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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.

-Benjamin Franklin

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That Is Simple. In

Benjamin Franklin

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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.

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More From Benjamin Franklin

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

In Free Governments The Rulers Are The Servants, And The People Their Superiors And Sovereigns.

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.

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

My List Of Virtues Contain'd At First But Twelve: But A Quaker Friend Having Kindly Inform'd Me That I Was Generally Thought Proud; That My Pride Show'd Itself Frequently In Conversation; That I Was Not Content With Being In The Right When Discussing Any Point, But Was Overbearing & Rather Insolent; Of Which He Convinc'd Me By Mentioning Several Instances; - I Determined Endeavouring To Cure Myself ..., And I Added Humility To My List, Giving An Extensive Meaning To The Word.

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

If Your Head Is Made Of Wax, Don't Walk In The Sun

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

The Most Exquisite Folly Is Made Of Wisdom Spun Too Fine.

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.

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

Strict Punctuality Is A Cheap Virtue.

Pity And Forbearance Should Characterize All Acts Of Justice.

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."

Handle Your Tools Without Mittens.

The Good Education Of Youth Has Been Esteemed By Wise Men In All Ages, As The Surest Foundation Of The Happiness Both Of Private Families And Of Common-wealths. Almost All Governments Have Therefore Made It A Principal Object Of Their Attention, To Establish And Endow With Proper Revenues, Such Seminaries Of Learning, As Might Supply The Succeeding Age With Men Qualified To Serve The Publick With Honour To Themselves, And To Their Country.

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

Vice Knows [its] Ugly, So [it] Puts On [a] Mask.

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

Fear Not Death; For The Sooner We Die, The Longer Shall We Be Immortal.

Men Differ Daily About Things Which Are Subject To Sense, Is It Likely Then They Should Agree About Things Invisible.

My Father's Little Library Consisted Chiefly Of Books In Polemic Divinity, Most Of Which I Read, And Have Since Often Regretted That, At A Time When I Had Such A Thirst For Knowledge, More Proper Books Had Not Fallen In My Way Since It Was Now Resolved I Should Not Be A Clergyman.

Families Ought To Be Noisy.

Pardoning The Bad, Is Injuring The Good.

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

To Bear Other People's Afflictions, Everyone Has Courage And Enough To Spare.

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

The Only Certain Things In Life Are Death And Taxes!

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

Remember, That Six Pounds A Year Is But A Groat A Day.

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

Necessity Never Made A Good Bargain.

People Are Best Convinced By Things They Themselves Discover.

Motivational Business

Men Take More Pains To Mask Than Mend.

Keep Flax From Fire, And Youth From Gaming.

If Better Is Possible, Good Is Not Enough

There Never Was A Good War, Or A Bad Peace.

A Full Belly Is The Mother Of All Evil.

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

The Tongue Offends And The Ears Get The Cuffing

Industry, Perseverance, And Frugality Make Fortune Yield.

As Pride Increases, Fortune Declines.

That The Vegetable Creation Should Restore The Air Which Is Spoiled By The Animal Part Of It, Looks Like A Rational System, And Seems To Be Of A Piece With The Rest.

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

Order - Let All Your Things Have Their Places; Let Each Part Of Your Business Have Its Time.

Moral Perfection

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.

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

Haste Makes Waste

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

A Ploughman On His Legs Is Higher Than A Gentleman On His Knees.

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

He Who Will Not Be Counseled Cannot Be Helped.

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

Philosophy As Well As Foppery Often Changes Fashion.

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

Who Had Deceived Thee So Often As Thyself?

The Heart Of A Fool Is In His Mouth, But The Mouth Of A Wise Man Is In His Heart.

Who Judges Best Of A Man, His Enemies Or Himself?

Take Counsel In Wine, But Resolve Afterwards In Water.

Time Is Money, Be A Better You.

Duty Is Not Beneficial Because It Is Commanded, But Is Commanded Because It Is Beneficial.

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

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

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

We Constantly Change The World, Even By Our Inaction. Therefore, Let Us Change It Responsibly.

Changing The World

In The Dark, All Cats Are Grey.

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.

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

Keeping Secrets

Motivation Is When Your Dreams Put On Work Clothes

Finding Myself To Exist In The World, I Believe I Shall, In Some Shape Or Other, Always Exist.

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

If Pride Leads The Van, Beggary Brings Up The Rear.

Passion Governs, And She Never Governs Wisely.

He That Lives Upon Hope Will Die Fasting.

Bargaining Has Neither Friends Nor Relations.

The Discontented Man Finds No Easy Chair.

To Be Thrown Upon One's Own Resources Is To Be Cast Into The Very Lap Of Fortune; For Our Faculties Then Undergo A Development And Display An Energy Of Which They Were Previosly Unsusceptible.

A Penny Saved Is A Penny Earned.

Quarrels Never Could Last Long, If On One Side Only Lay The Wrong.

Spare When Young, And Spend When Old.

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

Security And Freedom

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.

Little Strokes Fell Great Oaks.

Tis A Great Confidence In A Friend To Tell Him Your Faults; Greater To Tell Him His.

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.

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

Eat To Live, Not Live To Eat.

