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Death Is A Fisherman, The World We See His Fish-pond Is, And We The Fishes Be; His Net Some General Sickness; Howe'er He Is Not So Kind As Other Fishers Be; For If They Take One Of The Smaller Fry, They Throw Him In Again, He Shall Not Die: But Death Is Sure To Kill All He Can Get, And All Is Fish With Him That Comes To Net.

-Benjamin Franklin

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Death Is A Fisherman,

Benjamin Franklin

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Death Is A Fisherman, The World We See His Fish-pond Is, And We The Fishes Be; His Net Some General Sickness; Howe'er He Is Not So Kind As Other Fishers Be; For If They Take One Of The Smaller Fry, They Throw Him In Again, He Shall Not Die: But Death Is Sure To Kill All He Can Get, And All Is Fish With Him That Comes To Net.

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Getting It Done Is My Reward.

Time Management

The Most Trifling Actions That Affect A Man's Credit Are To Be Regarded. The Sound Of Your Hammer At Five In The Morning, Or At Nine At Night, Heard By A Creditor, Makes Him Easy Six Months Longer; But If He Sees You At The Billiard-table, Or Hears Your Voice At A Tavern, When You Should Be At Work, He Sends For His Money The Next Day.

The Best Is The Cheapest.

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.

An Education Is The Investment With The Greatest Returns.

Vicious Actions Are Not Hurtful Because They Are Forbidden, But Forbidden Because They Are Hurtful.

There Are Three Sorts Of People In The World: Those Who Are Immovable, People Who Don't Get It, Or Don't Want To Do Anything About It; There Are People Who Are Movable, People Who See The Need For Change And Are Prepared To Listen To It; And There Are People Who Move, People Who Make Things Happen.

He That Riseth Late, Must Trot All Day, And Shall Scarce Overtake His Business At Night.

Your Best Investment Is To Pour Your Purse Into Your Head, And No One Can Take It Away From You.

The Nearest I Can Make It Out, "love Your Enemies" Means, "hate Your Friends"

Evil, As Evil, Can Never Be Chosen; And Though Evil Is Often The Effect Of Our Own Choice, Yet We Never Desire It But Under The Appearance Of An Imaginary Good.

The Church, The State, And The Poor, Are 3 Daughters Which We Should Maintain, But Not Portion Off.

Governments Having Failed The People, The People Are Entirely Justified In Assuming For Themselves An Essential Role In Government. Where A Government Takes Proper Measures To Protect The People Under Its Care, Such A Proceeding Might Have Been Thought Both Unnecessary And Unjustifiable: But Here It Is Quite The Reverse.

Learn Of The Skillful; He That Teaches Himself, Has A Fool For His Master.

Virtue And Happiness Are Mother And Daughter.

Certainlie These Things Agree, The Priest, The Lawyer, & Death All Three: Death Takes Both The Weak And The Strong. The Lawyer Takes From Both Right And Wrong, And The Priest From Living And Dead Has His Fee.

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

To Be Proud Of Virtue, Is To Poison Yourself With The Antidote.

There Is No Little Enemy

The Best Doctor Gives The Least Medicines.

The Wise And The Brave Dares Own That He Was Wrong.

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

There Is Nothing So Absurd As Knowledge Spun Too Fine.

Do Well By Doing Good.

A Place For Everything, Everything In Its Place.

You Can Not Pluck Roses Without Fear Of Thorns, Nor Enjoy A Fair Wife Without Danger Of Horns.

Why Should Pennsylvania, Founded By The English, Become A Colony Of Aliens, Who Will Shortly Be So Numerous As To Germanize Us Instead Of Our Anglifying Them, And Will Never Adopt Our Language Or Customs, Any More Than They Can Acquire Our Complexion.

All Highly Competent People Continually Search For Ways To Keep Learning, Growing, And Improving. They Do That By Asking Why. After All, The Person Who Knows How Will Always Have A Job, But The Person Who Knows Why Will Always Be The Boss.

If You Would Know The Value Of Money, Go And Try To Borrow Some.

