200+ Benjamin Franklin Quotes On Life, Liberty, Education, Success, and Wealth

Benjamin Franklin FRS FRSA FRSE was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher.

Benjamin Franklin Quotes

1. “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” -Benjamin Franklin
2. “The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.” -Benjamin Franklin
3. “There was never a bad peace or a good war.” -Benjamin Franklin
4. “Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom; and no such thing as public liberty, without freedom of speech.” -Benjamin Franklin
5. “Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.” -Benjamin Franklin
6. “From a persuasion that equal liberty was originally the portion, it is still the birthright of all men.” -Benjamin Franklin
7. “Every man…is, of common right, and by the laws of God, a freeman, and entitled to the free enjoyment of liberty.” -Benjamin Franklin
8. “God grant that not only the love of liberty but a thorough knowledge of the rights of man may pervade all the nations of the earth, so that a philosopher may set his foot anywhere on its surface and say: This is my country.” -Benjamin Franklin
9. “I believe there is one Supreme most perfect being. […] I believe He is pleased and delights in the happiness of those He has created; and since without virtue man can have no happiness in this world, I firmly believe He delights to see me virtuous.” -Benjamin Franklin
10. “I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, if they are such: because I think a General Government necessary for us, and there is no Form of Government but what may be a Blessing to the People if well-administered; and I believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a Course of Years and can only end in Despotism as other Forms have done before it, when the People shall become so corrupted as to need Despotic Government, being incapable of any other.” -Benjamin Franklin
11. “When the people find that they can vote themselves money that will herald the end of the republic.” -Benjamin Franklin
12. “Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.” -Benjamin Franklin
13. “Slavery is such an atrocious debasement of human nature that its very extirpation, if not performed with solicitous care, may sometimes open a source of serious evils. The unhappy man who has been treated as a brute animal too frequently sinks beneath the common standard of the human species. The galling chains that bind his body do also fetter his intellectual faculties and impair the social affections of his heart… To instruct, to advise, to qualify those, who have been restored to freedom, for the exercise and enjoyment of civil liberty… and to procure for their children an education calculated for their future situation in life; these are the great outlines of the annexed plan, which we have adopted.” -Benjamin Franklin
14. “The way to secure peace is to be prepared for war. They that are on their guard, and appear ready to receive their adversaries, are in much less danger of being attacked, than the supine, secure, and negligent.” -Benjamin Franklin
15. “Where liberty is, there is my country.” -Benjamin Franklin
16. “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!’” -Benjamin Franklin
17. “Our opinions are not in our own power; they are formed and governed much by circumstances that are often as inexplicable as they are irresistible.” -Benjamin Franklin
18. “We need a revolution every 200 years because all governments become stale and corrupt after 200 years.” -Benjamin Franklin
19. “He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither.” -Benjamin Franklin
20. “It seems to me that if statesmen had a little more arithmetic or were accustomed to calculation, wars would be much less frequent.” -Benjamin Franklin
21. “No nation was ever ruined by trade.” -Benjamin Franklin
22. “By the collision of different sentiments, sparks of truth are struck out, and political light is obtained. The different factions, which at present divide us, aim all at the public good; the differences are only about the various modes of promoting it.” -Benjamin Franklin
23. “Security without liberty is called prison.” -Benjamin Franklin
24. “Employ your time well, if you mean to get leisure.” -Benjamin Franklin
25. “Well done is better than well said.” -Benjamin Franklin
26. “He that is known to pay punctually and exactly to the time he promises, may at any time, and on any occasion, raise all the money his friends can spare.” -Benjamin Franklin
27. “I never knew a man who was good at making excuses who was good at anything else.” -Benjamin Franklin
28. “Hide not your talents; they for use were made. What’s a sun-dial in the shade?” -Benjamin Franklin
29. “The eye of the master will do more work than both his hands.” -Benjamin Franklin
30. “Energy and persistence conquer all things.” -Benjamin Franklin
31. “Never leave till tomorrow that which you can do today.” -Benjamin Franklin
32. “Never confuse Motion with Action.” -Benjamin Franklin
