Benjamin Franklin
(1706-1790)

American Founding Father

birthdate: January 17
birthplace:
Boston, Massachusetts

QUOTES

DIALOGUE
Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.

ELDERS
Those who love deeply never grow old; they may die of old age, but they die young.

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

Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out.

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

"A nation of well informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins."

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

LIVING A LIFE OF COMPASSION
As we must account for every idle word, so must we account for every idle silence.

Doing nothing for others is the undoing of ourselves.

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

Be civil to all; sociable to many; familiar with few; friend to one; enemy to none.

Each year one vicious habit discarded, in time might make the worst of us good.

It is easier to prevent bad habits than to break them.

Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.

Well done is better than well said.

LOVE
If you would be loved, love and be lovable.

MEANING OF LIFE
"Hide not your talents, they for use were made."

Do not squander time for that is the stuff life is made of.

NO MORE WAR
There never was a good war or bad peace.

All wars are follies, very expensive and very mischievous ones.

PEACE
Even peace may be purchased at too high a price.

TRUTH
Honesty is the best policy.

VEGETARIAN
My refusing to eat flesh occasioned an inconveniency, and I was frequently chided for my singularity, but, with this lighter repast, I made the greater progress, for greater clearness of head and quicker comprehension.

WATER
"When the well is dry, we learn the worth of water"

WIN-WIN
When will mankind be convinced and agree to settle their difficulties by arbitration?

MORE WISDOM
For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions, even on important subjects, which I once thought right but found to be otherwise.

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

Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame.

 

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