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Repeal That [welfare] Law, And You Will Soon See A Change In Their Manners. ... Six Days Shalt Thou Labor, Though One Of The Old Commandments Long Treated As Out Of Date, Will Again Be Looked Upon As A Respectable Precept; Industry Will Increase, And With It Plenty Among The Lower People; Their Circumstances Will Mend, And More Will Be Done For Their Happiness By Inuring Them To Provide For Themselves, Than Could Be Done By Dividing All Your Estates Among Them.

-Benjamin Franklin

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Repeal That [welfare] Law,

Benjamin Franklin

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Repeal That [welfare] Law, And You Will Soon See A Change In Their Manners. ... Six Days Shalt Thou Labor, Though One Of The Old Commandments Long Treated As Out Of Date, Will Again Be Looked Upon As A Respectable Precept; Industry Will Increase, And With It Plenty Among The Lower People; Their Circumstances Will Mend, And More Will Be Done For Their Happiness By Inuring Them To Provide For Themselves, Than Could Be Done By Dividing All Your Estates Among Them.

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Pain Wastes The Body, Pleasures The Understanding.

Those Disputing, Contradicting, And Confuting People Are Generally Unfortunate In Their Affairs. They Get Victory, Sometimes, But They Never Get Good Will, Which Would Be Of More Use To Them.

Time Is An Herb That Cures All Diseases.

Idleness And Pride Tax With A Heavier Hand Than Kings And Parliaments. If We Can Get Rid Of The Former, We May Easily Bear The Latter.

He That Can Take Rest Is Greater Than He That Can Take Cities.

Lost Time Is Never Found Again.

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.

Let Thy Vices Die Before Thee.

He That Drinks Fast, Pays Slow.

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

The Worst Wheel Of The Cart Makes The Most Noise.

There Is Always Room For The Man Of Force.

Savages We Call Them Because Their Manners Differ From Ours.

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

A Temperate Diet Frees From Diseases; Such Are Seldom Ill, But If They Are Surprised With Sickness, They Bear It Better, And Recover Sooner; For Most Distempers Have Their Original From Repletion.

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

Knowledge Of The Investment Is Most Profitable

Why Does The Blind Man's Wife Paint Herself.

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

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 Best Thing To Give To Your Enemy Is Forgiveness; To An Opponent, Tolerance; To A Friend, Your Heart; To Your Child, A Good Example; To A Father, Deference; To Your Mother, Conduct That Will Make Her Proud Of You; To Yourself, Respect; To All Others, Charity.

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

Our Necessities Never Equal Our Wants.

He That Displays Too Often His Wife And His Wallet Is In Danger Of Having Both Of Them Borrowed.

Do Well By Doing Good.

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

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.

Change Is The Only Constant In Life. Ones Ability To Adapt To Those Changes Will Determine Your Success In Life.

Success In Life

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

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

To Lengthen Thy Life, Lessen Thy Meals.

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.

He Who Gives Up Freedom For Safety Deserves Neither.

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

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

I Say It Is Impossible That So Sensible A People [citizens Of Paris], Under Such Circumstances, Should Have Lived So Long By The Smoky, Unwholesome, And Enormously Expensive Light Of Candles, If They Had Really Known That They Might Have Had As Much Pure Light Of The Sun For Nothing.

At A Great Pennyworth Pause A While.

The Moral And Religious System Which Jesus Christ Transmitted To Us Is The Best The World Has Ever Seen, Or Can See.

Time Is Money'... Waste It Now. Pay For It Later!

All Wars Are Follies, Very Expensive And Very Mischievous Ones. In My Opinion, There Never Was A Good War Or A Bad Peace. When Will Mankind Be Convinced And Agree To Settle Their Difficulties By Arbitration?

He That Can Have Patience Can Have What He Will.

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

How Can Any Action Be Meritorious Of Praise Or Dispraise, Reward Or Punishment, When The Natural Principle Of Self-love Is The Only And The Irresistible Motive To It?

Instead Of Cursing The Darkness, Light A Candle.

Security Without Liberty Is Called Prison.

A Full Belly Makes A Dull Brain: The Muses Starve In A Cook's Shop.

It Is A Bad Temper Of Mind That Takes Delight In Opposition.

The Best Doctor Gives The Least Medicines.

If The Elbow Had Been Placed Closer To The Hand, The Forearm Would Have Been Too Short To Bring The Glass To The Mouth; And If It Had Been Closer To The Shoulder, The Forearm Would Have Been So Long That It Would Have Carried The Glass Beyond The Mouth.

As Charms Are Nonsense, Nonsense Is A Charm.

Sloth And Silence Are A Fool's Virtues

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

Moderation In All Things - Including Moderation.

Eat To Live, Not Live To Eat.

Life Is A Kind Of Chess.

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

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

Fear God, And Your Enemies Will Fear You.