33. “Work as if you were to live a thousand years, play as if you were to die tomorrow.” -Benjamin Franklin
34. “It is the working man who is the happy man. It is the idle man who is the miserable man.” -Benjamin Franklin
35. “He that can have patience can have what he will.” -Benjamin Franklin
36. “You may delay, but time will not.” -Benjamin Franklin
37. “I didn’t fail the test; I just found 100 ways to do it wrong.” -Benjamin Franklin
38. “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” -Benjamin Franklin
39. “There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know one’s self.” -Benjamin Franklin
40. “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” -Benjamin Franklin
41. “To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions.” -Benjamin Franklin
42. “When you incline to have new clothes, look first well over the old ones, and see if you cannot shift with them another year, either by scouring, mending, or even patching if necessary. Remember, a patch on your coat, and money in your pocket is better and more creditable than a writ on your back, and no money to take it off.” -Benjamin Franklin
43. “Necessity never made a good bargain.” -Benjamin Franklin
44. “To the generous mind, the heaviest debt is that of gratitude, when it is not in our power to repay it.” -Benjamin Franklin
45. “Some, to make themselves considerable, pursue learning; others grasp at wealth; some aim at being thought witty; and others are only careful to make the most of a handsome person; but what is wit, or wealth, or form, or learning, when compared with virtue? It is true we love the handsome, we applaud the learned, and we fear the rich and powerful; but we even worship and adore the virtuous.” -Benjamin Franklin
46. “Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.” -Benjamin Franklin
47. “If you know how to spend less than you get, you have the philosopher’s stone.” -Benjamin Franklin
48. “Having been poor is no shame; being ashamed of it is.” -Benjamin Franklin
49. “The art of getting riches consists very much in thrift. All men are not equally qualified for getting money, but it is in the power of every one alike to practice this virtue.” -Benjamin Franklin
50. “If you would know the value of money, go try to borrow some; for he that goes a-borrowing goes a-sorrowing.” -Benjamin Franklin
51. “Content makes poor men rich; discontentment makes rich men poor.” -Benjamin Franklin
52. “I am for doing good to the poor, but… 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. I observed…that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course, became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.” -Benjamin Franklin
53. “A penny saved is a penny earned.” -Benjamin Franklin
54. “Three may keep a secret if two of them are dead.” -Benjamin Franklin
55. “Love your enemies, for they tell you your faults.” -Benjamin Franklin
56. “In the Affairs of this World, Men are saved, not by faith, but by the Lack of it.” -Benjamin Franklin
57. “Lost Time is never found again.” -Benjamin Franklin
58. “No gains without pains.” -Benjamin Franklin
59. “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” -Benjamin Franklin
60. “The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason.” -Benjamin Franklin
61. “Women are books, and men the readers be…” -Benjamin Franklin
62. “There cannot be good living where there is not good drinking.” -Benjamin Franklin
63. “Speak little, do much.” -Benjamin Franklin
64. “He that lies down with dogs shall rise up with fleas.” -Benjamin Franklin
65. “To all apparent beauties blind, each blemish strikes an envious mind.” -Benjamin Franklin
66. “Clean your finger before you point at my Spots.” -Benjamin Franklin
67. “Search others for their virtues, thyself for thy vices.” -Benjamin Franklin
68. “There are three faithful friends, an old wife, an old dog, and ready money.” -Benjamin Franklin
69. “He that’s content, hath enough; He that complains has too much.” -Benjamin Franklin
70. “The World is full of fools and faint hearts, and yet everyone has courage enough to bear the misfortunes, and wisdom enough to manage the Affairs of his neighbor.” -Benjamin Franklin
71. “Better slip with foot than tongue.” -Benjamin Franklin
72. “He that falls in love with himself will have no rivals.” -Benjamin Franklin
73. “Look before, or you’ll find yourself behind.” -Benjamin Franklin
74. “Don’t throw stones at your neighbors if your own windows are glass.” -Benjamin Franklin
75. “He that would live in peace & at ease, Must not speak all he knows or judge all he sees.” -Benjamin Franklin
76. “Well done is better than well said.” -Benjamin Franklin
77. “What you seem to be, be really.” -Benjamin Franklin
78. “A true friend is the best Possession.” -Benjamin Franklin
79. “When you’re good to others, you’re best to yourself.” -Benjamin Franklin
80. “Pardoning the Bad is injuring the Good.” -Benjamin Franklin
81. “Hide not your Talents; they for Use were made. What’s a Sun-Dial in the shade!” -Benjamin Franklin
