Quotessence
Home / Authors / Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin Quotes

Founding Father of the United States

Filter quotes by topic

AllPoor RichardMenIfsLibertyMayInspirationalPeopleShould4th Of JulyWorldVirtueKnowsThinkingGivingLittlesWisdomWellsWiseLifeWant

Famous Benjamin Franklin Quotes

“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

InspirationalGivingLittlesWarHappinessPoliticsPeaceFreedomLibertyRightsPoliticianEssentialsGiving UpDeserveSafetyLibertarianTemporaryInsightfulCensorshipAmendmentsFounding4th Of JulyInventorGiven UpFreedom And LibertyDeservingSecond AmendmentFreedom LibertyCivil LibertiesOur Founding FathersProperty RightsLimited GovernmentUs Founding FathersRight To Bear ArmsForefathersBearing ArmsObtainingAmerican GovernmentLimiting GovernmentRights And FreedomsFounding Fathers Of AmericaFounding AmericaPro GunLibertarian PartyFounding Fathers GunLimited Freedom2 AmendmentEternal VigilanceFounding Fathers Second AmendmentFounding Fathers DemocracyFramersLiberty And JusticeIndependence Day PatrioticDemocracy FreedomPrice Of FreedomAmerican FreedomSafety And SecurityPolymathsCorrupt GovernmentGun SafetyPower GovernmentSecurity And FreedomAmerican PowerAmerican Independence DaySecurity And LibertyFirst Amendment Rights
Book:Memoirs of the Life and Writings of (the Same), Continued to the Time of His Death by William Temple Franklin. - London, H. Colburn 1818
Create image

“That man alone loves himself rightly who procures the greatest possible good to himself through the whole of his existence and so pursues pleasure as not to give for it more than it is worth.”

MenGivingWholePleasureExistencePursueOne Love
Book:Memoirs of the Life and Writings of (the Same), Continued to the Time of His Death by William Temple Franklin. - London, H. Colburn 1818
Create image

“We may perhaps learn to deprive large masses of their gravity and give them absolute levity, for the sake of easy transport.”

GivingMayEasyMassAbsolutesSakeGravityTransportLevity
Book:The Private Correspondence of Benjamin Franklin ...: Comprising a Series of Letters on Miscellaneous, Literary, and Political Subjects, Written Between the Years 1753 and 1790, Illustrating the Memoirs of His Public and Private Life, and Developing the Secret History of His Political Transactions and Negociations
Create image

“For over 1,700 years, the Jews have been bewailing their sad fate in that they have been exiled from their homeland, as they call Palestine. But gentlemen, did the world give it to them in fee simple, they would at once find some reason for not returning. Why? Because they are vampires, and vampires do not live on vampires. They cannot live only among themselves. They must subsist on Christians and other people not of their race.”

PeopleWorldGivingYearsHas BeensReasonChristianSimpleRaceFateJewVampireGentlemanPalestineHomelandFees
Author:Benjamin Franklin
Create image

“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn. When you're down to nothing, God is up to something. The faithful see the invisible, believe the incredible and then receive the impossible. Where liberty dwells there is my country.”

GivingBelieveCountrySeemsTurnsLibertyImpossibleMinutesGiving UpIncrediblesInvisibleFaithfulTidesNever Giving UpPlace And Time
Author:Benjamin Franklin
Create image

“My List of Virtues contain'd at first but twelve: But a Quaker Friend having kindly inform'd me that I was generally thought proud; that my Pride show'd itself frequently in Conversation; that I was not content with being in the right when discussing any Point, but was overbearing & rather insolent; of which he convinc'd me by mentioning several Instances; - I determined endeavouring to cure myself ..., and I added Humility to my List, giving an extensive Meaning to the Word.”

GivingFirstsShowsVirtueHumilityPrideProudConversationDeterminedListsCuresInstanceTwelveDiscussingQuakerInsolentOverbearing
Author:Benjamin Franklin
Create image

“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.”

GivingHeartChildrenMotherFatherEnemyExamplePositivePositive ThinkingProudForgivenessRespectCharityPositivityGoodToleranceBest ThingsYour ChildrenOpponents4th Of JulyRespecting OthersGood ExamplesThink PositivePositive Thinking And AttitudeProud Of YouDeferenceFounding Fathers DemocracyInspirational ForgivenessThink Positive Be PositiveI Respect YouFriend EnemyTolerance And RespectGood Thinking
Author:Benjamin Franklin
Create image

“I have heard that nothing gives an Author so great Pleasure, as to find his works respectfully quoted by other learned authors.”

