Inspirational Quotations by Benjamin Franklin
- When friends are in trouble, don't bother them
by asking if there is anything you can do.
Think of something appropriate and do it.
- If you do not want to be forgotten,
When you are dead and rotting,
Either write things worth reading,
Or do things worth the writing.
- Well done is better than well said.
- Lost time is never found again.
- Remember that time is money.
- To lengthen thy life, lessen thy meals.
- What you seem to be, be really.
- Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame.
- Speak little, do much.
- Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.
- 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.
- Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.
- The world is full of fools and faint hearts; and yet everyone has courage enough to bear the misfortunes, and wisdom enough to manage the affairs, of his neighbor.
- He that hath a trade hath an estate and he that hath a calling hath an office of profit and honor.
- Hunger never saw bad bread.
- Fools make feasts and wise men eat 'em.
- The poor have little, beggars none, the rich too much, enough not one.
- Distrust & caution are the parents of security.
- Whate'er's begun in anger ends in shame.
- Fools multiply folly.
- Better slip with foot than tongue.
- Be neither silly, nor cunning, but wise.
- Would you persuade, speak of Interest, not of Reason.
- He that is rich need not live sparingly, and he that can live sparingly need not be rich.
- He that waits upon Fortune, is never sure of a Dinner.
- Avarice and Happiness never saw each other, how then shou'd they become acquainted.
- Approve not of him who commends all you say.
- By diligence and patience, the mouse bit in two the cable.
- Necessity never made a good bargain.
- Be slow in chusing a Friend, slower in changing.
- Humility makes great men twice honourable.
- Poverty wants some things, Luxury many things, Avarice all things.
- Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.
- The Sun never repents of the good he does, nor does he ever demand a recompence.
- Fish & Visitors stink in 3 days.
- Diligence is the mother of Good-Luck.
- He that lives upon Hope, dies fasting.
- Do not do what you would not have known.
- Wealth is not his that has it, but his that enjoys it.
- God helps them that help themselves.
- Don't throw stones at your neighbours, if your own windows are glass.
- If you desire many things, many things will seem but a few.
- He that can compose himself, is wiser than he that composes books.
- Well done is better than well said.
- The worst wheel of the cart makes the most noise.
- Tell a miser he's rich, and a woman she's old, you'll get no money of one, nor kindness of t'other.
- Don't go to the doctor with every distemper, nor to the lawyer with every quarrel, nor to the pot for every thirst.
- The noblest question in the world is, What Good may I do in it?
- Who has deceiv'd thee so oft as thy self?
- Wish not so much to live long as to live well.
- Reading makes a full Man, Meditation a profound Man, discourse a clear Man.
- Wink at small faults; remember thou hast great ones.
- Eat to please thyself, but dress to please others.
- Search others for their virtues, thy self for thy vices.
- Pay what you owe, and you'll know what's your own.
- Beware of him that is slow to anger: He is angry for some thing, and will not be pleased for nothing.
- Proclaim not all thou knowest, all thou owest, all thou hast, nor all thou canst.
- Sin is not hurtful because it is forbidden but it is forbidden because it's hurtful.
- An empty bag will not stand upright.
- There are lazy Minds as well as lazy Bodies.
- Observe all men; thy self most.
- Fear to do ill, and you need fear naught else.
- Employ thy time well, if thou meanest to gain leisure.
- They who have nothing to be troubled at, will be troubled at nothing.
- If you would keep your Secret from an enemy, tell it not to a friend.
- Have you somewhat to do tomorrow; do it today.
- He that sows thorns, should not go barefoot.
- He that riseth late, must trot all day, and shall scarce overtake his business at night.
- To err is human, to repent divine, to persist devilish.
- Experience keeps a dear school, yet Fools will learn in no other.
- How many observe Christ's Birth-day! How few, his Precepts! O! 'tis easier to keep Holidays than Commandments.
- Who is strong? He that can conquer his bad Habits.
- The Things which hurt, instruct.
- Beware of little Expences, a small Leak will sink a great Ship.
- He's a Fool that cannot conceal his Wisdom.
- No gains without pains.
- An ounce of wit that is bought, Is worth a pound that is taught.
- When the Well's dry, we know the Worth of Water.
- A quarrelsome Man has no good Neighbors.
- Dost thou love Life? then do not squander Time; for that's the Stuff Life is made of.
- Want of Care does us more Damage than Want of Knowledge.
- The Sting of a Reproach, is the Truth of it.
- Better is a little with content than much with contention.
- What signifies your Patience, if you can't find it when you want it.
- Time enough, always proves little enough.
- Lost Time is never found again.
- When you're good to others, you are best to yourself.
- Having been poor is no shame, but being ashamed of it, is.
- Hunger is the best Pickle.
- Genius without education is like silver in the mine.
- Glass, China, and Reputation, are easily crack'd, and never well mended.
- The Proud hate Pride – in others.
- A Temper to bear much, will have much to bear.
- If Man could have Half his Wishes, he would double his Troubles.
- A great Talker may be no Fool, but he is one that relies on him.
- Haste makes Waste.
- Anger is never without a Reason, but seldom with a good One.
- If you'd know the Value of Money, go and borrow some.
- You may give a Man an Office, but you cannot give him Discretion.
- Speak little, do much.
- Think of three Things, whence you came, where you are going, and to whom you must account.
- The Wolf sheds his Coat once a Year, his Disposition never.
- Diligence overcomes Difficulties, Sloth makes them.
- Love your Enemies, for they tell you your Faults.
- Love, and be loved.
- To-morrow, every fault is to be amended; but that To-morrow never comes.
- Plough deep, while Sluggards sleep; And you shall have Corn, to sell and to keep.
- Tell me my Faults, and mend your own. Men take more pains to mask than mend.
- Work as if you were to live 100 years, Pray as if you were to die To-morrow.
- They that won't be counselled, can't be helped.
- Silence is not always a Sign of Wisdom, but Babbling is ever a Mark of Folly.
- Virtue may not always make a Face handsome, but Vice will certainly make it ugly.
- He that's content, hath enough; He that complains, has too much.
- Half the Truth is often a great Lie.