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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

-Benjamin Franklin

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It Is Wonderful How

Benjamin Franklin

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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

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Here Comes The Orator With His Flood Of Words And His Drop Of Reason.

Doing An Injury Puts You Below Your Enemy; Revenging One Make You But Even With Him; Forgiving It Sets You Above Him.

Most Fools Think They Are Only Ignorant.

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

Applause Waits On Success.

Congratulations

I Think Also, That General Virtue Is More Probably To Be Expected And Obtained From The Education Of Youth, Than From Exhortations Of Adult Persons; Bad Habits And Vices Of The Mind Being, Like Diseases Of The Body, More Easily Prevented Than Cured. I Think Moreover, That Talents For The Education Of Youth Are The Gift Of God; And That He On Whom They Are Bestowed, Whenever A Way Is Opened For Use Of Them, Is As Strongly Called As If He Heard A Voice From Heaven.

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.

A Virtuous Heretic Shall Be Saved Before A Wicked Christian.

Speak Little, Do Much.

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

Pride That Dines On Vanity, Sups On Contempt.

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.

We May Give Advice, But We Cannot Give Conduct.

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

Much Virtue In Herbs, Little In Men.

The U. S. Constitution Doesn't Guarantee Happiness, Only The Pursuit Of It. You Have To Catch Up With It Yourself.

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

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

But The Most Dangerous Hypocrite In A Common-wealth, Is One Who Leaves The Gospel For The Sake Of The Law: A Man Compounded Of Law And Gospel, Is Able To Cheat A Whole Country With His Religion, And Then Destroy Them Under Colour Of Law: And Here The Clergy Are In Great Danger Of Being Deceiv'd, And The People Of Being Deceiv'd By The Clergy, Until The Monster Arrives To Such Power And Wealth, That He Is Out Of The Reach Of Both, And Can Oppress The People Without Their Own Blind Assistance.

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

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

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

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

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

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

At Twenty Years Of Age The Will Reigns; At Thirty, The Wit; And At Forty, The Judgment.

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

Death Takes No Bribes.

Plough Deep While Sluggards Sleep.

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

He Is No Clown That Drives The Plow, But He That Doth Clownish Things.

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

Perhaps I'm Too Saucy Or Provoking?

The One Who Fails To Prepare Is Preparing To Fail.

Preparing To Fail

Whoever Would Overthrow The Liberty Of A Nation Must Begin By Subduing The Freeness Of Speech.

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.

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

There Is Nothing So Absurd As Knowledge Spun Too Fine.

If You Ride A Horse, Sit Close And Tight, If You Ride A Man, Sit Easy And Light.

Genius Is Nothing But A Greater Aptitude For Patience.

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

Remember That Credit Is Money.

I Think With You, That Nothing Is Of More Importance For The Public Weal, Than To Form And Train Up Youth In Wisdom And Virtue. Wise And Good Men Are In My Opinion, The Strength Of The State; More So Than Riches Or Arms.

When You Are Finished Changing, You Are Finished.

Changing The World

He's Gone, And Forgot Nothing But To Say Farewell To His Creditors

Do Not Fear Mistakes.

Half The Truth Is Often A Great Lie.

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

Our New Constitution Is Now Established, And Has An Appearance That Promises Permanency; But In The World Nothing Can Be Said To Be Certain Except Death And Taxes.

Tis A Well Spent Penny That Saves A Groat.

As We Must Account For Every Idle Word, So Must We Account For Every Idle Silence.

Praise Little, Dispraise Less.

The Poor Man Must Walk To Get Meat For His Stomach, The Rich Man To Get A Stomach To His Meat.

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

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

Were The Offer Made True, I Would Engage To Run Again, From Beginning To End, The Same Career Of Life. All I Would Ask Should Be The Privilege Of An Author, To Correct, In A Second Edition, Certain Errors Of The First.

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

A Little Sturdiness When Superiors Are Much In The Wrong Sometimes Occasions Consideration. And There Is Truth In The Old Saying That If You Make Yourself A Sheep, The Wolves Will Eat You.

Beer Is God's Way Of Telling Us That He Loves Us And Wants Us To Be Happy.

If Passion Drives You, Let Reason Hold The Reins.

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

It Is Therefore Wish'd That All Commerce Were As Free Between All The Nations Of The World As It Is Between The Several Counties Of England.

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

It Is A Strange Anomaly That Men Could Be Careful To Insure Their Houses, Their Ships, Their Merchandise, And Yet Neglect To Insure Their Lives - Surely The Most Important Of All To Their Families, And More Subject To Loss.

Laws Too Gentle Are Seldom Obeyed; Too Severe, Seldom Executed.

When I See Nothing Annihilated, And Not Even A Drop Of Water Wasted, I Cannot Suspect The Annihilation Of Souls Thus Finding Myself To Exist In The World, I Believe I Shall, In Some Shape Or Other, Always Exist; With All The Inconveniences Human Life Is Liable To, I Shall Not Object To A New Edition Of Mine; Hoping, However, That The Errata Of The Last May Be Corrected.

