Benjamin Franklin

“They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.—written for the Pennsylvania Assembly in its Reply to the Governor, 11 November 1755”

“Keep thy eyes wide open before marriage and half shut afterward.”

“I am captivated more by dreams of the future then history of the past.”

“There never was a good war or a bad peace.”

“After crosses and losses men grow humbler and wiser.”

“Motivation is when your dreams put on work clothes”

“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”

“Your net worth to theworld is usually determined by whatremains after your bad habits aresubtracted from your good ones”

“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. - Ben Franklin”

“Nothing brings more pain than too much pleasure; nothing more bondage than too much liberty.”

“A small leak will sink a great ship.”

“Tis hard for an empty bag to stand upright.”

“He that composes himself is wiser than he that composes books.”

“A little neglect may breed mischief; for want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want a horse the rider was lost; for want of the rider the battle was lost.”

“Tart words make no friends; a spoonful of honey will catch more flies than a gallon of vinegar.”

“Don't throw stones at your neighbors', if your own windows are glass.”

“If you would know the worth of money, go and try to borrow some.”

“A mob's a monster; heads enough but no brains.”

“Don't count your chickens before they are hatched.”

“He that cannot obey cannot command.”

“He that lies down with dogs shall rise up with fleas.”

“Now I have a sheep and cow, everybody bids me good morrow.”

“The rotten apple spoils his companions.”

“Honesty is the best policy.”

“No gains without pains.”

“A rolling stone gathers no moss.”

“He that won't be counseled, can't be helped.”

“Necessity never made a good bargain.”

“If your head is made of wax, don't walk in the sun.”

“Chess teaches foresight, by having to plan ahead; vigilance, by having to keep watch over the whole chess board; caution, by having to restrain ourselves from making hasty moves; and finally, we learn from chess the greatest maxim in life - that even when everything seems to be going badly for us we should not lose heart, but always hoping for a change for the better, steadfastly continue searching for the solutions to our problems.”

“We stand at the crossroads, each minute, each hour, each day, making choices. We choose the thoughts we allow ourselves to think, the passions we allow ourselves to feel, and the actions we allow ourselves to perform. Each choice is made in the context of whatever value system we have selected to govern our lives. In selecting that value system, we are, in a very real way, making the most important choice we will ever make.Those who believe there is one God who made all things and who governs the world by this providence will make many choices different from those who do not. Those who hold in reverence that being who gave them life and worship Him through adoration, prayer, and thanksgiving will make choices different from those who do not. Those who believe that mankind are all of a family and that the most acceptable service of God is doing good to man will make many choices different from those who do not. Those who believe in a future state in which all that is wrong here will be made right will make many choices different from those who do not. Those who subscribe to the morals of Jesus will make many choices different from those who do not.Since the foundation of all happiness is thinking rightly, and since correct action is dependent on correct opinion, we cannot be too careful in choosing the value system we allow to govern our thoughts and actions.And to know that God governs in the affairs of men, that He hears and answers prayers, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him, is, indeed, a powerful regulator of human conduct.”

“A friend in need is a friend indeed!”

“Diplomacy is seduction in another guise, Mr. Adams. One improves with practice.”

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

“There are no fools so troublesome as those that have wit.”

“To err is human, to repent divine; to persist devilish.”

“The cat in gloves catches no mice.”

“What condition of man most deserves pity?" - Franklin offered: "A lonesome man on a rainy day who does not know how to read.”

“Half a truth is often a great lie”

“Proclaim not all thou knowest, all thou owest, all thou hast, nor all thou canst.”

“... a book indeed sometimes debauched me from my work....”

“I am apprehensive, therefore - perhaps too apprehensive - that the Government of these States may in futures times end in a monarchy. But this catastrophe, I think, may be long delayed, if in our proposed system we do not sow the seeds of contention, faction, and tumult, by making our posts of honor places of profit.”

“Wise men don't need advice. Fools won't take it.”

“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.”

“I do not find that I grow any older. Being arrived at seventy, and considering that by traveling further in the same road I should probably be led to the grave, I stopped short, turned about, and walked back again; which having done these four years, you may now call me sixty-six. Advise those old friends of ours to follow my example; keep up your spirits, and that will keep up your bodies.”

“All the property that is necessary to a man for the conservation of the individual and his propagation of the species is his natural right, which none can justly deprive him of; but all property superfluous to such purposes is the property of the public, who by their laws have created it, and who may therefore by other laws dispose of it, whenever the welfare of the public shall demand such disposition. He that does not like civil society on these terms, let him retire and live among savages.”

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

“We must all hang together or we shall most assuredly all hang separately.”

“For the want of a nail the shoe was lost,For the want of a shoe the horse was lost,For the want of a horse the rider was lost,For the want of a rider the battle was lost,For the want of a battle the kingdom was lost,And all for the want of a horseshoe-nail.”

“A perfect character might be attended with the inconvenience of being envied and hated; and that a benevolent man should allow a few faults in himself, to keep his friends in countenance.”