82. “Glass, China, and Reputation are easily crack’d, and never well mended.” -Benjamin Franklin
83. “What more valuable than Gold? Diamonds. Than Diamonds? Virtue.” -Benjamin Franklin
84. “Haste makes Waste.” -Benjamin Franklin
85. “It is better to take many Injuries than to give one.” -Benjamin Franklin
86. “Wish not so much to live long as to live well.” -Benjamin Franklin
87. “A right Heart exceeds all.” -Benjamin Franklin
88. “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made of.” -Benjamin Franklin
89. “One today is worth two tomorrows.” -Benjamin Franklin
90. “Having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged by better information or fuller consideration to change opinions, even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise.” -Benjamin Franklin
91. “There are in life real evils enough, and it is folly to afflict ourselves with imaginary ones; it is time enough when the real ones arrive.” -Benjamin Franklin
92. “In wine, there is wisdom; in beer, there is Freedom; in water, there is bacteria.” -Benjamin Franklin
93. “Do not anticipate trouble or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.” -Benjamin Franklin
94. “Life, like a dramatic piece, should not only be conducted with regularity, but it should finish handsomely.” -Benjamin Franklin
95. “Life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.” -Benjamin Franklin
96. “Would you live with ease, do what you ought and not what you please.” -Benjamin Franklin
97. “The ancients tell us what is best, but we must learn of the moderns what is fittest.” -Benjamin Franklin
98. “When you’re testing to see how deep water is, never use two feet.” -Benjamin Franklin
99. “If a sound body and a sound mind, which is as much as to say health and virtue, are to be preferred before all other considerations, ought not men, in choosing a business either for themselves or children, to refuse such as are unwholesome for the body, and such as make a man too dependent, too much obliged to please others and too much subjected to their humors in order to be recommended and get a livelihood?” -Benjamin Franklin
100. “God heals, and the Doctor takes the Fees.” -Benjamin Franklin
101. “Eat to live and not live to eat.” -Benjamin Franklin
102. “Be not sick too late, nor well too soon.” -Benjamin Franklin
103. “If you are active and prosperous, or young, or in good health, it may be easier for you to augment your means than to diminish your wants. But if you are wise, you will do both at the same time, young or old, rich or poor, sick or well; and if you are wise, you will do both in such a way as to augment the general happiness of society.” -Benjamin Franklin
104. “To lengthen thy Life, lessen thy Meals.” -Benjamin Franklin
105. “Don’t misinform your Doctor nor your Lawyer.” -Benjamin Franklin
106. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” -Benjamin Franklin
107. “…but in this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” -Benjamin Franklin
108. “Fear not death, for the sooner we die, the longer we shall be immortal.” -Benjamin Franklin
109. “Most men die from the neck up at age twenty-five because they stop dreaming.” -Benjamin Franklin
110. “I look upon death to be as necessary to our constitution as sleep.” -Benjamin Franklin
111. “The best of all medicines are rest and fasting.” -Benjamin Franklin
112. “The person who deserves most pity is a lonesome one on a rainy day who doesn’t know how to read.” -Benjamin Franklin
113. “Reading makes a full man, meditation a profound man, discourse a clear man.” -Benjamin Franklin
114. “The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of a wise man is in his heart.” -Benjamin Franklin
115. “If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading or do things worth writing.” -Benjamin Franklin
116. “If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.” -Benjamin Franklin
117. “I would advise you to read with a pen in hand and enter in a little book short hints of what you find that is curious, or that may be useful; for this will be the best method of imprinting such particulars in your memory.” -Benjamin Franklin
118. “If you would persuade, you must appeal to interest rather than intellect.” -Benjamin Franklin
119. “Educate your children to self-control, to the habit of holding passion and prejudice and evil tendencies subject to an upright and reasoning will, and you have done much to abolish misery from their future and crimes from society.” -Benjamin Franklin
120. “An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.” -Benjamin Franklin
121. “Tell me, and I forget, teach me, and I may remember, involve me, and I learn.” -Benjamin Franklin
122. “Words may show a man’s wit, actions his meaning.” -Benjamin Franklin
123. “We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.” -Benjamin Franklin
124. “Common sense is something that everyone needs, few have, and none think they lack.” -Benjamin Franklin
125. “Man and woman have each of them qualities and tempers in which the other is deficient, and which in union contribute to the common felicity.” -Benjamin Franklin
