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I Am On This Account Not Displeased That The Figure Is Not Known As A Bald Eagle, But Looks More Like A Turkey. For The Truth The Turkey Is In Comparison A Much More Respectable Bird, And Withal A True Original Native Of America... He Is Besides, Though A Little Vain & Silly, A Bird Of Courage, And Would Not Hesitate To Attack A Grenadier Of The British Guards Who Should Presume To Invade His Farm Yard With A Red Coat On.

-Benjamin Franklin

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I Am On This

Benjamin Franklin

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I Am On This Account Not Displeased That The Figure Is Not Known As A Bald Eagle, But Looks More Like A Turkey. For The Truth The Turkey Is In Comparison A Much More Respectable Bird, And Withal A True Original Native Of America... He Is Besides, Though A Little Vain & Silly, A Bird Of Courage, And Would Not Hesitate To Attack A Grenadier Of The British Guards Who Should Presume To Invade His Farm Yard With A Red Coat On.

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

On Being Asked What Condition Of Man He Considered The Most Pitiable: A Lonesome Man On A Rainy Day Who Does Not Know How To Read.

Covetousness Is Ever Attended With Solicitude And Anxiety.

Christians Are Directed To Have Faith In Christ, As The Effectual Means Of Obtaining The Change They Desire.

Friends Are The True Sceptres Of Princes.

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

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

Tomorrow, Every Fault Is To Be Amended; But That Tomorrow Never Comes.

Tomorrow Never Comes

Early To Bed And Early To Rise Makes A Man Healthy, Wealthy And Wise.

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.

Nothing's So Apt To Undermine Your Confidence In A Product As Knowing That The Commercial Selling It Has Been Approved By The Company That Makes It.

If You Would Keep Your Secret From An Enemy, Tell It Not To A Friend.

Keeping Secrets

An Education Is The Investment With The Greatest Returns.

It Is The First Responsibility Of Every Citizen To Question Authority.

In Other Men We Faults Can Spy,/ And Blame The Mote That Dims Their Eye;/ Each Little Speck And Blemish Find;/ To Our Own Stronger Errors Blind.

Let The Experiment Be Made.

Ill Customs And Bad Advice Are Seldom Forgotten.

He That Hath A Trade Hath An Estate; And He That Hath A Calling Hath A Place Of Profit And Honor. A Ploughman On His Legs Is Higher Than A Gentleman On His Knees.

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.

Never Take A Wife Till Thou Hast A House (and A Fire) To Put Her In.

Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither.

Proclaim Not All Thou Knowest, All Thou Knowest, All Thou Hast, Nor All Thou Cans't.

Gentlemen, I Have Lived A Long Time And Am Convinced That God Governs In The Affairs Of Men. If A Sparrow Cannot Fall To The Ground Without His Notice, Is It Probable That An Empire Can Rise Without His Aid? I Move That Prayer Imploring The Assistance Of Heaven Be Held Every Morning Before We Proceed To Business.

Disdain The Chain, Preserve Your Freedom; And Maintain Your Independency: Be Industrious And Free; Be Frugal And Free.

The Next Thing Most Like Living One's Life Over Again Seems To Be A Recollection Of That Life, And To Make That Recollection As Durable As Possible By Putting It Down In Writing.

Slavery Is ...an Atrocious Debasement Of Human Nature.

In Humility Imitate Jesus And Socrates.

[e]very Man Who Comes Among Us, And Takes Up A Piece Of Land, Becomes A Citizen, And By Our Constitution Has A Voice In Elections, And A Share In The Government Of The Country.

Industry Need Not Wish, And He That Lives Upon Hopes Will Die Fasting. There Are No Gains Without Pains. He That Hath A Trade Hath An Estate, And He That Hath A Calling Hath An Office Of Profit And Honor; But Then The Trade Must Be Worked At And The Calling Followed, Or Neither The Estate Nor The Office Will Enable Us To Pay Our Taxes. If We Are Industrious, We Shall Never Starve; For At The Workingman's House Hunger Looks In, But Dares Not Enter. Nor Will The Bailiff Or The Constable Enter, For Industry Pays Debts, While Idleness And Neglect Increase Them.

If You Fail To Plan, You Are Planning To Fail!

The Sleeping Fox Catches No Poultry.

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

Life Is Rather A State Of Embryo, A Preparation For Life; A Man Is Not Completely Born Till He Has Passed Through Death.

The Doors Of Wisdom Are Never Shut.

