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

-Benjamin Franklin

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If You Have Something

Benjamin Franklin

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

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Philosophy As Well As Foppery Often Changes Fashion.

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

In The Dark, All Cats Are Grey.

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

Evils Come Not, Then Our Fears Are Vain; And If They Do Fear But Augments The Pain.

The Foundation Of All Happiness In Thinking Rightly.

A Good Spouse And Health Is A Person's Best Wealth.

A Flatterer Never Seems Absurd: The Flatter'd Always Takes His Word.

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.

Reckless Youth Makes Rueful Age.

In Short, I Conceive That Great Part Of The Miseries Of Mankind Are Brought Upon Them By The False Estimates They Have Made Of The Value Of Things, And By Their Giving Too Much For Their Whistles.

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

Remember, That Money Is Of The Prolific, Generating Nature.

Let Thy Discontents Be Thy Secrets

No European Who Has Tasted Savage Life Can Afterwards Bear To Live In Our Societies.

Sloth Makes All Things Difficult, But Industry All Things Easy.

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

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

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

A Place For Everything, Everything In Its Place.

A Light Purse Is A Heavy Curse.

He That Lives Well, Is Learned Enough.

A Lady Asked Dr. Franklin Well Doctor What Have We Got A Republic Or A Monarchy - "a Republic," Replied The Doctor, "if You Can Keep It."

People Who Are Wrapped Up In Themselves Make Small Packages.

What Is Without Us Has No Connection With Happiness, Only So Far As The Preservation Of Our Lives And Health Depends Upon It. . . . Happiness Springs Immediately From The Mind.

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.

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

Where Security Exists, Liberty And Opportunity Do Not.

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

Drive Thy Business Or It Will Drive Thee.

A Little Neglect May Breed Great Mischief.

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

God Helps Those Who Help Themselves.

Observe All Men, Thyself Most.

Self Observation

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

Bad Gains Are True Losses.

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

I Cannot Conceive Otherwise Than That He, The Infinite Father, Expects Or Requires No Worship Or Praise From Us, But That He Is Even Infinitely Above It.

Hunger Is The Best Pickle.

The Best Investment Is In The Tools Of One's Own Trade.

Mine Is Better Than Ours.

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

Motivation Is When Your Dreams Put On Work Clothes

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

Little Leaks Sink The Ship.

Whatever Is Begun In Anger Ends In Shame.

It Is Very Hard To Dislike Someone You Have Helped

Dislike Someone

The Tongue Offends And The Ears Get The Cuffing

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

An Investment In Education Always Pays The Highest Returns.

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

As Sore Places Meet Most Rubs, Proud Folks Meet Most Affronts.

Grievances Cannot Be Redressed Until They Are Known; And They Cannot Be Known But Through Complaints And Petitions. If These Are Deemed Affronts, And The Messengers Punished As Offenders, Who Will Henceforth Send Petitions? And Who Will Deliver Them? Wise Governments Encouraged The Airing Of Grievances, Even Those That Were Lightly Founded Foolish Governments Did The Opposite - To Their Peril. Where Complaining Is A Crime, Hope Becomes Despair.

When In Doubt, Don't.

Overcoming Doubt

Do Not, However, Mistake Me. It Is Not To My Good Friend's Heresy That I Impute His Honesty. On The Contrary, 'tis His Honesty That Brought Upon Him The Character Of A Heretic.

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

Old Boys Have Their Playthings As Well As Young Ones; The Difference Is Only In The Price.

Many Estates Are Spent In The Getting, Since Women For Tea Forsake Spinning And Knitting, And Men For Punch Forsake Hewing And Splitting.

If You Do Not Exclude Them, In Less Than 200 Years Our Descendants Will Be Working In The Fields To Furnish Them Substance, While They Will Be In The Counting Houses Rubbing Their Hands. I Warn You, Gentlemen, If You Do Not Exclude Jews For All Time, Your Children Will Curse You In Your Graves.

Industry Pays Debts, While Despair Increases Them.

There Never Was A Truly Great Man That Was Not At The Same Time Truly Virtuous.

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

One Good Husband Is Worth Two Good Wives, For The Scarcer Things Are, The More They Are Valued.

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.'

Rich Widows Are The Only Secondhand Goods That Sell At First-class Prices.

When You Are In Debt, Then You Are A Slave.

Opportunity Is The Great Bawd.

Experience Is The Best Teacher, But A Fool Will Learn From No Other.

He That Goes A Borrowing Goes A Sorrowing.

Debt By Founding Fathers

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

Conquer The World

Get What You Can, And What You Get Hold; 'tis The Stone That Will Turn All Your Lead Into Gold.

Many Foxes Grow Gray But Few Grow Good.

The World Is Run By The People Who Show Up.

