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A People Who Chose Security Over Liberty Will Receive Neither Nor Deserve Either.

-Benjamin Franklin

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A People Who Chose

Benjamin Franklin

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A People Who Chose Security Over Liberty Will Receive Neither Nor Deserve Either.

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Joy Doesn't Exist In The World, It Exists In Us.

You Have On Hand Those Things That You Need If You Have But The Wit And Wisdom To Use Them.

Ambition Has Its Disappointments To Sour Us, But Never The Good Fortune To Satisfy Us. Its Appetite Grows Keener By Indulgence And All We Can Gratify It With At Present Serves But The More To Inflame Its Insatiable Desires.

He Who Multiplies Riches Multiplies Cares.

Who Had Deceived Thee So Often As Thyself?

There Are Three Things Extremely Hard: Steel, A Diamond, And To Know One's Self.

Tis Easy To See, Hard To Foresee.

An Assembly Of Great Men Is The Greatest Fool Upon Earth.

As Pride Increases, Fortune Declines.

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.

Some Books We Read, Tho' Few There Are That Hit The Happy Point Where Wisdom Joins With Wit.

There Seem To Be But Three Ways For A Nation To Acquire Wealth. The First Is By War, As The Romans Did, In Plundering Their Conquered Neighbors. This Is Robbery. The Second By Commerce, Which Is Generally Cheating. The Third By Agriculture, The Only Honest Way, Wherein Man Receives A Real Increase Of The Seed Thrown Into The Ground, In A Kind Of Continual Miracle, Wrought By The Hand Of God In His Favor, As A Reward For His Innocent Life And His Virtuous Industry.

The Height Of Foolishness Is To Discard An Opportunity Without Full Investigation

Hope Of Gain Lessens Pain.

The Difficulty Lies, In Finding Out An Exact Measure But Eat For Necessity, Not Pleasure, For Lust Knows Not Where Necessity Ends.

Wine Makes Daily Living Easier, Less Hurried With Fewer Tensions And More Tolerance.

A Man Compounded Of Law And Gospel Is Able To Cheat A Whole Country With His Religion And Then Destroy Them Under Color Of Law

He That Would Live In Peace And At Ease, Must Not Speak All He Knows Nor Judge All He Sees.

Self Improvement

Mankind Are Very Odd Creatures: One Half Censure What They Practice, The Other Half Practice What They Censure; The Rest Always Say And Do As They Ought.

I Would Advise You To Read With A Pen In Your Hand And Enter In A Little Book Short Hints Of What You Feel That Is Common Or That May Be Useful; For This Will Be The Best Method Of Imprinting Such Portcullis In Your Memory.

The Most Acceptable Service Of God Is Doing Good To Man.

We Are A Kind Of Posterity In Respect To Them.

Think Of These Things, Whence You Came, Where You Are Going, And To Whom You Must Account.

The English Love An Insult. It's Their Only Test Of A Man's Sincerity.

Laws Without Morals Are In Vain.

Moses Lifting Up His Wand, And Dividing The Red Sea, And Pharaoh In His Chariot Overwhelmed With The Waters. This Motto: "rebellion To Tyrants Is Obedience To God."

There Is Much Difference Between Imitating A Good Man And Counterfeiting Him.

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.

Beer Is Proof That God Wants Us To Be Happy

Speak Little, Do Much.

A Good Conscience Is A Continual Christmas.

No Nation Was Ever Ruined By Trade.

It Is The Duty Of Mankind On All Suitable Occasions To Acknowledge Their Dependence On The Divine Being... Almighty God Would Mercifully Interpose And Still The Rage Of War Among The Nations... He Would Take This Province Under His Protection, Confound The Designs And Defeat The Attempts Of Its Enemies, And Unite Our Hearts And Strengthen Our Hands In Every Undertaking That May Be For The Public Good, And For Our Defense And Security In This Time Of Danger.

Without Continual Growth And Progress, Such Words As Improvement, Achievement, And Success Have No Meaning.

Congratulations

Remember That Credit Is Money.

An Old Young Man, Will Be A Young Old Man.

There Are Three Faithful Friends - An Old Wife, An Old Dog, And Ready Money.

