Benjamin Franklin Ss Quotations

I made the greater progress, from that clearness of head and quicker apprehension which generally attend temperance in eating and drinking.

The colonies would gladly have borne the little tax on tea and other matters had it not been that England took away from the colonies their money, which created unemployment and dissatisfaction. The inability of the colonists to get power to issue their own money permanently out of the hands of George III was the prime reason for the Revolutionary War.

Every pot must sit on its own bottom.

After crosses and losses men grow humbler and wiser.

Content makes poor men rich; discontent makes rich men poor.

It is a strange anomaly that men could be careful to insure their houses, their ships, their merchandise, and yet neglect to insure their lives - surely the most important of all to their families, and more subject to loss.

By playing at Chess then, we may learn: First: Foresight... Second: Circumspection... Third: Caution...And lastly, we learn by Chess the habit of not being discouraged by present bad appearances in the state of our affairs, the habit of hoping for a favorable chance, and that of persevering in the secrets of resources

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

Applause waits on success.

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

He that rises late must trot all day.

Creditors have better memories than debtors.

Diligence is the mother of good luck.

Anger is never without a reason, but seldom with a good one.

Energy and persistence conquer all things.

Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.

Sloth makes all things difficult, but industry all things easy.

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

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

Eat what you like, but dress for other people.

Masonic labor is purely a labor of love. He who seeks to draw Masonic wages in gold and silver will be disappointed. The wages of a Mason are in the dealings with one another; sympathy begets sympathy, kindness begets kindness, helpfulness begets helpfulness, and these are the wages of a Mason.

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

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

Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship.

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

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

Let the child's first lesson be obedience, and the second will be what thou wilt.

My refusing to eat meat occasioned inconveniency, and I have been frequently chided for my singularity. But my light repast allows for greater progress, for greater clearness of head and quicker comprehension.

Industry pays debts, while despair increases them.

Wink at small faults; remember thou hast great ones.

Chess is so interesting in itself, as not to need the view of gain to induce engaging in it; and thence it is never played for money

Life is a kind of Chess, with struggle, competition, good and ill events.

They that will not be counseled, cannot be helped. If you do not hear reason she will rap you on the knuckles.

Among the numerous luxuries of the table...coffee may be considered as one of the most valuable. It excites cheerfulness without intoxication; and the pleasing flow of spirits which it occasions...is never followed by sadness, languor or debility.

Eat not to dullness, drink not to elevation.

Drive thy business or it will drive thee.

By heaven we understand a state of happiness infinite in degree, and endless in duration.

Happiness consists more in small conveniences or pleasures that occur every day, than in great pieces of good fortune that happen but seldom to a man in the course of his life.

I was surprised to find myself so much fuller of Faults than I had imagined, but I had the Satisfaction of seeing them diminish.

We are not so sensible of the greatest Health as of the least Sickness.

A man in a passion, rides a mad horse.

There will be sleeping enough in the grave.

Little strokes fell great oaks.

Sloth makes all things difficult, but industry all easy; and he that riseth late must trot all day, and shall scarce overtake his business at night; while laziness travels so slowly, that poverty soon overtakes him.

You will find the key to success under the alarm clock.

If everyone is thinking alike, then no one is thinking.

Instead of cursing the darkness, light a candle.

Glass, China, and Reputation, are easily cracked, and never well mended.

Reckless youth makes rueful age.

Who is strong? He that can conquer his bad habits.

Drive your business. Let not your business drive you.

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

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.

A place for everything, everything in its place.

Well done is better than well said.

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

The best of all medicines is resting and fasting

The borrower is slave to the lender and the debtor to the creditor.

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.

God helps them that help themselves.

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.

A good conscience is a continual Christmas.

The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself.

That is simple. In the Colonies we issue our own money. It is called Colonial Scrip. We issue it in proper proportion to the demands of trade and industry to make the products pass easily from the producers to the consumers. In this manner creating for ourselves our own paper money, we control its purchasing power, and we have no interest to pay.

No nation was ever ruined by trade.

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

The best thing to give to 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 others, charity.

People are best convinced by things they themselves discover.

If you wouldn't live long, live well; for folly and wickedness shorten life.

On the whole, though I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it, yet as I was, by the endeavor, a better and a happier man than I otherwise should have been had I not attempted it

In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive, and will every now and then peep out and show itself; you will see it, perhaps, often in this history; for, even if I could conceive that I had compleatly overcome it, I should probably be proud of my humility.

The first mistake in public business is the going into it.

It is much easier to suppress a first desire than to satisfy those that follow.

Eat to please thyself, but dress to please others.

I guess I don't so much mind being old, as I mind being fat and old.

God helps those who help themselves.

The pleasures of this world are rather from God's goodness than our own merit.

Change is the only constant in life. Ones ability to adapt to those changes will determine your success in life.

Two passions have powerful influence on the affairs of men: the love of power and the love of money.

Life is a kind of chess.

Trouble Springs From Idleness.

Let our Fathers and Grandfathers be valued for their Goodness, ourselves for our own.

Bad gains are true losses.

In New England they once thought blackbirds useless, and mischievous to the corn. They made efforts to destroy them. The consequence was, the blackbirds were diminished; but a kind of worm, which devoured their grass, and which the blackbirds used to feed on, increased prodigiously; then, finding their loss in grass much greater than their saving in corn, they wished again for their blackbirds.

We believe that there is one economic lesson which our twentieth century experience has demonstrated conclusively-that America can no more survive and grow without big business than it can survive and grow without small business.... the two are interdependent. You cannot strengthen one by weakening the other, and you cannot add to the stature of a dwarf by cutting off the legs of a giant.

Rarely use Venery but for Health or Offspring; Never to Dulness, Weakness, or the Injury of your own or another's Peace or Reputation.

If the elbow had been placed closer to the hand, the forearm would have been too short to bring the glass to the mouth; and if it had been closer to the shoulder, the forearm would have been so long that it would have carried the glass beyond the mouth.

Covetousness is ever attended with solicitude and anxiety.

In success be moderate.

Passion governs, and she never governs wisely.

A temperate Diet frees from Diseases; such are seldom ill, but if they are surprised with Sickness, they bear it better, and recover sooner; for most Distempers have their Original from Repletion.

Thirteen virtues necessary for true success: temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, and humility.

Fond pride of dress is sure a very curse

Idleness is the Dead Sea that swallows all virtues

As to the kindness you mention, I wish I could have been of more service to you than I have been, but if I had, the only thanks that I should desire are that you would always be ready to serve any other person that may need your assistance, and so let good offices go around, for humankind are all of a family. As for my own part, when I am employed in serving others I do not look upon myself as conferring favors but paying debts.

Success has ruined many a man.

Idleness is the Dead Sea that swallows all virtues. Be active in business, that temptation may miss her aim; the bird that sits is easily shot.

When passion rules, she never rules wisely.

Let every one ascertain his special business and calling, and then stick to it if he wants to be successful.

We are a kind of posterity in respect to them.