My Dear Friend, Do Not Imagine That I Am Vain Enough To Ascribe Our Success [revolution] To Any Superiority . . . If It Had Not Been For The Justice Of Our Cause, And The Consequent Interposition Of Providence, In Which We Had Faith, We Must Have Been Ruined. If I Had Ever Before Been An Atheist, I Should Now Have Been Convinced Of The Being And Government Of A Deity!

It Is Wonderful How Preposterously The Affairs Of The World Are Managed. We Assemble Parliaments And Councils To Have The Benefit Of Collected Wisdom, But We Necessarily Have, At The Same Time, The Inconvenience Of Their Collected Passions, Prejudices And Private Interests: For Regulating Commerce An Assembly Of Great Men Is The Greatest Fool On Earth

Getting It Done Is My Reward.

Time Management

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

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.

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

Pride Is As Loud A Beggar As Want, And A Great Deal More Saucy. When You Have Bought One Fine Thing, You Must Buy Ten More, That Your Appearance May Be All Of A Piece; But It Is Easier To Suppress The First Desire Than To Satisfy All That Follow It.

It Takes Many Good Deeds To Build A Good Reputation, And Only One Bad One To Lose It.

Love Of Country Is The Mason's Deed; World Citizenship Is His Thought.

A Single Man Has Not Nearly The Value He Would Have In A State Of Union. He Is An Incomplete Animal. He Resembles The Odd Half Of A Pair Of Scissors.

What Maintains One Vice Would Bring Up Two Children.

There's No Gain, Without Pain.

The Best Way To Help The Poor Is To Make Them Uncomfortable In Their Own Poverty.

...it Is Prodigious The Quantity Of Good That May Be Done By One Man If He Will Make A Business Of It.

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

Let Every One Ascertain His Special Business And Calling, And Then Stick To It If He Wants To Be Successful.

Don't You Know, That All Wives Are In The Right? It May Be You Don't, For You Are Yet A Young Husband.

'tis His Honesty That Brought Upon Him The Character Of A Heretic.

To Lengthen Thy Life, Lessen Thy Meals.

People Willing To Trade Their Freedom For Temporary Security Deserve Neither And Will Lose Both.

Security And Freedom

He That Goes A Borrowing Goes A Sorrowing.

Debt By Founding Fathers

An Iron Rod Being Placed On The Outside Of A Building From The Highest Part Continued Down Into The Moist Earth, In Any Direction Strait Or Crooked, Following The Form Of The Roof Or Other Parts Of The Building, Will Receive The Lightning At Its Upper End, Attracting It So As To Prevent It's Striking Any Other Part; And, Affording It A Good Conveyance Into The Earth, Will Prevent Its Damaging Any Part Of The Building.

Fish & Visitors Stink In 3 Days.

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."

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

Necessity Is Our Quickest Excuse.

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

Be Not Sick Too Late, Nor Well Too Soon

That Which Resembles Most Living One's Life Over Again, Seems To Be To Recall All The Circumstances Of It; And, To Render This Remembrance More Durable, To Record Them In Writing.

Most People Return Small Favors, Acknowledge Medium Ones And Repay Greater Ones - With Ingratitude.

Happiness Consists More In Small Conveniences Or Pleasures That Occur Every Day, Than In Great Pieces Of Good Fortune That Happen But Seldom To A Man In The Course Of His Life.

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

Tricks And Treachery Are The Practice Of Fools, That Don't Have Brains Enough To Be Honest.

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

I Was Surprised To Find Myself So Much Fuller Of Faults Than I Had Imagined, But I Had The Satisfaction Of Seeing Them Diminish.

The Worst Wheel Of The Cart Makes The Most Noise.

It Is Ill-manners To Silence A Fool And Cruelty To Let Him Go On

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

A Good Conscience Is A Continual Christmas.

I Believe In One God, Creator Of The Universe In That He Ought To Be Whipped From Pilar To Post And Back Again For His Shameful Actions Toward Humanity.

Poverty Wants Some Things, Luxury Many Things, Avarice All Things

Nothing Great Comes Without Enthusiasm.

No Employment Can Be Managed Without Arithmetic, No Mechanical Invention Without Geometry.

He That Is Rich Need Not Live Sparingly, And He That Can Live Sparingly Need Not Be Rich.

Success Has Ruined Many A Man.

Anyone Willing To Give Up Liberty In Exchange For Security Deserves Neither.

The Best Is The Cheapest.

Beware The Hobby That Eats.

Where Sense Is Wanting, Everything Is Wanting.

The Man That Walks Wit Crowd, Will Get No Farther Than The Crowd. The Man That Walks Alone, Will Reach Places Unknown.

People Want To Catch A Buzz. That Is Why Drugs Are Illegal, Yet People Still Try To Get Their Hands On Them No Matter What The Consequence. Drugs Make Us Happy, They May Not Be Healthy.