Thank God! We Are In The Full Enjoyment Of All These Privileges. But Can We Be Taught To Prize Them Too Much? Or How Can We Prize Them Equal To Their Value, If We Do Not Know Their Intrinsic Worth, And That They Are Not A Gift Bestowed Upon Us By Other Men, But A Right That Belongs To Us By The Laws Of God And Nature?

Epitaph On A Scolding Wife By Her Husband: Here My Poor Bridget's Corpse Doth Lie, She Is At Rest - And So Am I!

Lying Rides Upon Debt's Back.

All Wars Are Follies, Very Expensive And Very Mischievous Ones. In My Opinion, There Never Was A Good War Or A Bad Peace. When Will Mankind Be Convinced And Agree To Settle Their Difficulties By Arbitration?

There's Many Witty Men Whose Brains Can't Fill Their Bellies.

Be Not Disturbed At Trifles, Or At Accidents Common Or Unavoidable.

Indeed, When Religious People Quarrel About Religion, Or Hungry People Quarrel About Victuals, It Looks As If They Had Not Much Of Either Among Them.

By Failing To Prepare, You Are Preparing To Fail.

If Anyone Should Doubt Whether The Electrical Matter Passes Through The Substance Of Bodies, Or Only Over Along Their Surfaces, A Shock From An Electrified Large Glass Jar, Taken Through His Own Body, Will Probably Convince Him.

As To The Kindness You Mention, I Wish I Could Have Been Of More Service To You Than I Have Been, But If I Had, The Only Thanks That I Should Desire Are That You Would Always Be Ready To Serve Any Other Person That May Need Your Assistance, And So Let Good Offices Go Around, For Humankind Are All Of A Family. As For My Own Part, When I Am Employed In Serving Others I Do Not Look Upon Myself As Conferring Favors But Paying Debts.

A Cheerful Face Is Nearly As Good For An Invalid As Healthy Weather.

Twas Noah Who First Planted The Vine And Mended His Morals By Drinking Its Wine.

Those Who Would Trade In Their Freedom For Their Protection Deserve Neither.

Masonic Ideas Are The Precious Jewels Of Speculative Masons; The Should Be Kept Bright And Sparkling For All The Brethren To See And To Admire. As Such, They Should Be The Special Care Of Masonic Leaders Particularly Those Who Teach And Interpret The Philosophy Of Freemasonry.

Keep Your Eyes Wide Open Before Marriage, Half Shut Afterwards.

Constant Complaint Is The Poorest Sort Of Pay For All The Comforts We Enjoy.

Would Thou Confound Thy Enemy, Be Good Thyself.

My Rule, In Which I Have Always Found Satisfaction, Is, Never To Turn Aside In Public Affairs Through Views Of Private Interest; But To Go Straight Forward In Doing What Appears To Me Right At The Time, Leaving The Consequences With Providence.

A Lie Stands On One Leg, Truth On Two.

What I Am To Be, I Am Now Becoming.

Everybody's Human-everybody Makes Mistakes. If You Laugh It Off And Keep Going And Try To Give It Your Best The Next Time Around, People Respect That.

The Borrower Is A Slave To The Lender And The Debtor To The Creditor.

Silence - Speak Not But What May Benefit Others Or Yourself; Avoid Trifling Conversation.

... There Is Much Truth In The Italian Saying, 'make Yourselves Sheep, And The Wolves Will Eat You.'

I Saw Few Die Of Hunger; Of Eating, A Hundred Thousand.

Be Sober And Temperate, And You Will Be Healthy.

Words May Show A Man's Wit But Actions His Meaning.

The Madness Of Mobs Or The Insolence Of Soldiers, Or Both, When Too Near To Each Other, Occasion Some Mischief.

Our Friend And We Were Invited Aboard On A Party Of Pleasure, Which Is To Last Forever. His Chair Was Ready First, And He Has Gone Before Us. We Could Not All Conveniently Start Together; And Why Should You And I Be Grieved At This, Since We Are Soon To Follow, And Know Where To Find Him.

Presumption First Blinds A Man, Then Sets Him A Running.

Do Not Anticipate Trouble, Or Worry About What May Never Happen. Keep In The Sunlight.

Being Ignorant Is Not So Much A Shame, As Being Unwilling To Learn.

Notwithstanding My Experiments With Electricity The Thunderbolt Continues To Fall Under Our Noses And Beards; And As For The Tyrant, There Are A Million Of Us Still Engaged At Snatching Away His Sceptre.