Beware The Hobby That Eats.

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

Great Hopes Make Everything Great Possible

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

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!

The Best Of All Medicines Is Resting And Fasting

Genius Without Education Is Like Silver In The Mine.

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

The Ancients Tell Us What Is Best; But We Must Learn Of The Moderns What Is Fittest.

When You Taste Honey, Remember Gall.

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.

We Must Hang Together, Gentlemen...else, We Shall Most Assuredly Hang Separately.

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

A Republic, If You Can Keep It.

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

He's A Fool That Makes His Doctor His Heir.

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.

Watch The Pennies And The Dollars Will Take Care Of Themselves.

The Eye Of The Master Will Do More Work Than Both His Hands.

When In Doubt, Don't.

Overcoming Doubt

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

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

The Sleeping Fox Catches No Poultry.

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.

All Wars Are Follies, Very Expensive And Very Mischievous Ones.

He That Won't Be Counseled Can't Be Helped.

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.

Many People Die At Twenty Five And Aren't Buried Until They Are Seventy Five.

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

Procrastination

I Would Advise You To Read With A Pen In Your Hand And Enter In A Little Book Short Hints Of What You Feel That Is Common Or That May Be Useful; For This Will Be The Best Method Of Imprinting Such Portcullis In Your Memory.

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

There Never Was A Good Knife Made Of Bad Steel.

Without Justice, Courage Is Weak.

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.

I Firmly Believe This ... That Without His Concurring Aid We Shall Succeed In This Political Building No Better, Than The Builders Of Babel: We Shall Be Divided By Our Little Partial Local Interests; Our Projects Will Be Confounded, And We Ourselves Shall Become A Reproach And Bye Word Down To Future Ages. And What Is Worse, Mankind May Hereafter From This Unfortunate Instance, Despair Of Establishing Governments By Human Wisdom And Leave It To Chance, War And Conquest.

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

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

A Lonely Man On A Rainy Night Who Cannot Read.

Philosophy As Well As Foppery Often Changes Fashion.

Since I Cannot Govern My Own Tongue, Though Within My Own Teeth, How Can I Hope To Govern The Tongue Of Others?

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

Passion Governs, And She Never Governs Wisely.

Women Are Books, And Men The Readers Be, Who Sometimes In Those Books Erratas See; Yet Oft The Reader's Raptured With Each Line, Fair Print And Paper, Fraught With Sense Divine; Tho' Some, Neglectful, Seldom Care To Read, And Faithful Wives No More Than Bibles Heed. Are Women Books? Says Hodge, Then Would Mine Were An Almanack, To Change Her Every Year.

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

A Good Conscience Is A Continual Christmas.

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

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

In General, Mankind, Since The Improvement Of Cookery, Eats Twice As Much As Nature Requires.

Don't Halloo Until You're Out Of The Wood.

Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk

He Who Is In Love With Himself Has No Rivals.

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

It Is The Man And Woman United That Makes The Complete Human Being. Separate She Lacks His Force Of Body And Strength Of Reason; He Her Softness, Sensibility And Acute Discernment. Together They Are Most Likely To Succeed In The World.

Little Rogues Easily Become Great Ones.

A Nod From A Lord Is A Breakfast For A Fool.

When Circumstances Don't Fit Our Ideas They Become Our Difficulties

In Humility Imitate Jesus And Socrates.

If You Want Something Done, Ask A Busy Person.

Creditors Have Better Memories Than Debtors.

Snowy Winter, A Plentiful Harvest.

The Difficulty Lies, In Finding Out An Exact Measure But Eat For Necessity, Not Pleasure, For Lust Knows Not Where Necessity Ends.

Taxes Are Indeed Very Heavy - We Are Taxed Twice As Much By Our Idleness. Three Times As Much By Our Pride. And Four Times As Much By Our Folly.

For The Best Return On Your Money, Pour Your Purse Into Your Head.

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

If You Have Time Don't Wait For Time.

Strict Punctuality Is A Cheap Virtue.

An Undutiful Daughter Will Prove An Unmanageable Wife.

The English Love An Insult. It's Their Only Test Of A Man's Sincerity.

Be Not Niggardly Of What Costs Thee Nothing, As Courtesy, Counsel, & Countenance.

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

Even Peace May Be Purchased At Too High A Price.

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

There Are Lazy Minds As Well As Lazy Bodies.

There's Many Witty Men Whose Brains Can't Fill Their Bellies.

In 1736 I Lost One Of My Sons, A Fine Boy Of Four Years Old, By The Small-pox, Taken In The Common Way. I Long Regretted Bitterly, And Still Regret That I Had Not Given It To Him By Inoculation. This I Mention For The Sake Of Parents Who Omit That Operation, On The Supposition That They Should Never Forgive Themselves If A Child Died Under It; My Example Showing That The Regret May Be The Same Either Way, And That, Therefore, The Safer Should Be Chosen.

