Politician · American · 1706 – 1790 · 199 quotes
All wars are follies, very expensive and very mischievous ones.
Benjamin Franklin
Politician · American · 1706 – 1790
Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do.
Laws too gentle are seldom obeyed; too severe, seldom executed.
Distrust and caution are the parents of security.
If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.
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.
Even peace may be purchased at too high a price.
He that can have patience can have what he will.
Wise men don't need advice. Fools won't take it.
When you're finished changing, you're finished.
Since thou are not sure of a minute, throw not away an hour.
Savages we call them because their manners differ from ours.
Rebellion against tyrants is obedience to God.
Where sense is wanting, everything is wanting.
To Follow by faith alone is to follow blindly.
He does not possess wealth; it possesses him.
If you would be loved, love, and be loveable.
Who is rich? He that rejoices in his portion.
A good conscience is a continual Christmas.
Write injuries in dust, benefits in marble.
Wars are not paid for in wartime, the bill comes later.
I saw few die of hunger; of eating, a hundred thousand.
The discontented man finds no easy chair.
Hear reason, or she'll make you feel her.
He that lives upon hope will die fasting.
Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.
Rather go to bed with out dinner than to rise in debt.
He that waits upon fortune, is never sure of a dinner.
It is easier to prevent bad habits than to break them.
Admiration is the daughter of ignorance.
Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.
Eat to please thyself, but dress to please others.
By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.
Some people die at 25 and aren't buried until 75.
The worst wheel of the cart makes the most noise.
Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead.
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.
A place for everything, everything in its place.
Those that won't be counseled can't be helped.
Creditors have better memories than debtors.
He that won't be counseled can't be helped.
Who had deceived thee so often as thyself?
Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame.
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.
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.
Where liberty is, there is my country.
Games lubricate the body and the mind.
God helps those who help themselves.