Serving God Is Doing Good To Man, But Praying Is Thought An Easier Service And Therefore More Generally Chosen.

The Man Who Does Things Makes Mistakes, But He Doesn't Make The Biggest Mistake Of All-doing Nothing.

Kings Have Long Arms, But Misfortune Longer: Let None Think Themselves Out Of Her Reach.

O Lazy Bones! Dost Thou Think God Would Have Given Thee Arms And Legs, If He Had Not Design'd Thou Should'st Use Them?

Gaining Money By My Industry And Frugality, I Lived Very Agreeably. . . .

Three May Keep A Secret, If Two Of Them Are Dead.

If Pride Leads The Van, Beggary Brings Up The Rear.

If Time Be Of All Things The Most Precious, Wasting Time Must Be The Greatest Prodigality.

Money Has Never Made Man Happy, Nor Will It, There Is Nothing In Its Nature To Produce Happiness. The More Of It One Has The More One Wants.

You Will Observe With Concern How Long A Useful Truth May Be Known, And Exist, Before It Is Generally Received And Practiced On.

A Slip Of The Foot You May Soon Recover, But A Slip Of The Tongue You May Never Get Over.

A Man Separated From His Reflective Belt Is No Man At All.

Great Talkers, Little Doers.

Those Who Are Willing To Forfeit Liberty For Security Will Have Neither.

Make Yourself Sheep And The Wolves Will Eat You.

Clean Your Finger Before You Point At My Spots.

We Should Make The Poor Uncomfortable And Kick Them Out Of Poverty.

Scarcely Was I Arrived At Fifteen Years Of Age, When, After Having Doubted In Turn Of Different Tenets, According As I Found Them Combated In The Different Books That I Read, I Began To Doubt Of Revelation Itself.

Genius Is Nothing But A Greater Aptitude For Patience.

To Err Is Human, To Repent Divine; To Persist Devilish.

When Befriended, Remember It; When You Befriend, Forget It.

Eat Not To Dullness, Drink Not To Elevation.

Self Improvement

Life's Tragedy Is That We Get Old Too Soon And Wise Too Late.

Keep Thy Shop, And Thy Shop Will Keep Thee.

It Might Be Judged An Affront To Your Understanding Should I Go About To Prove This First Principle; The Existence Of A Diety And That He Is The Creator Of The Universe, For That Would Suppose You Ignorant Of What All Mankind In All Ages Have Agreed In.

Never Leave That Till Tomorrow Which You Can Do Today.

Be Studious In Your Profession, And You Will Be Learned. Be Industrious And Frugal, And You Will Be Rich. Be Sober And Temperate, And You Will Be Healthy. Be In General Virtuous, And You Will Be Happy.

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.

It Is The Religion Of Ignorance That Tyranny Begins.

Tyranny Founding Fathers

If You Wou'd Have Guests Merry With Your Cheer, Be So Your Self, Or So At Least Appear.

Look Before, Or You'll Find Yourself Behind.

Finding Yourself

I Have Always Thought That One Man Of Tolerable Abilities May Work Great Changes, And Accomplish Great Affairs Among Mankind, If He First Forms A Good Plan, And, Cutting Off All Amusements Or Other Employments That Would Divert His Attention, Make The Execution Of That Same Plan His Sole Study And Business.

God Heals, And The Doctor Takes The Fees.

Eat Few Suppers, And You'll Need Few Medicines.

Little Leaks Sink The Ship.

You Cannot Always Run From A Weakness. You Must Sometime Fight It Out Or Perish.

Hide Not Your Talents. They For Use Were Made. What's A Sundial In The Shade?

Passion Governs, And She Never Governs Wisely.

If You Want A Neat Wife, Choose Her On A Saturday.

There Is Nothing So Absurd As Knowledge Spun Too Fine.

Most People Die At 25 But Are Buried At 75.

When Wine Enters, Out Goes The Truth.

Make The Best Use Of Both Time And Money. Add Industry And Frugal Dealings If They Pay Very Well And If You're Free To It.

It Is Observable That God Has Often Called Men To Places Of Dignity And Honor When They Have Been Busy In The Honest Employment Of Their Vocation.

Fools Make Feasts And Wise Men Eat Them.

Ill Customs And Bad Advice Are Seldom Forgotten.

Industry Pays Debts, While Despair Increases Them.

