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Benjamin Franklin Quotes: 36

  • He that lives upon hope will die fasting.

  • 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.

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

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

    Poor Richard's Almanack
  • They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

    Memoirs of the life & writings of Benjamin Franklin
  • Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.

  • If you would be loved, love, and be loveable.

  • He that can have patience can have what he will.

  • A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned

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

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

  • 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.

  • Be slow in choosing a friend, slower in changing.

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

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

  • Well done is better than well said.

  • Lost Time is never found again.

    Poor Richard's Almanack
  • Instead of cursing the darkness, light a candle.

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

  • An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.

    The Way to Wealth: Ben Franklin on Money and Success
  • The person who deserves most pity is a lonesome one on a rainy day who doesn't know how to read.

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

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

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

  • 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."]

    Memoirs of the Life and Writings of 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.

  • An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

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

    Poor Richard's Almanack
  • Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.

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

  • The way to wealth is as plain as the way to market. It depends chiefly on two words, industry and frugality: that is, waste neither time nor money, but make the best use of both. Without industry and frugality nothing will do, and with them everything.

  • The best way to see Faith is to shut the eye of Reason.

  • The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is a knowledge of our own ignorance.

  • One today is worth two tomorrows.

  • Games lubricate the body and mind.