126. “To expect people to be good, to be just, to be temperate, etc., without showing them how they should become so, seems like the ineffectual charity mentioned by the apostle, which consisted in saying to the hungry, the cold and the naked, be ye fed, be ye warmed, be ye clothed, without showing them how they should get food, fire or clothing.” -Benjamin Franklin
127. “Those that won’t be counseled can’t be helped.” -Benjamin Franklin
128. “Never ruin an apology with an excuse.” -Benjamin Franklin
129. “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.” -Benjamin Franklin
130. “He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.” -Benjamin Franklin
131. “Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame.” -Benjamin Franklin
132. “Men are subject to various inconveniences merely through lack of a small share of courage, which is a quality very necessary in the common occurrences of life, as well as in a battle. How many impertinences do we daily suffer with great uneasiness, because we have not courage enough to discover our dislike.” -Benjamin Franklin
133. “After all, wedlock is the natural state of man. A bachelor is not a complete human being. He is like the odd half of a pair of scissors, which has not yet found its fellow, and therefore is not even half so useful as they might be together.” -Benjamin Franklin
134. “Fear to do ill, and you need fear naught else.” -Benjamin Franklin
135. “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” -Benjamin Franklin
136. “There was never a truly great man that was not at the same time, truly virtuous.” -Benjamin Franklin
137. “When I am employed in serving others, I do not look upon myself as conferring favors, but as paying debts. I have received much kindness from men to whom I shall never have an opportunity of making the least direct returns; and numberless mercies from God, who is infinitely above being benefited by our services. Those kindnesses from men I can, therefore, only return on their fellow-men, and I can only show my gratitude for those mercies from God by a readiness to help His other children.” -Benjamin Franklin
138. “There are two ways of being happy — we may either diminish our wants or augment our means — either will do, the result is the same, and it is for each man to decide for himself, and do that which happens to be the easiest. If you are idle or sick or poor, however hard it may be to diminish your wants, it will be harder to augment your means.” -Benjamin Franklin
139. “Wink at small faults; remember thou hast great ones.” -Benjamin Franklin
140. “He that falls in love with himself will have no Rivals.” -Benjamin Franklin
141. “Be slow in choosing a friend, slower in changing.” -Benjamin Franklin
142. “Speak ill of no man, but speak all the good you know of everybody.” -Benjamin Franklin
143. “Tis a great confidence in a friend to tell him your faults; greater to tell him his.” -Benjamin Franklin
144. “Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.” -Benjamin Franklin
145. “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.” -Benjamin Franklin
146. “It is a common error in friends when they would extol their friends, to make comparisons, and to depreciate the merits of others.” -Benjamin Franklin
147. “There is much difference between imitating a man and counterfeiting him.” -Benjamin Franklin
148. “I don’t believe in stereotypes. I prefer to hate people on a more personal basis.” -Benjamin Franklin
149. “The wit of conversation consists more in finding it in others than showing a great deal yourself. He who goes out of your company pleased with his own facetiousness and ingenuity, will the sooner come into it again.” -Benjamin Franklin
150. “A learned blockhead is a greater blockhead than an ignorant one.” -Benjamin Franklin
151. “Each year, one vicious habit rooted out, in time might make the worst man good throughout.” -Benjamin Franklin
152. “A great talker may be no fool, but he is one that relies on him.” -Benjamin Franklin
153. “The worship of God is a duty; the hearing and reading of sermons may be useful; but if men rest in hearing and praying, as too many do, it is as if a tree should value itself in being watered and putting forth leaves, tho’ it never produced any fruit.” -Benjamin Franklin
154. “Don’t go to the doctor with every distemper, nor to the lawyer with every quarrel, nor to the pot for every thirst. ” -Benjamin Franklin
155. “A new truth is a truth; an old error is an error. ” -Benjamin Franklin
156. “Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools, that don’t have brains enough, to be honest.” -Benjamin Franklin
157. “Creditors have better memories than debtors.” -Benjamin Franklin
158. “God helps them who help themselves.” -Benjamin Franklin
159. “Hope and faith may be more firmly built upon charity than charity upon faith and hope.” -Benjamin Franklin
160. “When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water.” -Benjamin Franklin