Most Men Die At 25, We Just Don't Bury Them Until They Are 70.

Be Not Sick Too Late, Nor Well Too Soon

Many Have Been Ruined By Buying Good Pennyworths.

Don't Think So Much Of Your Own Cunning, As To Forget Other Men's; A Cunning Man Is Overmatched By A Cunning Man And A Half.

Those Who Beat Their Swords Into Plowshares Usually End Up Plowing For Those Who Kept Their Swords.

Right To Bear Arms

Let Thy Maid Servant Be Faithful, Strong, And Homely.

A Traveller Should Have A Hog's Nose, A Deer's Legs, And An Ass's Back.

Innocence Is Its Own Defense.

Keep Conscience Clear, Then Never Fear.

Only A Virtuous People Are Capable Of Freedom.

There Is Much Money Given To Be Laughed At, Though The Purchasers Don't Know It; Witness A.'s Fine Horse, And B.'s Fine House.

Kill No More Pigeons Than You Can Eat.

I Am About Courting A Girl I Have Had But Little Acquaintance With. How Shall I Come To A Knowledge Of Her Faults, And Whether She Has The Virtues I Imagine She Has? Answer. Commend Her Among Her Female Acquaintances.

A Light Purse Is A Heavy Curse.

It Is The Duty Of Mankind On All Suitable Occasions To Acknowledge Their Dependence On The Divine Being.

Since I Cannot Govern My Own Tongue, Though Within My Own Teeth, How Can I Hope To Govern The Tongue Of Others?

Gain May Be Temporary And Uncertain; But Ever While You Live, Expense Is Constant And Certain: And It Is Easier To Build Two Chimneys Than To Keep One In Fuel.

Use Now And Then A Little Exercise A Quarter Of An Hour Before Meals, As To Swing A Weight, Or Swing Your Arms About With A Small Weight In Each Hand; To Leap, Or The Like, For That Stirs The Muscles Of The Breast.

The Only Thing That Is More Expensive Than Education Is Ignorance.

What More Valuable Than Gold? Diamonds. Than Diamonds? Virtue.

Rebellion To Tyrants Is Obedience To God.

Friends And Neighbors Complain That Taxes Are Indeed Very Heavy, And If Those Laid On By The Government Were The Only Ones We Had To Pay, We Might The More Easily Discharge Them; But We Have Many Others, And Much More Grievous To Some Of Us. We Are Taxed Twice As Much By Our Idleness, Three Times As Much By Our Pride, And Four Times As Much By Our Folly.

Forewarn'd, Forearm'd.

Those Who Desire To Give Up Freedom In Order To Gain Security Will Not Have Either One.

Can Anything Be Constant In A World Which Is Eternally Changing?

When You're Finished Changing, You're Finished.

He That Best Understands The World, Least Likes It

An Enormous Proportion Of Property Vested In A Few Individuals Is Dangerous To The Rights, And Destructive Of The Common Happiness Of Mankind, And, Therefore, Every Free State Hath A Right By Its Laws To Discourage The Possession Of Such Property.

A Fine Genius In His Own Country Is Like Gold In The Mine.

A Policy Of Life Insurance Is The Cheapest And Safest Mode Of Making A Certain Provision For One's Family.

If You Wou'd Be Reveng'd Of Your Enemy, Govern Your Self

What Is Best For People Is What They Do For Themselves.

Here's To Our Beloved George Washington, The Joshua Of America, Who Commanded The Sun And The Moon To Stand Still - And They Obeyed.

Avarice And Happiness Never Saw Each Other, How Then Should They Become Acquainted?

Those Have A Short Lent Who Owe Money To Be Paid At Easter.

Resurrection Of Jesus Christ

Tis A Common Observation Here That Our Cause Is The Cause Of All Mankind, And That We Are Fighting For Their Liberty In Defending Our Own.

Never Spare The Parson's Wine Nor The Baker's Pudding

He Was So Learned That He Could Name A Horse In Nine Languages; So Ignorant That He Bought A Cow To Ride On.

Time Like A Petal In The Wind Flows Softly By As Old Lives Are Taken New Ones Begin A Continual Chain Which Lasts Throughout Eternity Every Life But A Minute In Time But Each Of Equal Importance

Pain Wastes The Body, Pleasures The Understanding.