God Bless The King, And Grant Him Long To Reign.

Only A Virtuous People Are Capable Of Freedom.

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

A Little Neglect May Breed Great Mischief.

While We May Not Be Able To Control All That Happens To Us, We Can Control What Happens Inside Us.

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

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

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.

Dally Not With Other Folk's Spouses Or Money.

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

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

Practice Makes Perfect.

Practice Makes Perfect

In Truth I Found Myself Incorrigible With Respect To Order; And Now I Am Grown Old, And My Memory Bad, I Feel Very Sensibly The Want Of It.

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

An Infallible Remedy For The Tooth-ach, Viz Wash The Root Of An Aching Tooth, In Elder Vinegar, And Let It Dry Half An Hour In The Sun; After Which It Will Never Ach More; Probatum Est.

Graft Good Fruit All, Or Graft Not At All.

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.

There Are No Ugly Loves Nor Handsome Prisons.

You Can Do Anything You Set Your Mind To

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

Necessity Is Our Quickest Excuse.

Drive Thy Business Or It Will Drive Thee.

Thou Can'st Not Joke An Enemy Into A Friend, But Thou May'st A Friend Into An Enemy.

Don't Judge Men's Wealth Or Godliness By Their Sunday Appearance.

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

Some Of The Domestic Evils Of Drunkenness Are Houses Without Windows, Gardens Without Fences, Fields Without Tillage, Barns Without Roofs, Children Without Clothing, Principles, Morals Or Manners.

Fear To Do Ill, And You Need Fear Else.

Many A Long Dispute Among Divines May Be Thus Abridged: It Is So; It Is Not So. It Is So; It Is Not So.

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.

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

Our Constitution Is In Actual Operation; Everything Appears To Promise That It Will Last; But In This World Nothing Is Certain But Death And Taxes.

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

Proclaim Not All Though Knowest, Or All Though Owest.

He That Lives Well, Is Learned Enough.

Little Strokes Fell Great Oaks.

Speak And Speed: The Close Mouth Catches No Flies.

An Ounce Of Prevention Is Worth A Pound Of Cure.

There Is Nothing So Absurd As Knowledge Spun Too Fine.

Those Who Prefer Security To Liberty Deserve Neither.

There Seem To Be But Three Ways For A Nation To Acquire Wealth. The First Is By War, As The Romans Did, In Plundering Their Conquered Neighbors. This Is Robbery. The Second By Commerce, Which Is Generally Cheating. The Third By Agriculture, The Only Honest Way, Wherein Man Receives A Real Increase Of The Seed Thrown Into The Ground, In A Kind Of Continual Miracle, Wrought By The Hand Of God In His Favor, As A Reward For His Innocent Life And His Virtuous Industry.

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

Praise To The Undeserving Is Severe Satire.

Where Sense Is Wanting, Everything Is Wanting.

Ben Franklin Was A Little Stout Later In Life And It Was Said That In Paris A Young Woman, Tapping Him On His Protruding Abdomen, Said,"dr. Franklin, If This Were On A Woman, We'd Know What To Think." And Franklin Replied,"half An Hour Ago, Mademoiselle, It Was On A Woman, And Now What Do You Think?"

To Cease To Think Creatively Is To Cease To Live

If I Could See One Live Show Before I Died, I'd See Lucy Angel

What Is A Butterfly? At Best He's But A Caterpiller Drest. The Gaudy Fop's His Picture Just.

"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.

The Happy State Of Matrimony Is, Undoubtedly, The Surest And Most Lasting Foundation Of Comfort And Love . . . The Cause Of All Good Order In The World, And What Alone Preserves It From The Utmost Confusion.

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.

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

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

Make No Expense But To Do Good To Others Or Yourself.

Moral Perfection

An Autobiography Usually Reveals Nothing Bad About Its Writer Except His Memory.

As Pride Increases, Fortune Declines.

Plough Deep While Sluggards Sleep.

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

Conquer The World

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

Hunger Is The Best Pickle.

When Befriended, Remember It; When You Befriend, Forget It.

What Vast Additions To The Conveniences And Comforts Of Living Might Mankind Have Acquired, If The Money Spent In Wars Had Been Employed In Works Of Public Utility; What An Extension Of Agriculture Even To The Tops Of Our Mountains; What Rivers Rendered Navigable, Or Joined By Canals; What Bridges, Aqueducts, New Roads, And Other Public Works, Edifices, And Improvements Might Not Have Been Obtained By Spending Those Millions In Doing Good, Which In The Last War Have Been Spent In Doing Mischief.

Forewarn'd, Forearm'd.

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

Those Things That Hurt, Instruct.

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

The Misers Cheese Is Wholesomest

To Find Out A Girl's Faults, Praise Her To Her Girlfriends.

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