

Avoid dishonest gain: no price can recompence the pangs of vice.

Bad gains are true losses.

A man 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.

Cunning proceeds from lack of capacity.

Bacon is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.

Friendship increases by visiting friends but visiting seldom.

A true friend is the best Possession.

Wine is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.

Danger is sauce for prayers.

Oh the wonderful knowledge to be found in the stars. Even the smallest things are written there ... if you had but skill to read.

Keep Conscience clear, then never fear.

Youth is pert and positive, Age modest and doubting: So Ears of Corn when young and light, stand bolt upright, but hang their Heads when weighty, full, and ripe.

Indeed, when religious people quarrel about religion, or hungry people quarrel about victuals, it looks as if they had not much of either among them.

I have thought that wild flowers might be the alphabet of angels, -- whereby they write on hills and fields mysterious truths, which it is not given our fallen nature to understand.

It might be judged an affront to your understanding should I go about to prove this first principle; the existence of a Diety and that He is the Creator of the universe, for that would suppose you ignorant of what all mankind in all ages have agreed in.

An assembly of great men is the greatest fool upon earth.

Avarice and Happiness never saw each other, how then should they become acquainted?

Be ashamed to catch yourself idle.

He is not well bred, that cannot bear ill breeding in others.

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

Hold your Council before Dinner; the full Belly hates Thinking as well as Acting.

A full Belly is the Mother of all Evil.

If you wou'd have Guests merry with your cheer, Be so your self, or so at least appear.

One Man may be more cunning than another, but not more cunning than every body else.

Cold and cunning come from the north: But cunning sans wisdom is nothing worth.

He that drinks his cider alone, let him catch his horse alone.

I consent Sir, to this Constitution because I expect no better, and because I am not sure, that it is not the best.

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.

He's gone, and forgot nothing but to say farewell to his creditors.

Despair ruins some, presumption many.

Cowards can handle Arms, can strike where they are sure to meet with no Return, can wound, mangle and murder; but it belongs to brave Men to spare, and to protect.

Would you live with ease, Do what you ought, and not what you please.

Let thy discontents be thy secrets; if the world knows them 'twill despise thee and increase them.

The most acceptable service of God is doing good to man.

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

Either write something worth reading, or do something worth writing.

Electrical matter differs from common matter in this, that the parts of the latter mutually attract, those of the former mutually repel each other.

In going on with these Experiments, how many pretty systems do we build, which we soon find ourselves oblig'd to destroy! If there is no other Use discover'd of Electricity, this, however, is something considerable, that it may help to make a vain Man humble.

Those who are content have enough; those that complain, have too much.

It is observable that God has often called men to places of dignity and honor when they have been busy in the honest employment of their vocation.

He that lives upon hope will die farting.

The best of all medicines are resting and fasting.

Time is the stuff life is made of.

No employment can be managed without arithmetic, no mechanical invention without geometry.

Beware of meat twice boiled, and an old foe reconciled.

As sore places meet most rubs, proud folks meet most affronts.

Constant complaint is the poorest sort of pay for all the comforts we enjoy.

Virtue alone is sufficient to make a man great, glorious, and happy.

No man ever was glorious, who was not laborious.

Carelessness does more harm than a want of knowledge.