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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.

-Benjamin Franklin

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I Think Opinions Should

Benjamin Franklin

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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.

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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?

Man Is A Tool-making Animal

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.

The Best Doctor Gives The Least Medicines.

Anger And Folly Walk Cheeck By Jowl.

Beware Of Little Expenses. A Small Leak Will Sink A Great Ship.

Search Others For Their Virtues, Thyself For Thy Vices.

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

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

Nothing Great Comes Without Enthusiasm.

Hope Of Gain Lessens Pain.

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.

What Is The Use Of A New-born Child ?

I Should Have No Objection To Go Over The Same Life From Its Beginning To The End: Requesting Only The Advantage Authors Have, Of Correcting In A Second Edition The Faults Of The First.

Why Should I Give My Readers Bad Lines Of My Own When Good Ones Of Other People's Are So Plenty?

A New Truth Is A Truth, An Old Error Is An Error.

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.

There Is No Little Enemy

If You'd Be Wealthy, Think Of Saving, More Than Of Getting: The Indies Have Not Made Spain Rich, Because Her Outgoes Equal Her Incomes.

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

Who Is Rich? He That Rejoices In His Portion.

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

Time Management

Outside Independence Hall When The Constitutional Convention Of 1787 Ended, Mrs. Powel Of Philadelphia Asked Benjamin Franklin, "well, Doctor, What Have We Got, A Republic Or A Monarchy?" With No Hesitation Whatsoever, Franklin Responded, "a Republic, If You Can Keep It."

If You Know How To Spend Less Than You Get, You Have The Philosopher's Stone.

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

Be Not Sick Too Late, Nor Well Too Soon

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

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.

Think What You Do When You Run In Debt: You Give To Another Power Over Your Liberty

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

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

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

Tomorrow Never Comes

Snowy Winter, A Plentiful Harvest.

In The Dark, All Cats Are Grey.

There Are More Old Drunkards Than Old Doctors.

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

Those Who Are Fear'd, Are Hated.

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.

If You Have A Secret And Tell Someone Everyone Will Know. You Can Only Keep A Secret If You Don't Tell Anyone.

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.

Sarcasm Is The Lowest Form Of Humor But The Highest Form Of Flattery.

God Works Wonders Now And Then; Behold A Lawyer, An Honest Man.

When Religion Is Good, It Will Take Care Of Itself. When It Is Not Able To Take Care Of Itself, And God Does Not See Fit To Take Care Of It, So That It Has To Appeal To The Civil Power For Support, It Is Evidence To My Mind That Its Cause Is A Bad One.

Mine Is Better Than Ours.

Let Honesty Be As The Breath Of Thy Soul; Then Shalt Thou Reach The Point Of Happiness, And Independence Shall Be Thy Shield And Buckler, Thy Helmet And Crown; Then Shall Thy Soul Walk Upright, Nor Stoop To The Silken Wretch Because He Hath Riches, Nor Pocket An Abuse Because The Hand Which Offers It Wears A Ring Set With Diamonds.

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.

A Little Neglect May Breed Great Mischief. ... For Want Of A Nail, The Shoe Was Lost; For Want Of A Shoe, The Horse Was Lost; For Want Of A Horse, The Battle Was Lost; For Want Of The Battle, The War Was Lost.

Great Good Nature Without Prudence Is A Great Misfortune.

That Is Simple. In The Colonies We Issue Our Own Money. It Is Called Colonial Scrip. We Issue It In Proper Proportion To The Demands Of Trade And Industry To Make The Products Pass Easily From The Producers To The Consumers. In This Manner Creating For Ourselves Our Own Paper Money, We Control Its Purchasing Power, And We Have No Interest To Pay.

A Dying Man Can Do Nothing Easy.

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

Lose No Time; Be Always Employed In Something Useful.

Moral Perfection

When Wine Enters, Out Goes The Truth.

I Didn't Fail The Test, I Just Found 100 Ways To Do It Wrong.

Savages We Call Them, Because Their Manners Differ From Ours, Which We Think The Perfection Of Civility; They Think The Same Of Theirs.

