Benjamin Franklin
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"Benjamin Franklin" Royal Society/FRS was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and in many ways was "the First American". A renowned polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, List of political philosophers/political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. As an inventor, he is known for the lightning rod, bifocals, and the Franklin stove, among other inventions. He facilitated many civic organizations, including Philadelphia's fire department and a university.

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If you know how to spend less than you get, you have the philosopher's stone.

Energy and persistence conquer all things.

Content makes poor men rich; discontentment makes rich men poor.

We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.

It is the working man who is the happy man. It is the idle man who is the miserable man.

In rivers and bad governments, the lightest things swim at the top.

A democracy is two wolves and a small lamb voting on what to have for dinner. Freedom under a constitutional republic is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.

Be slow in choosing a friend, slower in changing.

The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason.

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

To Follow by faith alone is to follow blindly.

To be proud of virtue is to poison oneself with the antidote.

So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do.

He that would live in peace and at ease, must not speak all he knows nor judge all he sees.

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

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

All human situations have their inconveniences. We feel those of the present but neither see nor feel those of the future; and hence we often make troublesome changes without amendment, and frequently for the worse.

God heals, and the doctor takes the fees.

Fish and visitors smell in three days.

He is a fool that cannot conceal his wisdom.

He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.

Search others for their virtues, thyself for thy vices.

To lengthen thy life, lessen thy meals.

Creditors have better memories than debtors.

Old boys have their playthings as well as young ones; the difference is only in the price.

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

Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.

There is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more easily and frequently fall than that of defrauding the government.

When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic. Sell not liberty to purchase power.

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

An investment in knowledge still yields the best returns.

We must hang together, gentlemen...else, we shall most assuredly hang separately.

Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Distrust and caution are the parents of security.

The strictest law sometimes becomes the severest injustice.

God heals, and the doctor takes the fee.

Dost thou love life? Than do not squander time, for it is the stuff life is made of.

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

A countryman between two lawyers is like a fish between two cats.

A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over.

All would live long, but none would be old.

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

He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money.

Employ thy time well, if thou meanest to get leisure.

I believe I shall,in some shape or other,always exist; and, with all the inconveniences human life is liable to, I shall not object to a new edition of mine, hoping, however, that the errata of the last may be corrected.

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

If you would be wealthy, think of saving as well as getting.

Our critics are our friends; they show us our faults.

He that can have patience can have what he will.

I didn't fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong.

Who is wise? He that learns from every One. Who is powerful? He that governs his Passions. Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody.

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

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

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

Think what you do when you run into debt; you give another power over your liberty.

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

He is ill clothed that is bare of virtue.

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

Hide not your talents, they for use were made. What's a sun-dial in the shade?

He who multiplies riches multiplies cares.

Five thousand balloons, capable of raising two men each, could not cost more than five ships of the line; and where is the prince who can afford so to cover his country with troops for its defense as that 10,000 men descending from the clouds might not in many places do an infinite deal of mischief before a force could be brought together to repel them?

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.

By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.

At 20 years of age the will reigns, at 30 the wit, at 40 the judgment.

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.

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

Glass, china, and reputation are easily cracked, and never well mended.

If you wouldst live long, live well, for folly and wickedness shorten life.

If your head is wax, don't walk in the sun.

I am in the prime of senility.

To be thrown upon one's own resources, is to be cast into the very lap of fortune; for our faculties then undergo a development and display an energy of which they were previously unsusceptible.

He that displays too often his wife and his wallet is in danger of having both of them borrowed.

Take it from Richard, poor and lame, what's begun in anger ends in shame.

We'll either hang together or we'll hang separately.

Necessity never made a good bargain.

Early morning hath gold in its mouth.

The absent are never without fault, nor the present without excuse.

If you would persuade, you must appeal to interest rather than intellect.

Three people can keep a secret so long as two of them are dead.

How many observe Christ's birthday! How few, his precepts! O! 'tis easier to keep Holidays than Commandments.

Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody.

He that falls in love with himself will have no rivals.

Pride breakfasted with plenty, dined with poverty, and supped with infamy.

Well done is better than well said.

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

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

If you would be loved, love and be lovable.

If you would know the value of money, go try to borrow some; for he that goes a-borrowing goes a-sorrowing.

A penny saved is a penny earned.

Genius without education is like silver in the mine.

Drive thy business or it will drive thee.

He that lives upon hope will die fasting.

Lost time is never found again.

Rules too soft are seldomly followed; rules too harsh are seldomly executed.

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

God grant that not only the love of liberty but a thorough knowledge of the rights of man may pervade all the nations of the earth, so that a philosopher may set his foot anywhere on its surface and say: 'This is my country.'

Tell me....And I Forget, Teach me.....And I Learn, Involve Me.....And I Remember.

He that is good at making excuses is seldom good at anything else.

Anger is never without Reason, but seldom with a good One.

He that blows the coals in quarrels that he has nothing to do with, has no right to complain if the sparks fly in his face.

Whoever feels pain in hearing a good character of his neighbor, will feel a pleasure in the reverse. And those who despair to rise in distinction by their virtues, are happy if others can be depressed to a level of themselves.

Life's tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.

For the want of a nail, the shoe was lose; for the want of a shoe the horse was lose; and for the want of a horse the rider was lost, being overtaken and slain by the enemy, all for the want of care about a horseshoe nail.

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

Experience is a dear teacher, but fools will learn at no other.

You may delay, but time will not.

All cats are gray in the dark.

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!

Wish not so much to live long as to live well.

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of.

Write injuries in dust, benefits in marble.

Beware of the young doctor and the old barber.

I cannot conceive otherwise than that He, the Infinite Father, expects or requires no worship or praise from us, but that He is even infinitely above it.

Read much, but not many books.

Having been poor is no shame, but being ashamed of it, is.

To the generous mind the heaviest debt is that of gratitude, when it is not in our power to repay it.

Passion governs, and she never governs wisely.

If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.

We must indeed all hang together, or, most assuredly, we shall hang separately.

Where sense is wanting, everything is wanting.

A good conscience is a continual Christmas.