Liberality Is Not Giving Much, But Giving Wisely.

An Investment In Education Always Pays The Highest Returns.

Ambition Has Its Disappointments To Sour Us, But Never The Good Fortune To Satisfy Us.

Most People Dislike Vanity In Others, Whatever Share They Have Of It Themselves.

Some Men Grow Mad By Studying Much To Know, But Who Grows Mad By Studying Good To Grow.

Onions Can Make Even Heirs And Widows Weep.

Having Been Poor Is No Shame, But Being Ashamed Of It, Is.

Nothing In The World Is Certain Except For Death And Taxes.

A Great Empire, Like A Great Cake, Is Most Easily Diminished At The Edges.

The Used Key Is Always Bright.

Let Thy Discontents Be Thy Secrets; If The World Knows Them 'twill Despise Thee And Increase Them.

All Things Are Cheap To The Saving, Dear To The Wasteful

If Principle Is Good For Anything, It Is Worth Living Up To.

Tis A Well Spent Penny That Saves A Groat.

He That Speaks Ill Of The Mare Will Buy Her.

A Temperate Diet Frees From Diseases; Such Are Seldom Ill, But If They Are Surprised With Sickness, They Bear It Better, And Recover Sooner; For Most Distempers Have Their Original From Repletion.

Nine Men In Ten Are Suicides.

Be At War With Your Vices, At Peace With Your Neighbors, And Let Every New Year Find You A Better Man.

On Second Thought, It's A Good Thing Love Is Blind Otherwise It Would See Too Much.

A Little House Well Fill'd, A Little Field Well Till'd, And A Little Wife Well Will'd, Are Great Riches.

The Rapid Progress Of The Sciences Makes Me Sorry, At Times, That I Was Born So Soon. Imagine The Power That Man Will Have Over Matter, A Few Hundred Years From Now. We May Learn How To Remove Gravity From Large Masses, And Float Them Over Great Distances. Agriculture Will Double Its Produce With Less Labor. All Diseases Will Surely Be Cured... Even Old Age. If Only The Moral Sciences Could Be Improved As Well. Perhaps Men Would Cease To Be Wolves To One Another... And Human Beings Could Learn To Be Human.

That Which Hurts, Also Instructs.

Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk

You Must Not, When You Have Gained A Victory, Use Any Triumphing Or Insulting Expressions, Nor Show Too Much Of The Pleasure You Feel; But Endeavour To Console Your Adversary, And Make Him Less Dissatisfied With Himself By Every Kind And Civil Expression That May Be Used With Truth; Such As, You Understand The Game Better Than I, But You Are A Little Inattentive, Or, You Play Too Fast; Or, You Had The Best Of The Game, But Something Happened To Divert Your Thoughts, And That Turned It In My Favour.

Despair Ruins Some, Presumption Many.

The Strictest Law Sometimes Becomes The Severest Injustice.

Without Freedom Of Thought There Can Be No Such Thing As Wisdom;and No Such Thing As Public Liberty, Without Freedom Of Speech.

Fish & Visitors Stink In 3 Days.

My Refusing To Eat Flesh Occasioned An Inconveniency, And I Was Frequently Chid For My Singularity.

Pay What You Owe And You'll Know What's Your Own.

Stand Firm, Don't Flutter!

They Who Have Nothing To Trouble Them, Will Be Troubled At Nothing.

If You Wish Information And Improvement From The Knowledge Of Others, And Yet At The Same Time Express Yourself As Firmly Fix'd In Your Present Opinions, Modest, Sensible Men, Who Do Not Love Disputation, Will Probably Leave You Undisturbed In The Possession Of Your Error.

A Man May, If He Knows Not How To Save As He Gets, Keep His Nose To The Grindstone.

Necessity Is Our Quickest Excuse.

You May Sometimes Be Much In The Wrong, In Owning Your Being In The Right.

He That Rises Late Must Trot All Day.

Poverty, Poetry, And New Titles Of Honor, Make Men Ridiculous

Drink Does Not Drown Care, But Waters It, And Makes It Grow Faster.

A Life Of Leisure And A Life Of Laziness Are Two Things. There Will Be Sleeping Enough In The Grave.

The Securest Place Is A Prison Cell, But There Is No Liberty

But Our Great Security Lies, I Think, In Our Growing Strength.

Man Is A Tool-making Animal

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