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.

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

Virtue And Happiness Are Mother And Daughter.

Eyes And Priests Bear No Jests.

Those Who Would Give Up Essential Liberty, To Purchase A Little Temporary Safety, Deserve Neither Liberty Nor Safety.

In The Dark, All Cats Are Grey.

From A Child I Was Fond Of Reading, And All The Little Money That Came Into My Hands Was Ever Laid Out In Books.

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

Procrastination

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.

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

If We Restrict Liberty To Attain Security We Will Lose Them Both.

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

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.

Buy What Thou Hast No Need Of And Ere Long Thou Shalt Sell Thy Necessities.

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.

Love, Cough, & A Smoke, Can't Well Be Hid.

Love Your Enemies, For They Tell You Your Faults.

If Jack's In Love, He's No Judge Of Jill's Beauty.

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.

Who Is Wise? He That Learns From Everyone. Who Is Powerful? He That Governs His Passions. Who Is Rich? He That Is Content. Who Is That? Nobody.

A Place For Everything, Everything In Its Place.

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

Glass, China, And Reputation, Are Easily Cracked, And Never Well Mended.

The Poor Have Little; Beggars, None; The Rich, Too Much; Enough, Not One.

Only A Virtuous People Are Capable Of Freedom.

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.

Flesh Eating Is Unprovoked Murder.

That Wise Men Have In All Ages Thought Government Necessary For The Good Of Mankind; And, That Wise Governments Have Always Thought Religion Necessary For The Well Ordering And Well-being Of Society, And Accordingly Have Been Ever Careful To Encourage And Protect The Ministers Of It, Paying Them The Highest Publick Honours, That Their Doctrines Might Thereby Meet With The Greater Respect Among The Common People.

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

Did Not Strong Connections Draw Me Elsewhere, I Believe Scotland Would Be The Country I Would Choose To End My Days In.

I Think Opinions Should Be Judged By Their Influences And Effects; And If A Man Holds None That Tend To Make Him Less Virtuous Or More Vicious, It May Be Concluded That He Holds None That Are Dangerous, Which I Hope Is The Case With Me.

Enjoy The Present Hour, Be Mindful Of The Past; And Neither Fear Nor Wish The Approaches Of The Last. Learn Of The Skillful: He That Teaches Himself, Hath A Fool For His Master.

Games Lubricate The Body And The Mind.

Willows Are Weak, But They Bind The Faggot.

What One Relishes, Nourishes.

There Are Two Ways Of Being Happy: We Must Either Diminish Our Wants Or Augment Our Means - Either May Do - The Result Is The Same And It Is For Each Man To Decide For Himself And To Do That Which Happens To Be Easier.

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

Security Without Liberty Is Called Prison.

Passion Governs, And She Never Governs Wisely.

Courteous Reader, Astrology Is One Of The Most Ancient Sciences, Held In High Esteem Of Old, By The Wise And The Great. Formerly, No Prince Would Make War Or Peace, Nor Any General Fight In Battle, In Short, No Important Affair Was Undertaken Without First Consulting An Astrologer.

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.

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

Do Not Do That Which You Would Not Have Known.

Man Is A Tool-making Animal

It Is Better To Take Many Injuries Than To Give One.

Strangers Are Welcome Because There Is Room Enough For Them All, And Therefore The Old Inhabitants Are Not Jealous Of Them; The Laws Protect Them Sufficiently So That They Have No Need Of The Patronage Of Great Men; And Every One Will Enjoy Securely The Profits Of His Industry. But If He Does Not Bring A Fortune With Him, He Must Work And Be Industrious To Live.

Grace Thou Thy House And Let Not That Grace Thee.

Proclaim Not All Though Knowest, Or All Though Owest.

If We Lose Our Money, It Gives Us Some Concern. If We Are Cheated Or Robb'd Of It, We Are Angry: But Money Lost May Be Found; What We Are Robb'd Of May Be Restored: The Treasure Of Time Once Lost, Can Never Be Recovered; Yet We Squander It As Tho' 'twere Nothing Worth, Or We Had No Use For It.

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

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

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

I Scarce Ever Heard Or Saw The Introductory Words, "without Vanity I May Say," Etc., But Some Vain Thing Immediately Followed.

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?

Anger And Folly Walk Cheeck By Jowl.

In Prosperous Fortunes Be Modest And Wise, The Greatest May Fall, And The Lowest May Rise: But Insolent People That Fall In Disgrace, Are Wretched And Nobody Pities Their Case.

A Wise Man Will Desire No More Than What He May Get Justly, Use Soberly, Distribute Cheerfully, And Leave Contently.