You Will Discover 3 Trustworthy Mates, An Aged Wife, An Aged Canine, And Ready Dollars.

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

When Men And Woman Die, As Poets Sung, His Heart's The Last Part Moves, Her Last, The Tongue.

When Women Cease To Be Handsome, They Study To Be Good.

Dally Not With Other Folk's Spouses Or Money.

He Who Is In Love With Himself Has No Rivals.

Fart For Freedom, Fart For Liberty—and Fart Proudly.

You And I Were Long Friends: You Are Now My Enemy, And I Am Yours.

Truth And Sincerity Have A Certain Distinguishing Native Lustre About Them Which Cannot Be Perfectly Counterfeited; They Are Like Fire And Flame, That Cannot Be Painted.

By The Word Simplicity, Is Not Always Meant Folly Or Ignorance; But Often, Pure And Upright Nature, Free From Artifice, Craft Or Deceitful Ornament.

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

After Three Days Men Grow Weary, Of A Wench, A Guest, And Weather Rainy.

There Is No Gains Without Pain.

You Can Bear Your Own Faults, And Why Not A Fault In Your Wife?

Who Is Rich? He That Is Content. Who Is That? Nobody.

Most People Dislike Vanity In Others, Whatever Share They Have Of It Themselves; But I Give It Fair Quarter, Wherever I Meet With It, Being Persuaded That It Is Often Productive Of Good To The Possessor, And To Others Who Are Within His Sphere Of Action: And Therefore, In Many Cases, It Would Not Be Altogether Absurd If A Man Were To Thank God For His Vanity Among The Other Comforts Of Life.

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

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

Give Me 26 Lead Soldiers And I Will Conquer The World.

Conquer The World

Necessity Never Made A Good Bargain.

If You Want To Make A Friend, Let Someone Do You A Favor.

Be Neither Silly, Nor Cunning, But Wise

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

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

We Must Not In The Course Of Public Life Expect Immediate Approbation And Immediate Grateful Acknowledgment Of Our Services. But Let Us Persevere Through Abuse And Even Injury. The Internal Satisfaction Of A Good Conscience Is Always Present, And Time Will Do Us Justice In The Minds Of The People, Even Those At Present The Most Prejudiced Against Us.

One Today Is Worth Two Tomorrows.

As We Benefit From The Inventions Of Others, We Should Be Glad To Share Our Own ... Freely And Gladly.

Half-wits Talk Much, But Say Little.

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

Better Slip With Foot Than Tongue.

By My Rambling Digressions I Perceive Myself To Be Growing Old.

Never Confuse Motion With Action.

Take Time For All Things: Great Haste Makes Great Waste.

Haste Makes Waste

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

He That Raises A Large Family Does, Indeed, While He Lives To Observe Them, Stand A Broader Mark For Sorrow; But Then He Stands A Broader Mark For Pleasure Too.

Games Lubricate The Body And The Mind.

Despair Ruins Some, Presumption Many.

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

If We Do Not Hang Together, We Shall Surely Hang Separately.

Justice Will Not Be Served Until Those Who Are Unaffected Are As Outraged As Those Who Are.

I Looked Around For God's Judgments, But Saw No Signs Of Them.

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.

The Best Of All Medicines Is Resting And Fasting

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.

He [the Rev. Mr. Whitefield] Used, Indeed, Sometimes To Pray For My Conversion, But Never Had The Satisfaction Of Believing That His Prayers Were Heard.

Neither A Fortress Nor A Maidenhead Will Hold Out Long After They Begin To Parley.

Sloth And Silence Are A Fool's Virtues

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

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

Write Your Injuries In Dust, Your Benefits In Marble.

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.

'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. . . .

Reckless Haste Makes Poor Speed.

Let Thy Vices Die Before Thee.

In New England They Once Thought Blackbirds Useless, And Mischievous To The Corn. They Made Efforts To Destroy Them. The Consequence Was, The Blackbirds Were Diminished; But A Kind Of Worm, Which Devoured Their Grass, And Which The Blackbirds Used To Feed On, Increased Prodigiously; Then, Finding Their Loss In Grass Much Greater Than Their Saving In Corn, They Wished Again For Their Blackbirds.