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

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

Give Me Yesterday's Bread, This Day's Flesh, And Last Year's Cider

If This Lady Is Pleased To Spend Her Days With Franklin, He Would Be Just As Pleased To Spend His Nights With Her.

At The Working Man’s House, Hunger Looks In But Dares Not Enter.

Furnished As All Europe Now Is With Academies Of Science, With Nice Instruments And The Spirit Of Experiment, The Progress Of Human Knowledge Will Be Rapid And Discoveries Made Of Which We Have At Present No Conception. I Begin To Be Almost Sorry I Was Born So Soon, Since I Cannot Have The Happiness Of Knowing What Will Be Known A Hundred Years Hence.

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.

A Spoonful Of Honey Will Catch More Flies Than A Gallon Of Vinegar.

The Worst Wheel Of The Cart Makes The Most Noise.

Men Take More Pains To Mask Than Mend.

Love And Toothache Have Many Cures, But None Infallible, Except Possession And Dispossession.

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

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.

What Maintains One Vice Would Bring Up Two Children.

Idleness Is The Dead Sea That Swallows All Virtues

By Diligence And Patience, The Mouse Bit In Two The Cable.

Take Counsel In Wine, But Resolve Afterwards In Water.

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

Life Is A Kind Of Chess.

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

There Will Be Sleeping Enough In The Grave.

Positive Thinking

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

A Place For Everything, Everything In Its Place.

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

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

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

Whenever We Attempt To Mend The Scheme Of Providence And To Interfere In The Government Of The World, We Had Need Be Very Circumspect Lest We Do More Harm Than Good.

Life With Fools Consists In Drinking; With The Wise Man, Living's Thinking.

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.

Hunger Never Saw Bad Bread.

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

Money Never Made A Man Happy Yet, Nor Will It. There Is Nothing In Its Nature To Produce Happiness. The More A Man Has, The More He Wants. Instead Of Its Filling A Vacuum, It Makes One. If It Satisfies One Want, It Doubles And Trebles That Want Another Way. That Was A True Proverb Of The Wise Man, Rely Upon It; Better Is Little With The Fear Of The Lord, Than Great Treasure, And Trouble Therewith.

Never Leave That Till Tomorrow Which You Can Do Today.

In America, They Do Not Inquire Of A Stranger, "what Is He?" But, "what Can He Do?"

Have You Something To Do To-morrow; Do It To-day.

A Fat Kitchin, A Lean Will.

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.

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

The Best Tranquilizer Is A Clear Conscience.

Clear Conscience

Whether A Commonwealth Suffers More By Hypocritical Pretenders To Religion Or By The Openly Profane? The Most Dangerous Hypocrite In A Commonwealth Is One Who Leaves The Gospel For The Sake Of The Law. 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.

For Every Minute Spent In Organizing, An Hour Is Earned.

There Have Been As Great Souls Unknown To Fame As Any Of The Most Famous.

We Have Been Assured, Sir, In The Sacred Writings, That 'except The Lord Build The House, They Labor In Vain That Build It' I Firmly Believe This; By Our Partial Local Interests; Our Projects Will Be Confounded, And We Ourselves Shall Become A Reproach And A By Word Down To Future Ages.

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

Historians Relate Not So Much What Is Done As What They Would Have Believed.

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

So Convenient A Thing To Be A Reasonable Creature, Since It Enables One To Find Or Make A Reason For Every Thing One Has A Mind To Do.

The Handshake Of The Host Affects The Taste Of The Roast

Fatigue Is The Best Pillow.

An Egg To Day Is Better Than A Hen To-morrow.

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

If You Teach A Poor Young Man To Shave Himself, And Keep His Razor In Order, You May Contribute More To The Happiness Of His Life Than In Giving Him A Thousand Guineas. This Sum May Be Soon Spent, The Regret Only Remaining Of Having Foolishly Consumed It; But In The Other Case, He Escapes The Frequent Vexation Of Waiting For Barbers, And Of Their Sometimes Dirty Fingers, Offensive Breaths, And Dull Razors.

The Only Time Not Wasted Is Wasted Time.

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

I Am A Mortal Enemy To Arbitrary Government And Unlimited Power.

Hope And Faith May Be More Firmly Built Upon Charity, Than Charity Upon Faith And Hope.

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.

Sloth Makes All Things Difficult, But Industry All Easy; And He That Riseth Late Must Trot All Day, And Shall Scarce Overtake His Business At Night; While Laziness Travels So Slowly, That Poverty Soon Overtakes Him.

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.

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

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

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

Diligence Overcomes Difficulties; Sloth Makes Them.

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

Procrastination

Do You Sincerely Declare That You Love Mankind In General, Of What Profession Or Religion Soever? Do You Think Any Person Ought To Be Harmed In His Body, Name, Or Goods, For Mere Speculative Opinions, Or His External Way Of Worship? Do You Love Truth For Truth's Sake; And Will You Endeavor Impartially To Find And Receive It Yourself, And Communicate It To Others.

