“Never take a wife till thou hast a house(and a fire) to put her in.”

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

“A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body.”

“Never leave till tomorrow that which you can do today.”

“Haste makes waste.”

“Were I a Roman Catholic, perhaps I should on this occasion vow to build a chapel to some saint, but as I am not, if I were to vow at all, it should be to build a light-house.[Letter to his wife, 17 July 1757, after narrowly avoiding a shipwreck; often misquoted as "Lighthouses are more helpful than churches."]”

“An undutiful daughter will prove an unmanageable wife.”