The Misers Cheese Is Wholesomest

Do Not Fear Mistakes.

Where There's No Law, There's No Bread.

We Are All Born Without Knowledge, But Curious. With Curiosity We Should Be Able To Learn As Much As Possible. With Curiosity, It Has To Take A Lot Of Work To Remain Ignorant.

Men Take More Pains To Mask Than Mend.

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.

A Wolf Eats Sheep But Now And Then, Ten Thousands Are Devour'd By Men.

There's Small Revenge In Words, But Words May Be Greatly Revenged

My Refusing To Eat Meat Occasioned Inconveniency, And I Have Been Frequently Chided For My Singularity. But My Light Repast Allows For Greater Progress, For Greater Clearness Of Head And Quicker Comprehension.

It Is A Grand Mistake To Think Of Being Great Without Goodness And I Pronounce It As Certain That There Was Never A Truly Great Man That Was Not At The Same Time Truly Virtuous.

A Change Of Fortune Hurts A Wise Man No More Than A Change Of The Moon.

Among The Numerous Luxuries Of The Table...coffee May Be Considered As One Of The Most Valuable. It Excites Cheerfulness Without Intoxication; And The Pleasing Flow Of Spirits Which It Occasions...is Never Followed By Sadness, Languor Or Debility.

If You Desire Many Things, Many Things Will Seem Few.

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

Take Courage, Mortal; Death Can't Banish Thee Out Of The Universe.

Where There's Marriage Without Love, There Will Be Love Without Marriage.

He That Is Good For Making Excuses Is Seldom Good For Anything Else.

What You Would Seem To Be, Be Really.

Much Virtue In Herbs, Little In Men.

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

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.

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.

Teach Your Child To Hold His Tongue; He'll Learn Fast Enough To Speak.

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

The Game Of Chess Is Not Merely An Idle Amusement; Several Very Valuable Qualities Of The Mind Are To Be Acquired And Strengthened By It, So As To Become Habits Ready On All Occasions, For Life Is A Kind Of Chess.

Strange Secrets Are Let Out By Death Who Blabs So Oft The Follies Of This World.

Pen, Wax And Parchment Govern The World.

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.

Success Is The Residue Of Planning.

Doing Your Best Means Never Stop Trying.

A Man Of Knowledge Like A Rich Soil, Feeds If Not A World Of Corn, A World Of Weeds.

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

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.

Lawyers, Preachers, And Tomtits Eggs, There Are More Of Them Hatch'd Than Come To Perfection.

For 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.

When Will Mankind Be Convinced And Agree To Settle Their Difficulties By Arbitration?

We Hear Of The Conversion Of Water Into Wine At The Marriage In Cana As Of A Miracle. But This Conversion Is, Through The Goodness Of God, Made Every Day Before Our Eyes. Behold The Rain Which Descends From Heaven Upon Our Vineyards, And Which Incorporates Itself With The Grapes, To Be Changed Into Wine; A Constant Proof That God Loves Us, And Loves To See Us Happy.

The Way To See By Faith Is To Shut The Eye Of Reason.

Beware Of The Young Doctor And The Old Barber.

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

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

Nature Performs The Cure, The Physician Takes The Fee.

Hast Thou Virtue? Acquire Also The Graces And Beauties Of Virtue.

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

Plough Deep While Sluggards Sleep.

When A Religion Is Good, I Conceive It Will Support Itself; And When It Does Not Support Itself, And God Does Not Take Care To Support It So That Its Professors Are Obliged To Call For Help Of The Civil Power, 'tis A Sign, I Apprehend, Of Its Being A Bad One.

Are You Angry That Others Disappoint You? Remember You Cannot Depend Upon Yourself.

He That Hath A Trade, Hath An Estate.