Idleness Is The Dead Sea That Swallows All Virtues. Be Active In Business, That Temptation May Miss Her Aim; The Bird That Sits Is Easily Shot.

I Have Thought That Wild Flowers Might Be The Alphabet Of Angels, — Whereby They Write On Hills And Fields Mysterious Truths, Which It Is Not Given Our Fallen Nature To Understand.

In This World Nothing Can Be Said To Be Certain, Except Death And Taxes.

I Am Lord Of Myself, Accountable To None.

Life Is A Kind Of Chess, With Struggle, Competition, Good And Ill Events.

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

Let Me Resolve To Be Virtuous, That I May Be Happy, That I May Please Him, Who Is Delighted To See Me Happy. Amen.

An Investment In Knowledge Pays The Best Interest.

He That Pursues Two Hares At Once, Does Not Catch One And Lets The Other Go.

Wars Are Not Paid For In Wartime. The Bill Comes Later.

Speak And Speed: The Close Mouth Catches No Flies.

Better Is Little With The Fear Of The Lord, Than Great Treasure, And Trouble Therewith.

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

An Honest Man Will Receive Neither Money Nor Praise That Is Not His Due.

There Are No Ugly Loves Nor Handsome Prisons.

I Am In The Prime Of Senility.

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.

All Who Think Cannot But See There Is A Sanction Like That Of Religion Which Binds Us In Partnership In The Serious Work Of The World.

The First Degree Of Folly, Is To Conceit One's Self Wise; The Second To Profess It; The Third To Despise Counsel.

She That Paints Her Face, Thinks Of Her Tail.

A Perfect Character Might Be Attended With The Inconvenience Of Being Envied And Hated; And That A Benevolent Man Should Allow A Few Faults In Himself, To Keep His Friends In Countenance.

There Is No Kind Of Dishonesty Into Which Otherwise Good People More Easily And Frequently Fall Than That Of Defrauding The Government.

To All Apparent Beauties Blind, Each Blemish Strikes An Envious Mind.

One Man May Be More Cunning Than Another, But Not More Cunning Than Every Body Else.

Write With The Learned, Pronounce With The Vulgar.

Thinking Aloud Is A Habit Which Is Responsible For Most Of Mankind's Misery.

Where There Is Hunger, Law Is Not Regarded; And Where Law Is Not Regarded, There Will Be Hunger.

An Ounce Of Wit That Is Bought, Is Worth A Pound That Is Taught.

I Fear The Man Who Drinks Water And So Remembers This Morning What The Rest Of Us Said Last Night

On The Whole, Though I Never Arrived At The Perfection I Had Been So Ambitious Of Obtaining, But Fell Far Short Of It, Yet I Was, By The Endeavor, A Better And A Happier Man Than I Otherwise Should Have Been Had I Not Attempted It.

Genius Is The Ability To Hold One's Vision Steady Until It Becomes Reality

As Often As We Do Good, We Sacrifice.

He That Won't Be Counseled Can't Be Helped. He That Would Have A Short Lent, Let Him Borrow Money To Be Repaid At Easter.

Little Leaks Sink The Ship.

Those Who Prefer Security To Liberty Deserve Neither.

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.

Reader, I Wish Thee Health, Wealth, Happiness, And May Kind Heaven Thy Year's Industry Bless.

Take It From Richard, Poor And Lame, What's Begun In Anger Ends In Shame.

Every Pot Must Sit On Its Own Bottom.

He That Speaks Ill Of The Mare Will Buy Her.

A Man Can Be Beautiful Physically, Mentally, Or Personality Wise. True Beauty, Though, Is In The Spirit. A Genuine Man Who Understands Right And Wrong, With A Strong Sense Of Self Is Beautiful. A Man Who Can Be Compassionate And Caring, But Firm And Wise. Someone Who Can Do The Right Thing No Matter Who's Around To See It. Even If The Deed Is Unseen And Unrecognized. That Is A Beautiful Man. One Today Is Worth Two Tomorrows.

And Whether You're An Honest Man, Or Whether You're A Thief, Depends On Whose Solicitor Has Given Me My Brief.