GivingPleasureInspiringHeardQuotationsPoor Richard
Book:The Works of Benjamin Franklin: Containing Several Political and Historical Tracts Not Included in Any Former Edition, and Many Letters, Official and Private Not Hitherto Published; with Notes and a Life of the Author
Create image

“Most people dislike vanity in others, whatever share they have of it themselves; but I give it fair quarter, wherever I meet with it, being persuaded that it is often productive of good to the possessor, and to others who are within his sphere of action: and therefore, in many cases, it would not be altogether absurd if a man were to thank God for his vanity among the other comforts of life.”

PeopleIfsMenGivingActionCasesShareComfortFairsAbsurdVanityProductiveThank GodQuartersDislikeSpheres
Book:Memoirs of the Life and Writings of (the Same), Continued to the Time of His Death by William Temple Franklin. - London, H. Colburn 1818
Create image

“[T]he more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer . . . [taking] away from before their eyes the greatest of all inducements to industry, frugality, and sobriety, by giving them a dependence of somewhat else than a careful accumulation during youth and health for support in age and sickness.”

GivingMadeGovernmentEyeAgeCoursesPoorSupportYouthIndustryCarefulSpendingSicknessDependenceProvisionAccumulationSobrietyFrugalityGovernment Spending
Book:The Works of Benjamin Franklin
Create image

“Hereafter, if you should observe an occasion to give your officers and friends a little more praise than is their due, and confess more fault than you can justly be charged with, you will only become the sooner for it, a great captain.”

IfsGivingShouldLittlesPraiseFaultsDuesOccasionsAviationOfficersCaptainsHereafter
Book:The Complete Works of Benjamin Franklin: Including His Private as Well as His Official and Scientific Correspondence, and Numerous Letters and Documents Now for the First Time Printed, with Many Others Not Included in Any Former Collection, Also, the Unmutilated and Correct Version of His Autobiography
Create image

“If you teach a poor young man to shave himself, and keep his razor in order, you may contribute more to the happiness of his life than in giving him a thousand guineas. This sum may be soon spent, the regret only remaining of having foolishly consumed it; but in the other case, he escapes the frequent vexation of waiting for barbers, and of their sometimes dirty fingers, offensive breaths, and dull razors.”

IfsMenGivingMaySometimesYoungOrderWaitingPoorTeachCasesRegretThousandBreathsFingersDirtyYoung ManDullOffensiveConsumedBeardRazorsGuineaBarbersVexation
Book:The autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Create image

“History will also give occasion to expatiate on the advantage of civil orders and constitutions; how men and their properties are protected by joining in societies and establishing government; their industry encouraged and rewarded, arts invented, and life made more comfortable; the advantages of liberty, mischiefs of licentiousness, benefits arising from good laws and a due execution of justice. Thus may the first principles of sound politics be fixed in the minds of youth.”

MenGivingMindFirstsMayArtMadeGovernmentLawOrderSoundJusticeEducationLibertyPrinciplesYouthIndustryBenefitsComfortableAdvantageConstitutionPropertyDuesOccasionsFixedProtectedExecutionMischiefJoiningJoining In
Book:A Benjamin Franklin Reader
Create image

“If the new Universal History were also read, it would give a connected idea of human affairs, so far as it goes, which should be followed by the best modern histories, particularly of our mother country; then of these colonies; which should be accompanied with observations on their rise, increase, use to Great Britain, encouragements and discouragements, the means to make them flourish, and secure their liberties.”

IfsGivingShouldHumansMeanIdeasCountryUseMotherEducationLibertyModernUniversalIncreaseEncouragementAffairConnectedObservationSecureBritainColonyDiscouragementGreat BritainModern HistoryMother Country
Book:The Life of Benjamin Franklin: Containing the Autobiography, with Notes and a Continuation
Create image

“What is the recipe for successful achievement? Choose a career you love. Give it the best there is in you. Seize your opportunities. And be a member of the team.”

GivingOpportunityCareersSuccessfulTeamMembersAchievementIngredientsRecipesRecipe For SuccessCareer SuccessGreatest AchievementMaximizingMotivational CareerReaching SuccessSuccessful CareerCareers ChoicesCareer MotivationJob OpportunitiesCareers And LifeNew CareerWorkplace MotivationWorkplace MotivationalCareer Opportunities
Author:Benjamin Franklin
Create image

“And we daily in our experiments electrise bodies plus or minus, as we think proper. [These terms we may use till your Philosophers give us better.] To electrise plus or minus, no more needs to be known than this, that the parts of the Tube or Sphere, that are rubb'd, do, in the Instant of Friction, attract the Electrical Fire, and therefore take it from the Thin rubbing; the same parts immediately, as the Friction upon them ceases, are disposed to give the fire they have received, to any Body that has less.”

ThinkingNeedsGivingMayUseBodyScienceTermKnownFirePhilosopherExperimentsCeaseInstantPlusSpheresTubesElectricalFrictionMinusNomenclature
Author:Benjamin Franklin
Create image