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

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

This Modesty In A Sect Is Perhaps A Singular Instance In The History Of Mankind, Every Other Sect Supposing Itself In Possession Of All Truth, And That Those Who Differ Are So Far In The Wrong ; Like A Man Traveling In Foggy Weather, Those At Some Distance Before Him On The Road He Sees Wrapped Up In The Fog, As Well As Those Behind Him, And Also The People In The Fields On Each Side, But Near Him All Appears Clear, Tho' In Truth He Is As Much In The Fog As Any Of Them.

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

Who Had Deceived Thee So Often As Thyself?

Freedom Is Not A Gift Bestowed Upon Us By Other Men, But A Right That Belongs To Us By The Laws Of God And Nature.

Why Ruin A Young Girl's Life When You Can Make An Older Women So Very Happy !

There Will Be Sleeping Enough In The Grave.

Positive Thinking

One Mend-fault Is Worth Two Find-faults, But One Find-fault Is Better Than Two Make-faults.

Saying And Doing, Have Quarrel'd And Parted.

Saying And Doing

The One Who Fails To Prepare Is Preparing To Fail.

Preparing To Fail

The Doors Of Wisdom Are Never Shut.

Visit Your Aunt, But Not Every Day; And Call At Your Brother's, But Not Every Night.

Let The Child's First Lesson Be Obedience, And The Second Will Be What Thou Wilt.

Time Is An Herb That Cures All Diseases.

Is There Anything Men Take More Pains About Than To Render Themselves Unhappy?

Who Is Strong? He That Can Conquer His Bad Habits.

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

Waste Neither Time Nor Money, But Make The Best Use Of Both.

Those Things That Hurt, Instruct.

Many Have Quarreled About Religion That Never Practice It.

One Today Is Worth Two Tomorrows. Lost Time Is Never Found Again. Time Is Money. Dost Thou Love Life? Then Do Not Squander Time, For That's The Stuff That Life Is Made Of. You May Delay, But Time Will Not.

He That Would Fish, Must Venture His Bait.

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.

I Have Been Apt To Think That There Has Never Been, Nor Ever Will Be, Any Such Thing As A Good War, Or A Bad Peace.

You Must Always Be Prepared. Make Sure To Look At Things From All Angles. If You Are Not Prepared You Will Fail.

Leisure Is The Time For Doing Something Useful.

It Is Easier To Build Two Chimneys Than To Keep One In Fuel.

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

Unless The Stream Of Their Importation Could Be Turned... They Will Soon So Outnumber Us, That All The Advantages We Have, Will Not In My Opinion Be Able To Preserve Our Language, And Even Our Government Will Become Precarious.

A Child Thinks 20 Shillings And 20 Years Can Never Be Spent.

The Thrifty Maxim Of The Wary Dutch, Is To Save All The Money They Can Touch

I Made The Greater Progress, From That Clearness Of Head And Quicker Apprehension Which Generally Attend Temperance In Eating And Drinking.

I Wish It (christianity) Were More Productive Of Good Works ... I Mean Real Good Works ... Not Holy Day Keeping, Sermon-hearing ... Or Making Long Prayers, Filled With Flatteries And Compliments Despised By Wise Men, And Much Less Capable Of Pleasing The Deity.

Pride Gets Into The Coach, And Shame Mounts Behind.

A Man Must Have A Good Deal Of Vanity Who Believes, And A Good Deal Of Boldness Who Affirms, That All The Doctrines He Holds Are True, And All He Rejects Are False.

An Education Is The Investment With The Greatest Returns.

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

A Republic, If You Can Keep It.

He That Steals The Old Man's Supper Does Him No Wrong.

You Can't Tell Anyone Anything. You Have To Teach People For Them To Remember. Let The Person Experience What You Are Teaching And They Will Learn.

Every Accent, Every Emphasis, Every Modulation Of Voice, Was So Perfectly Well Turned And Well Placed, That, Without Being Interested In The Subject, One Could Not Help Being Pleased With The Discourse; A Pleasure Of Much The Same Kind With That Received From An Excellent Piece Of Music. This Is An Advantage Itinerant Preachers Have Over Those Who Are Stationary, As The Latter Can Not Well Improve Their Delivery Of A Sermon By So Many Rehearsals.

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