The Worst Wheel Of The Cart Makes The Most Noise.

This [the U.s. Constitution] Is Likely To Be Administered For A Course Of Years And Then End In Despotism... When The People Shall Become So Corrupted As To Need Despotic Government, Being Incapable Of Any Other.

'tis True There Is Much To Be Done, . . . But Stick To It Steadily, And You Will See Great Effects, For Constant Dropping Wears Away Stones . . . And Little Strokes Fell Great Oaks, As Poor Richard Says. . . .

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.

Would You Persuade, Speak Of Interest, Not Of Reason.

Flesh Eating Is Unprovoked Murder.

The Riches Of A Country Are To Be Valued By The Quantity Of Labor Its Inhabitants Are Able To Purchase, And Not By The Quantity Of Silver And Gold They Possess; Which Will Purchase More Or Less Labor, And Therefore Is More Or Less Valuable, As Is Said Before, According To Its Scarcity Or Plenty.

One Of The Greatest Tragedies Of Life Is The Murder Of A Beautiful Theory By A Gang Of Brutal Facts.

God Helps Those Who Help Themselves.

Men And Melons Are Hard To Know.

Nothing Is So Tiresome To One's Self, As Well As So Odious To Others, As Disguise And Affectation.

Mankind Naturally And Generally Love To Be Flatter'd.

There Cannot Be Good Living Where There Is Not Good Drinking.

Before Noah, Men Having Only Water To Drink, Could Not Find The Truth. Accordingly...they Became Abominably Wicked, And They Were Justly Exterminated By The Water They Loved To Drink. This Good Man, Noah, Having Seen That All His Contemporaries Had Perished By This Unpleasant Drink, Took A Dislike To It; And God, To Relieve His Dryness, Created The Vine And Revealed To Him The Art Of Making Le Vin. By The Aid Of This Liquid He Unveiled More And More Truth.

When You Taste Honey, Remember Gall.

Eat To Live, Not Live To Eat.

Half The Truth Is Often A Great Lie.

Most People Die At 25 But Are Buried At 75.

The Handshake Of The Host Affects The Taste Of The Roast

Perhaps I'm Too Saucy Or Provoking?

Necessity Is Our Quickest Excuse.

The People Heard It, And Approved The Doctrine, And Immediately Practiced The Contrary.

Singularity In The Right Hath Ruined Many; Happy Those Who Are Convinced Of The General Opinion.

Hear Reason, Or She'll Make You Feel Her.

He That Cannot Obey, Cannot Command.

Trusting Too Much To Others Care Is The Ruin Of Many.

Man Is A Tool-making Animal

History Will Also Afford Frequent Opportunities Of Showing The Necessity Of A Public Religion, From Its Usefulness To The Public; The Advantage Of A Religious Character Among Private Persons; The Mischiefs Of Superstition, And The Excellency Of The Christian Religion Above All Others, Ancient Or Modern.

There Are Many Roads To Success, But Only One Sure Road To Failure; And That Is To Try To Please Everyone Else.

Road To Success

Be In General Virtuous, And You Will Be Happy.

Quacks Are The Greatest Liars In The World Except Their Patients.

If You Would Be Wealthy, Think Of Saving As Well As Getting.

Love Your Enemies, For They Tell You Your Faults.

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.

What Is The Use Of A New-born Child ?

Write Your Injuries In Dust, Your Benefits In Marble.

Neglect Mending A Small Fault And 'twill Soon Be A Great One.

To The Haranguers Of The Populace Among The Ancients, Succeed Among The Moderns Your Writers Of Political Pamphlets And News-papers, And Your Coffee-house Talkers.

Hear No Ill Of A Friend, Nor Speak Any Of An Enemy.

If You Want To Be Loved, Love And Be Loveable.

What One Relishes, Nourishes.

Praise To The Undeserving Is Severe Satire.

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

While The Path To Wealth Is Clearly Marked, Few Are Willing To Adapt Themselves To The Modest Discipline That The Journey Requires. Instead, Most Choose The Shinier Track Of Debt-driven Consumption, Which They Find Further Along Is Covered In Vines And Thorns.