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

But The Eyes Of Other People Are The Eyes That Ruin Us. If All But Myself Were Blind, I Should Want Neither Fine Clothes, Fine Houses Nor Fine Furniture.

If A Man Empties His Purse Into His Head, No One Can Take It From Him.

When The Well Is Dry, We Know The Worth Of Water.

Neglect Kills Injuries, Revenge Increases Them.

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.

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.

Great Good Nature Without Prudence Is A Great Misfortune.

The Grand Leap Of The Whale Up The Fall Of Niagara Is Esteemed, By All Who Have Seen It, As One Of The Finest Spectacles In Nature.

To Succeed, Jump As Quickly At Opportunities As You Do At Conclusions.

Energy And Persistence Conquer All Things.

Trouble Knocked At The Door, But, Hearing Laughter, Hurried Away

A Dying Man Can Do Nothing Easy.

Those Who Give Up Their Liberty For More Security Neither Deserve Liberty Nor Security.

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

Strict Punctuality Is A Cheap Virtue.

Be Ashamed To Catch Yourself Idle.

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

The Way To Be Safe Is Never To Be Secure.

O Powerful Goodness! Bountiful Father! Merciful Guide! Increase In Me That Wisdom Which Discovers My Truest Interest. Strengthen My Resolution To Perform What That Wisdom Dictates. Accept My Kind Offices To Thy Other Children As The Only Return In My Power For Thy Continual Favours To Me.

He That Doth What He Should Not, Shall Feel What He Would Not.

Nothing Great Comes Without Enthusiasm.

Fiction Or Fable Allures To Instruction.

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.

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.

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.

I Wish The Bald Eagle Had Not Been Chosen As The Representative Of Our Country; He Is A Bird Of Bad Moral Character; Like Those Among Men Who Live By Sharping And Robbing, He Is Generally Poor, And Often Very Lousy. The Turkey Is A Much More Respectable Bird, And Withal A True Original Native Of America.

Private Property ... Is A Creature Of Society, And Is Subject To The Calls Of That Society, Whenever Its Necessities Shall Require It, Even To Its Last Farthing, Its Contributors Therefore To The Public Exigencies Are Not To Be Considered A Benefit On The Public, Entitling The Contributors To The Distinctions Of Honor And Power, But As The Return Of An Obligation Previously Received, Or As Payment For A Just Debt.

Nothing Preaches Better Than The Act.

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.

Many Would Live By Their Wits, But Break For Want Of Stock.

The Use Of Money Is All The Advantage There Is In Having Money.

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

Never Ruin An Apology With An Excuse.

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.

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.

Righteousness, Or Justice, Is, Undoubtedly Of All The Virtues, The Surest Foundation On Which To Create And Establish A New State. But There Are Two Nobler Virtues, Industry And Frugality, Which Tend More To Increase The Wealth, Power And Grandeur Of The Community, Than All The Others Without Them.

The Generous Mind Least Regards Money, And Yet Most Feels The Want Of It.

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

Common Sense Is Something That Everyone Needs, Few Have, And None Think They Lack.

If Your Riches Are Yours, Why Don't You Take Them With You To The Other World?

Beware Of The Young Doctor And The Old Barber.

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.

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

So Much For Industry, My Friends, And Attention To One's Own Business; But To These We Must Add Frugality If We Would Make Our Industry More Certainly Successful. A Man May, If He Knows Not How To Save As He Gets, Keep His Nose All His Life To The Grindstone, And Die Not Worth A Grout At Last.

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.

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.

It's Better To Swim In The Sea Below Than To Swing In The Air And Feed The Crow, Says Jolly Ned Teach Of Bristol.

He That Waits Upon Fortune, Is Never Sure Of A Dinner.

The Problem With Common Sense Is, It Isn't.

We Are A Kind Of Posterity In Respect To Them.

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.

Would Thou Confound Thy Enemy, Be Good Thyself.

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 Have Lived, Sir, A Long Time, And The Longer I Live, The More Convincing Proofs I See Of This Truth — That God Governs In The Affairs Of Men.

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

A Bible And A Newspaper In Every House, A Good School In Every District; All Studied And Appreciated As They Merit; Are The Principal Support Of Virtue, Morality, And Civil Liberty.

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.

Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither.

The Purpose Of Money Was To Purchase One's Freedom To Pursue That Which Is Useful And Interesting.

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

If I Knew A Miser, Who Gave Up Every Kind Of Comfortable Living, All The Pleasure Of Doing Good To Others, All The Esteem Of His Fellow-citizens, And The Joys Of Benevolent Friendship, For The Sake Of Accumulating Wealth. Poor Man, Said I, You Pay Too Much For Your Whistle.

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

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

There Are Lazy Minds As Well As Lazy Bodies.