That It Is Better 100 Guilty Persons Should Escape Than That One Innocent Person Should Suffer, Is A Maxim That Has Been Long And Generally Approved.

Innocent Person

Eat To Live, Not Live To Eat.

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.

It Is Easier To Prevent Bad Habits Than To Break Them.

Would You Live With Ease, Do What You Ought, And Not What You Please.

She Laughs At Everything You Say. Why? Because She Has Fine Teeth.

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.

As Charms Are Nonsense, Nonsense Is A Charm.

Two Dry Sticks Will Burn A Green One.

If You Have Something To Do Tomorrow, Do It Today.

Idleness And Pride Tax With A Heavier Hand Than Kings And Governments.

Contentment Makes A Poor Person Rich And Discontent Makes A Rich Person Poor.

A Highwayman Is As Much A Robber When He Plunders In A Gang As When Single; And A Nation That Makes An Unjust War Is Only A Great Gang.

No Gains Without Pains.

If You Have A Bald Head Don't Walk Out In The Sun Because You Will Get Burned.

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.

Our Whole Life Is But A Greater And Longer Childhood.

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

Many Have Quarreled About Religion That Never Practice It.

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.

The Tongue Offends And The Ears Get The Cuffing

A Man Is Not Completely Born Until He Is Dead. Why Then Should We Grieve That A New Child Is Born Among The Immortals, A New Member Added To Their Happy Society?

Often I Sit Up In My Room Reading The Greatest Part Of The Night, When The Book Was Borrowed In The Evening And To Be Returned Early In The Morning, Lest It Should Be Missed Or Wanted.

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.

Leisure Is The Time For Doing Something Useful.

Scarcely Have I Ever Heard Or Read The Introductory Phrase, "i May Say Without Vanity," But Some Striking And Characteristic Instance Of Vanity Has Immediately Followed.

Prayers And Provender Hinder No Journey.

Alas, I Know If I Ever Became Truly Humble, I Would Be Proud Of It.

Conceiving God To Be The Fountain Of Wisdom, I Thought It Right And Necessary To Solicit His Assistance For Obtaining It.

"we Hold These Truths To Be Sacred And Undeniable" In A Draft Of The Declaration Of Independence Changes It Instead Into An Assertion Of Rationality. The Scientific Mind Of Franklin Drew On The Scientific Determinism Of Isaac Newton And The Analytic Empiricism Of David Hume And Gottfried Leibniz. In What Became Known As "hume's Fork" The Latters' Theory Distinguished Between Synthetic Truths That Describe Matters Of Fact, And Analytic Truths That Are Self-evident By Virtue Of Reason And Definition.

In A Discreet Man's Mouth, A Public Thing Is Private.

A True Friend Is The Greatest Possesion.

Wealth Is Not His That Has It, But His That Enjoys It.

Greatest Wealth

If You Would Have A Faithful Servant, And One That You Like, Serve Yourself.

Faithful Servants

If We Look Back Into History For The Character Of The Present Sects In Christianity, We Shall Find Few That Have Not In Their Turns Been Persecutors, And Complainers Of Persecution. The Primitive Christians Thought Persecution Extremely Wrong In The Pagans, But Practised It On One Another.

Experience Keeps A Dear School, But Fools Will Learn In No Other.

When Men Differ In Opinion, Both Sides Ought Equally To Have The Advantage Of Being Heard By The Public; When Truth And Error Have Fair Play, The Former Is Always An Overmatch For The Latter.

Let Each New Year Find You A Better Person.

If Thou Hast Wit And Learning, Add To It Wisdom And Modesty.

Fish And Visitors Stink In Three Days.

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

When Men Are Employed They Are Best Contented.

Pride Is As Loud A Beggar As Want, And A Great Deal More Saucy

When You're Testing To See How Deep Water Is, Never Use Two Feet.

Forewarn'd, Forearm'd.

The Busy Man Has Few Idle Visitors; To The Boiling Pot The Flies Come Not.

I Was Put To The Grammar-school At Eight Years Of Age, My Father Intending To Devote Me, As The Tithe Of His Sons, To The Service Of The Church.

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

I Consent Sir, To This Constitution Because I Expect No Better, And Because I Am Not Sure, That It Is Not The Best.

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

Forbidden Fruit

Little Rogues Easily Become Great Ones.

Great Talkers Should Be Cropt, For They've No Need Of Ears.

Who Is Rich? He That Rejoices In His Portion.

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.

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

In Order For Three People To Keep A Secret, Two Must Be Dead.

Those Who In Quarrels Interpose, Must Often Wipe A Bloody Nose.

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