Benjamin Franklin Quotes

If everyone is thinking alike, then no one is thinking.

Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.

I never knew a man who was good at making excuses who was good at anything else.

God heals, and the doctor takes the fees.

He who would trade liberty for some temporary security, deserves neither liberty nor security.

Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.

Motivation is when your dreams put on work clothes.

There are three faithful friends an old wife, an old dog, and ready money.

Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools, that don't have brains enough to be honest.

Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither.

Little minds think and talk about people.

Average minds think and talk about things and actions. Great minds think and talk about ideas.

Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do.

Wine is constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy.

In free governments the rulers are the servants, and the people their superiors and sovereigns.

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

To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions.

Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature.

Security without liberty is called prison.

Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing about.

Well done is better than well said.

Masonic labor is purely a labor of love.

He who seeks to draw Masonic wages in gold and silver will be disappointed. The wages of a Mason are in the dealings with one another; sympathy begets sympathy, kindness begets kindness, helpfulness begets helpfulness, and these are the wages of a Mason.

Most men die from the neck up at age twenty-five because they stop dreaming.

Lost time is never found again.

Happiness depends more on the inward disposition of mind than on outward circumstances.

It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.

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

He that can have patience can have what he will.

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.

Make yourself sheep and the wolves will eat you.

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

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.” Benjamin Franklin

Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government;

when this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins. Republics and limited monarchies derive their strength and vigor from a popular examination into the action of the magistrates.

How few there are who have courage enough to own their faults, or resolution enough to mend them.

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

Fear God, and your enemies will fear you.

If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.

I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion about the means.

I think the best way of doing good to the poor is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it.

A Brother may not be a Friend, but a Friend will always be a Brother.

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

To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions.

The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness;

to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all others, charity.

energy and persistence conquers all things

The ordaining of laws in favor of one part of the nation, to the prejudice and oppression of another, is certainly the most erroneous and mistaken policy. An equal dispensation of protection, rights, privileges, and advantages, is what every part is entitled to, and ought to enjoy.

Those who beat their swords into plowshares usually end up plowing for those who kept their swords.

The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself.

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.

The man who does things makes mistakes, but he doesn't make the biggest mistake of all-doing nothing.

By improving yourself, the world is made better.

Be not afraid of growing too slowly. Be afraid only of standing still.

Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship.

He that waits upon fortune, is never sure of a dinner.

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

For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned.

Whatever is begun in anger, ends in shame.

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