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

Tis Against Some Mens Principle To Pay Interest, And Seems Against Others Interest To Pay The Principle.

Men Take More Pains To Mask Than Mend.

The Best Of All Medicines Is Resting And Fasting

Anger Is Never Without A Reason, But Seldom With A Good One.

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

Take Courage, Mortal... Death Cannot Banish You From The Universe.

Virtue Alone Is Sufficient To Make A Man Great, Glorious, And Happy.

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.

Mankind Naturally And Generally Love To Be Flatter'd.

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

We Are More Thoroughly An Enlightened People, With Respect To Our Political Interests, Than Perhaps Any Other Under Heaven. Every Man Among Us Reads, And Is So Easy In His Circumstances As To Have Leisure For Conversations Of Improvement And For Acquiring Information.

The Refusal Of King George To Allow The Colonies To Operate An Honest Money System, Which Freed The Ordinary Man From Clutches Of The Money Manipulators Was Probably The Prime Cause Of The Revolution.

He Gives Twice That Gives Soon, I.e., He Will Soon Be Called To Give Again.

Ill Customs And Bad Advice Are Seldom Forgotten.

If Everyone Is Thinking Alike, Then No One Is Thinking.

But They Have Two Other Rights; Those Of Sitting When They Please, And As Long As They Please, In Which Methinks They Have The Advantage Of Your Parliament; For They Cannot Be Dissolved By The Breath Of A Minister, Or Sent Packing As You Were The Other Day, When It Was Your Earnest Desire To Have Remained Longer Together.

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

I Have So Much Faith In The General Government Of The World By Providence That I Can Hardly Conceive A Transaction Of Such Momentous Importance [as The Framing Of The Constitution] ... Should Be Suffered To Pass Without Being In Some Degree Influenced, Guided, And Governed By That Omnipotent, Omnipresent, And Beneficent Ruler In Whom All Inferior Spirits Live And Move And Have Their Being.

Happiness Depends More On The Inward Disposition Of Mind Than On Outward Circumstances.

If A Man Could Have Half Of His Wishes, He Would Double His Troubles.

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

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

Rather Go To Bed With Out Dinner Than To Rise In Debt.

If You Give Up Your Freedom For Safety, You Don't Deserve Either One

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.

Despair Ruins Some, Presumption Many.

That Quantity That Is Sufficient, The Stomach Can Perfectly Concoct And Digest, And It Sufficeth The Due Nourishment Of The Body.

Be Civil To All; Serviceable To Many; Familiar With Few; Friend To One; Enemy To None.

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

The Things Of This World Take Up Too Much Of My Time, Of Which Indeed I Have Too Little Left, To Undertake Anything Like A Reformation In Religion.

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.

Onions Can Make Even Heirs And Widows Weep.

Here Skugg Lies Snug As A Bug In A Rug.

Take The Money In Your Wallet And Invest It In Your Mind. And In Return, Your Mind Will Fill Up Your Wallet!

Nothing Is More Fatal To Health Than An Over Care Of It.

Beauty And Folly Are Old Companions.

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

Without Freedom Of Thought, There Can Be No Such Thing As Wisdom; And No Such Thing As Public Liberty Without Freedom Of Speech; Which Is The Right Of Every Man As Far As By It He Does Not Hurt Or Control The Right Of Another; And This Is The Only Check It Ought To Suffer And The Only Bounds It Ought To Know.... Whoever Would Overthrow The Liberty Of A Nation Must Begin By Subduing The Freedom Of Speech, A Thing Terrible To Traitors.

It Is Very Imprudent To Deprive America Of Any Of Her Privileges. If Her Commerce And Friendship Are Of Any Importance To You, They Are To Be Had On No Other Terms Than Leaving Her In The Full Enjoyment Of Her Rights.

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

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

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

Self Improvement

Liberality Is Not Giving Much, But Giving Wisely.

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

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

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.

Let Each New Year Find You A Better Person.

Lost Time Can Never Be Found Again

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.

There Are No Ugly Loves Nor Handsome Prisons.

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

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.

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

By Playing At Chess Then, We May Learn: First: Foresight... Second: Circumspection... Third: Caution...and Lastly, We Learn By Chess The Habit Of Not Being Discouraged By Present Bad Appearances In The State Of Our Affairs, The Habit Of Hoping For A Favorable Chance, And That Of Persevering In The Secrets Of Resources

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

The Key That Unlocks A Door Is A Key To Keep If You Want To Go Through That Door Again.

Honesty Is The Best Policy.

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

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

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

When You Assemble A Number Of Men To Have The Advantage Of Their Joint Wisdom, You Inevitably Assemble With Those Men All Their Prejudices, Their Passions, Their Errors Of Opinion, Their Local Interests And Their Selfish Views.

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