161. “It is easier to prevent bad habits than to break them.” -Benjamin Franklin
162. “He that can have patience can have what he will.”― Benjamin Franklin
163. “Honesty is the best policy.” –Benjamin Franklin
164.  “Three may keep a secret if two of them are dead.”― Benjamin Franklin
165. “Energy and persistence conquer all things.”-  Benjamin Franklin
166. “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” –  Benjamin Franklin
167.  “Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.”― Benjamin Franklin
168. “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” –  Benjamin Franklin
169. “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” –  Benjamin Franklin
170. “Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.”― Benjamin Franklin
171. “When you are finished changing, you’re finished.”― Benjamin Franklin
172. “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”― Benjamin Franklin
173. “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”― Benjamin Franklin
174. “I didn’t fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong.”― Benjamin Franklin
175. “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” – Benjamin Franklin
176. “Genius without education is like silver in the mine.” – Benjamin Franklin
177. “Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.” – Benjamin Franklin
178. “The only thing that is more expensive than education is ignorance.” ― Benjamin Franklin
179. “Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship.” –  Benjamin Franklin
180. “Tis a great confidence in a friend to tell him your faults; greater to tell him his.”― Benjamin Franklin
181. “Well done is better than well said.” – Benjamin Franklin
182. “Never confuse motion with action.”― Benjamin Franklin
183. “We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.” – Benjamin Franklin
184. “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.”― Benjamin Franklin
185. “When you’re testing to see how deep water is, never use two feet.”― Ben Franklin
186. “To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions.” – Benjamin Franklin
187. “To find out a girl’s faults, praise her to her girlfriends.”― Benjamin Franklin
188. “One today is worth two tomorrows.” – Benjamin Franklin
189. “A false friend and a shadow attend only while the sun shines.” ― Benjamin Franklin
190. “To lengthen thy life, lessen thy meals.” ― Benjamin Franklin
191.  “Speak little, do much.” ― Benjamin Franklin
192. “Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.”― Benjamin Franklin
193.  “Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom – and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech.” – Benjamin Franklin
194. “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” – Benjamin Franklin
195. “Happiness depends more on the inward disposition of mind than on outward circumstances.”― Benjamin Franklin
196. “Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.”― Benjamin Franklin
197. “If a man could have half of his wishes, he would double his troubles.” ― Benjamin Franklin
198. “Security without liberty is called prison.” ― Benjamin Franklin
199. “Fear not death for the sooner we die, the longer we shall be immortal.”― Benjamin Franklin
200. “Wine is constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy.” – Benjamin Franklin
201. “In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” – Benjamin Franklin
202. “Life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.” – Benjamin Franklin
203.  “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”― Benjamin Franklin
204. “All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move. ” ― Benjamin Franklin
205. “For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned.” ― Benjamin Franklin
206. “You only have the right to pursue happiness; you have to catch it yourself.” ― Ben Franklin
207. “He that speaks much, is much mistaken.” ― Benjamin Franklin
208. “The best way to see faith is to shut the eye of Reason.” ― Benjamin Franklin
209. “He that falls in love with himself will have no rivals.” ― Benjamin Franklin
210. “Don’t cry over spilled milk” ― Ben Franklin
211. “Content makes poor men rich; discontent makes rich men poor.” ― Benjamin Franklin
212.  “Wish not so much to live long as to live well.” ― Benjamin Franklin
213. “He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.”― Benjamin Franklin
214. “Search others for their virtues, thy self for thy vices.” ― Benjamin Franklin
215. “The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of a wise man is in his heart.” ― Benjamin Franklin
216. “What more valuable than Gold? Diamonds. Than Diamonds? Virtue.” ― Benjamin Franklin
217. “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.” ― Benjamin Franklin
218. “What you seem to be, be really.” ― Benjamin Franklin
219. “If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading or do things worth writing.”― Benjamin Franklin
220. “When you’re good to others, you’re best to yourself.” ― Benjamin Franklin
221. “We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing!”― Benjamin Franklin