A Wicked Hero Will Turn His Back To An Innocent Coward.

Opportunity Is The Great Bawd.

Necessity Never Made A Good Bargain.

The Tongue Offends And The Ears Get The Cuffing

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.

In Short, The Way To Wealth, If You Desire It, Is As Plain As The Way To Market. It Depends Chiefly On Two Works, Industry And Frugality.

All Cats Look Gray In The Dark.

I Wake Up Every Morning At Nine And Grab For The Morning Paper. Then I Look At The Obituary Page. If My Name Is Not On It, I Get Up.

Have A Good Day

The Proud Hate Pride In Others.

Sin Is Not Hurtful Because It Is Forbidden, But It Is Forbidden Because It Is Hurtful.

Forbidden Fruit

Blessed Is He That Expects Nothing, For He Shall Never Be Disappointed. Expect Nothing - Get Nothing! But Expect Something - Get Something!!

No Nation Was Ever Ruined By Trade.

The Doorstep To The Temple Of Wisdom Is A Knowledge Of Our Own Ignorance.

Now I've A Sheep And A Cow, Every Body Bids Me Good Morrow.

Families Ought To Be Noisy.

If You Want A Thing Done - Go. If Not - Send.

To The Generous Mind The Heaviest Debt Is That Of Gratitude, When It Is Not In Our Power To Repay It.

Fools Need Advice Most, But Wise Men Only Are The Better For It.

Diligence Is The Mother Of Good Luck, And God Gives All Things To Industry. Work While It Is Called Today, For You Know Not How Much You May Be Hindered By Tomorrow. One Today Is Worth Two Tomorrows; Never Leave That Till Tomorrow Which You Can Do To-day.

Procrastination

Here You Would Know, And Enjoy, What Prosperity Will Way Of Washington. For A Thousand Leagues Have Nearly The Same Effect With A Thousand Years.

He That Has Done You A Kindness Will Be More Ready To Do You Another, Than He Whom You Yourself Have Obliged.

Do You Love Truth For Truth's Sake, And Will You Endeavor Impartially To Find And Receive It Yourself, And Communicate It To Others?

Three Things Are Men Most Likely To Be Cheated In, A Horse, A Wig, And A Wife.

Even Peace May Be Purchased At Too High A Price.

Little Minds Think And Talk About People. Average Minds Think And Talk About Things And Actions. Great Minds Think And Talk About Ideas.

Human Felicity Is Produced Not As Much By Great Pieces Of Good Fortune That Seldom Happen As By Little Advantages That Occur Every Day.

There Was Great Difference In Persons; And Discretion Did Not Always Accompany Years, Nor Was Youth Always Without It.

Saying And Doing, Have Quarrel'd And Parted.

Saying And Doing

Idleness Is The Dead Sea That Swallows All Virtues

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

The Good Particular Men May Do Separately, In Relieving The Sick, Is Small, Compared With What They May Do Collectively.

What's A Sun-dial In The Shade?

I Wish To Live Without Committing Any Fault At Any Time.

Moral Perfection

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

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.

Remember This Saying, 'that The Good Paymaster Is Lord Of Another Man's Purse.' 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.

Two Passions Have Powerful Influence On The Affairs Of Men: The Love Of Power And The Love Of Money.

Duty Is Not Beneficial Because It Is Commanded, But Is Commanded Because It Is Beneficial.

The Good Education Of Youth Has Been Esteemed By Wise Men In All Ages, As The Surest Foundation Of The Happiness Both Of Private Families And Of Common-wealths. Almost All Governments Have Therefore Made It A Principal Object Of Their Attention, To Establish And Endow With Proper Revenues, Such Seminaries Of Learning, As Might Supply The Succeeding Age With Men Qualified To Serve The Publick With Honour To Themselves, And To Their Country.

By Improving Yourself, The World Is Made Better. Be Not Afraid Of Growing Too Slowly. Be Afraid Only Of Standing Still.