I Am The Laziest Man In The World. I Invented All Those Things To Save Myself From Toil.

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

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 King's Cheese Is Half Wasted In Parings: But No Matter, 'tis Made Of The People's Milk.

A Quarrelsome Man Has No Good Neighbours.

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

Cunning Proceeds From Want Of Capacity.

The Only Time A Question Should Be Asked Is When All Other Possibilities Of Finding The Answer For Yourself Have Been Eliminated.

Take A Coin From Your Purse And Invest It In Your Mind. It Will Come Pouring Out Of Your Mind And Overflow Your Purse.

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

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

Whatever You Become Be Good At It

A Long Life May Not Be Good Enough, But A Good Life Is Long Enough.

How Few There Are Who Have Courage Enough To Own Their Faults, Or Resolution Enough To Mend Them.

Many Complain Of Their Memory, Few Of Their Judgment.

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

He That Pays For Work Before It's Done, Has But A Pennyworth For Two Pence.

It Was Said Of Him That He Did Not Say Much, But That When He Did Everyone Stopped To Listen.

Lost Time Is Never Found Again, And What We Call Time Enough, Always Proves Little Enough.

I've Striven My Whole Life For Humility, But If I'd Ever Achieved It, I'd Probably Be Pretty Damn Proud Of That.

Grace Thou Thy House And Let Not That Grace Thee.

To Be Proud Of Knowledge Is To Be Blind With Light.

All Cats Look Gray In The Dark.

Constant Dropping Wears Away Stones

Patience In Market, Is Worth Pounds In A Year.

The Exact Quantity And Quality Being Found Out, Is To Be Kept To Constantly.

Quantity And Quality

Write To Please Yourself. When You Write To Please Others You End Up Pleasing No One.

Love Well, Whip Well.

Interest Which Blinds Some People, Enlightens Others.

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.

The Noblest Question In The World Is: 'what Good May I Do In It?'

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.

Be Cheerful -- The Problems That Worry Us Most Are Those That Never Arrive.

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.

It Is The Will Of God And Nature That These Mortal Bodies Be Laid Aside, When The Soul Is To Enter Into Real Life; 'tis Rather An Embrio State, A Preparation For Living; A Man Is Not Completely Born Until He Be Dead: Why Then Should We Grieve That A New Child Is Born Among The Immortals?

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

Prodigality Of Time Produces Poverty Of Mind As Well As Of Estate.

I Have Found Christian Dogma Unintelligible.

If All Printers Were Determined Not To Print Anything Till They Were Sure It Would Offend Nobody, There Would Be Very Little Printed.

Security Without Liberty Is Called Prison.

The Golden Age Was Never The Present Age.

Cut The Wings Of Your Hens And Hopes, Lest They Lead You A Weary Dance After Them.

There Is No Gains Without Pain.

When Nature Gave Us Tears, She Gave Us Leave To Weep.

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

All Cats Are Gray In The Dark.

Human Happiness Comes Not From Infrequent Pieces Of Good Fortune, But From The Small Improvements To Daily Life.

A Penny Saved Is A Penny Earned.

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.

The Way To Wealth Is As Plain As The Way To Market. It Depends Chiefly On Two Words, Industry And Frugality: That Is, Waste Neither Time Nor Money, But Make The Best Use Of Both. Without Industry And Frugality Nothing Will Do, And With Them Everything.

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

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

I Resolve To Speak Ill Of No Man Whatever, Not Even In A Matter Of Truth; But Rather By Some Means Excuse The Faults I Hear Charged Upon Others, And Upon Proper Occasions Speak All The Good I Know Of Everybody.

Creditors Are A Superstitious Sect, Great Observers Of Set Days And Times.

It Is Very Hard To Dislike Someone You Have Helped

Dislike Someone

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

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

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

Some Make Conscience Of Wearing A Hat In The Church, Who Make None Of Robbing The Altar.

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

Handle Your Tools Without Mittens.

Slavery Is Such An Atrocious Debasement Of Human Nature, That Its Very Extirpation, If Not Performed With Solicitous Care, May Sometimes Open A Source Of Serious Evils.

Abolition Of Slavery

A Greater Quantity Of Some Things May Be Eaten Than Of Others, Some Being Of Lighter Digestion Than Others.

Never Ruin An Apology With An Excuse.

The Apostle Paul Very Seriously Advised Timothy To Put Some Wine In His Water For Health's Sake, But Not One Of The Apostles Nor Any Of The Holy Fathers Have Ever Recommended Putting Water In Wine

Seek Virtue And Of That Posest, To Providence Resign The Rest.

Drive Thy Business Or It Will Drive Thee.

The Person Who Deserves Most Pity Is A Lonesome One On A Rainy Day Who Doesn't Know How To Read.

The Rotten Apple Spoils His Companion.

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