Looking for the best and inspirational Benjamin Franklin quotes?
Benjamin Franklin was a founding father and one of the United States’ most illustrious statesmen. He was an inventor, author, printer, satirist, diplomat, and civic activist.
Franklin’s scientific discoveries are well known today; he invented the lightning rod during a storm in 1752. He also made significant contributions to knowledge about electricity and made discoveries in the field of optics.
In addition to being one of America’s first significant public intellectuals, Franklin was a noted musician who authored more than 150 songs; an accomplished scientist; a champion for colonial unity and independence from Great Britain; and an advocate for paper money who helped end the colonial practice of printing currency on rag paper with ink that wore off over time.
He served as president of both societies at various points in their history. As a diplomat, he helped negotiate treaties with Great Britain before Independence. He has been called “one of the most ingenious men that ever lived.”
Sometimes all we need is a little advice: Check out the following quotes for life hacks that will make you wiser!
99 Powerful Benjamin Franklin Quotes
“Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.”
“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”
“Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out.”
“Lost time is never found again.”
“Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship.”
“Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.”
“One today is worth two tomorrows.”
“I didn’t fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong.”
“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
“Content makes poor men rich; discontent makes rich men poor.”
“Having been poor is no shame, but being ashamed of it, is.”
“Genius without education is like silver in the mine.”
“If you would know the value of money, go try to borrow some; for he that goes a-borrowing goes a-sorrowing.”
“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.”
“Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.”
“You may delay but time will not.”
“Motivation is when your dreams put on work clothes.”
“You only have the right to pursue happiness; you have to catch it yourself.”
“God helps those who help themselves.”
“Work as if you were to live a hundred years. Pray as if you were to die tomorrow.”
“To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions.”
“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”
“We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing!”
“If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write something worth reading or do things worth writing.”
“Whatever is begun in anger, ends in shame.”
“If you would be wealthy, think of saving as well as getting.”
“In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”
“Perhaps the history of the errors of mankind, all things considered, is more valuable and interesting than that of their discoveries.”
“A learned blockhead is a greater blockhead than an ignorant one.”
“While we may not be able to control all that happens to us, we can control what happens inside us.”
“He that can have patience can have what he will.”
“Eat to live, and not live to eat.”
“Words may show a man’s wit, actions his meaning.”
“Honesty is the best policy.”
“Who is wise? He that learns from every one.”
“Well done is better than well said.”
“To the generous mind the heaviest debt is that of gratitude, when it is not in our power to repay it.”
“For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned.”
“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.”
“Drive thy business or it will drive thee.”
“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.”
“Creditors have better memories than debtors.”
“Many people die at twenty five and aren’t buried until they are seventy five.”
“Fear to do ill, and you need fear naught else.”
“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.”
“Never ruin an apology with an excuse.”
“A great talker may be no fool, but he is one that relies on him.”
“Hide not your talents, they for use were made. What’s a sun-dial in the shade?”
“When you are finished changing you’re finished.”
“There are two ways to increase your wealth. Increase your means or decrease your wants. The best is to do both at the same time.”
“When you are finished changing, you’re finished.”
“Energy and persistence conquer all things.”
“Three may keep a secret if two of them are dead.”
“There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know one’s self.”
“He that hath a trade hath an estate; he that hath a calling hath an office of profit and honor.”
“When there is so much to be done for yourself, your family, and your country, be up by peep of day! Let not the sun look down and say, ‘Inglorious here he lies!’”
“If a man empties his purse into his head no one can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”
“It is a common error in friends, when they would extol their friends, to make comparisons, and to depreciate the merits of others.”
“He who falls in love with himself will have no rivals.”
“Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.”
“If you would persuade, you must appeal to interest rather than intellect.”
“We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.”
“If you want to become rich, never waste your time and money.”
“When you’re testing to see how deep water is, never use two feet.”
“Having been poor is no shame, being ashamed of it is.”
“Employ your time well, if you mean to get leisure.”
“The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason.”
“Each year one vicious habit rooted out, in time might make the worst man good throughout.”
“Be not sick too late, nor well too soon.”
“Make yourself sheep and the wolves will eat you.”
“Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.”
“A penny saved is a penny earned.”
“I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the mean.”
“It is the working man who is the happy man. It is the idle man who is the miserable man.”
“Take it from Richard, poor and lame, what’s begun in anger ends in shame.”
“Do you love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made of.”
“Joy is not in things, it is in us.”
“Here is my creed. I believe in one God, the Creator of the universe. That he governs it bu His Providence. That he ought to be worshipped.”
“Money has never made a man happy yet, nor will it. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of filling a vacuum it makes one.”
“Content makes poor men rich; discontentment makes rich men poor.”
“A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over.”
“Never leave till tomorrow which you can do today.”
“All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move. ”
“You may delay, but time will not.”
“You can do anything you set your mind to.”
“He that is of the opinion that money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money.”
“A friend in need is a friend indeed!”
“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
“A good example is the best sermon.”
“Love your enemies, for they tell you your faults.”
“Many people die at twenty-five and aren’t buried until they are seventy-five.”
“Life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.”
“Never confuse motion with action.”
“He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.”
“Those things that hurt, instruct.”
“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”