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.

Those Renowned Generals [alexander And Caesar] Received More Faithful Service, And Performed Greater Actions By Means Of The Love Their Soldiers Bore Them, Than They Could Possibly Have Done, If Instead Of Being Beloved And Respected They Had Been Hated And Feared By Those They Commanded.

Bad Gains Are True Losses.

The Discontented Man Finds No Easy Chair.

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

...till We Are Uneasy In Rest, We Can Have No Desire To Move, And Without Desire Of Moving There Can Be No Voluntary Motion.

Friends Are The True Sceptres Of Princes.

Private Property...is The Creature Of Society And Is Subject To The Calls Of That Society Even To The Last Farthing.

Security Without Liberty Is Called Prison.

Lose No Time; Be Always Employed In Something Useful.

Moral Perfection

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

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

I Hope...that Mankind Will At Length, As They Call Themselves Reasonable Creatures, Have Reason And Sense Enough To Settle Their Differences Without Cutting Throats; For In My Opinion There Never Was A Good War, Or A Bad Peace.

Lend Money To An Enemy, And Thou Will Gain Him, To A Friend And Thou Will Lose Him.

Industry And Patience Are The Surest Means Of Plenty.

Who Is Wise? He That Learns From Everyone.

This Gave Me Occasion To Observe, That When Men Are Employ'd They Are Best Contented. For On The Days They Work'd They Were Good-natur'd And Chearful; And With The Consciousness Of Having Done A Good Days Work They Spent The Evenings Jollily; But On The Idle Days They Were Mutinous And Quarrelsome, Finding Fault With Their Pork, The Bread, And In Continual Ill-humour. (autobiography, 1771)

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

Dangerous, Therefore, Is It To Take Shelter Under A Tree, During A Thunder-gust. It Has Been Fatal To Many, Both Men And Beasts.

Wine Is Constant Proof That God Loves Us And Likes To See Us Happy.

Revelation, Indeed, As Such Had No Influence On My Mind

He That Sells Upon Credit Expects To Lose 5 Per Cent. By Bad Debts; Therefore He Charges, On All He Sells Upon Credit, An Advance That Shall Make Up That Deficiency.

I Know As Well As Thee That I Am No Poet Born It Is A Trade, I Never Learnt Nor Indeed Could Learn If I Make Verses-'tis In Spite Of Nature And My Stars I Write.

Never Ruin An Apology With An Excuse.

It Is Better To Let 100 Criminals Go Free Than To Imprison 1 Innocent Man.

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

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.

Little Boats Should Keep Near Shore

The Sleeping Fox Catches No Poultry.

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.

To Be Humble To Superiors Is A Duty, To Equals Courtesy, To Inferiors Nobleness.

One Of The Advantages Of Being A 'reasonable Creature' Is That One Can Find A Reason For Whatever One Wants To Do.

I Look Upon Death To Be As Necessary To Our Constitution As Sleep. We Shall Rise Refreshed In The Morning.

Avoid Dishonest Gain: No Price Can Recompence The Pangs Of Vice.

Religion I Found To Be Without Any Tendency To Inspire, Promote, Or Confirm Morality, Serves Principally To Divide Us And Make Us Unfriendly To One Another.

Do You Love Life? Then Don't Waste Time, Because Time Is Life!

Time Management

Pride That Dines On Vanity, Sups On Contempt.

Rules Too Soft Are Seldomly Followed; Rules Too Harsh Are Seldomly Executed.

You Made Delay, But Time Will Not, And Lost Time Is Never Found Again.

Procrastination

Believe None Of What You Hear And Half Of What You See.

A Little Religion, And A Little Honesty, Goes A Great Way In Courts.

Do Good To Thy Friend To Keep Him, To Thy Enemy To Gain Him.

Wherever Desirable Superfluities Are Imported, Industry Is Excited, And Thereby Plenty Is Produced. Were Only Necessaries Permitted To Be Purchased, Men Would Work No More Than Was Necessary For That Purpose.

I Believe There Is One Supreme Most Perfect Being.

[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.

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