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

There Is No Little Enemy

Experience Keeps A Dear School, But Fools Will Learn In No Other, And Scarce In That; For It Is True We May Give Advice, But We Cannot Give Conduct.

As To Jesus Of Nazareth, My Opinion Of Whom You Particularly Desire, I Think The System Of Morals And His Religion, As He Left Them To Us, The Best The World Ever Saw Or Is Likely To See; But I Apprehend It Has Received Various Corrupting Changes; And I Have, With Most Of The Present Dissenters In England, Some Doubts As To His Divinity.

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

Women Are Books, And Men The Readers Be.

Those Who Would Give Up Liberty For Safety Deserve Neither.

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.

Words May Show A Man's Wit But Actions His Meaning.

Those Who Give Up Liberty For The Sake Of Security, Deserve Neither Liberty Nor Security.

When Confronted With Two Courses Of Action I Jot Down On A Piece Of Paper All The Arguments In Favor Of Each One, Then On The Opposite Side I Write The Arguments Against Each One. Then By Weighing The Arguments Pro And Con And Cancelling Them Out, One Against The Other, I Take The Course Indicated By What Remains.

Your Best Investment Is To Pour Your Purse Into Your Head, And No One Can Take It Away From You.

Suspicion May Be No Fault, But Showing It May Be A Great One.

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

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.

A Place For Everything, Everything In Its Place.

Hope Of Gain Lessens Pain.

One Day Is Worth A Thousand Tomorrows.

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

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

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

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

Either Write Something Worth Reading Or Do Something Worth Writing.

As Charms Are Nonsense, Nonsense Is A Charm.

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

An Investment In Knowledge Pays The Best Interest. When It Comes To Investing, Nothing Will Pay Off More Than Educating Yourself. Do The Necessary Research, Study And Analysis Before Making Any Investment Decisions.

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?

I Am For Doing Good To The Poor, But I Differ In Opinion About The Means. I Think The Best Way Of Doing Good To The Poor Is Not Making Them Easy In Poverty, But Leading Or Driving Them Out Of It.

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

Be Neither Silly, Nor Cunning, But Wise

Those Who Sacrifice Essential Liberty For Temporary Safety Are Not Deserving Of Either Liberty Or Safety.

Lighthouses Are More Helpful Than Churches.

Joy Doesn't Exist In The World, It Exists In Us.

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.

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

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

Fools Need Advice Most, But Wise Men Only Are The Better For It.

Poverty Often Deprives A Man Of All Spirit And Virtue; It Is Hard For An Empty Bag To Stand Upright.

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

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

I Am A Mortal Enemy To Arbitrary Government And Unlimited Power. I Am Naturally Very Jealous For The Rights And Liberties Of My Country, And The Least Encroachment Of Those Invaluable Privileges Is Apt To Make My Blood Boil.

Idleness Is The Dead Sea That Swallows All Virtues. Be Active In Business, That Temptation May Miss Her Aim; The Bird That Sits Is Easily Shot.

You Don't Get Somebody To Like You By Doing Them A Favor. That Only Tends To Build Resentment Over The Fact That They Are Needy And You Are Not. No, You Ask Them To Do You A Favor.

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

The First Mistake In Public Business Is The Going Into It.

Nothing Great Comes Without Enthusiasm.

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

The Great Secret Of Succeeding In Conversation Is To Admire Little, To Hear Much; Always To Distrust Our Own Reason, And Sometimes That Of Our Friends; Never To Pretend To Wit, But To Make That Of Others Appear As Much As Possibly We Can; To Hearken To What Is Said And To Answer To The Purpose.

It Is Very Hard To Dislike Someone You Have Helped

Dislike Someone

They That Can Give Up Essential Liberty To Purchase A Little Temporary Safety, Deserve Neither Liberty Nor Safety.

Security And Freedom

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

Every Pot Must Sit On Its Own Bottom.

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.

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.

A Nation Of Well-informed Men Who Have Been Taught To Know And Prize The Rights Which God Has Given Them Cannot Be Enslaved. It Is In The Region Of Ignorance That Tyranny Begins.” Benjamin Franklin

The Best Tranquilizer Is A Clear Conscience.

Clear Conscience

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

Trouble Springs From Idleness.

And We Daily In Our Experiments Electrise Bodies Plus Or Minus, As We Think Proper. [these Terms We May Use Till Your Philosophers Give Us Better.] To Electrise Plus Or Minus, No More Needs To Be Known Than This, That The Parts Of The Tube Or Sphere, That Are Rubb'd, Do, In The Instant Of Friction, Attract The Electrical Fire, And Therefore Take It From The Thin Rubbing; The Same Parts Immediately, As The Friction Upon Them Ceases, Are Disposed To Give The Fire They Have Received, To Any Body That Has Less.

God Helps Them That Help Themselves.

Observe All Men, Thyself Most.

Self Observation

Hide Not Your Talents. They For Use Were Made. What's A Sundial In The Shade?

Do Not Fear Mistakes. You Will Know Failure. Continue To Reach Out.

I Never Knew A Man Who Was Good At Making Excuses Who Was Good At Anything Else.

Be Temperate In Wine, In Eating, Girls, & Sloth; Or The Gout Will Seize You And Plague You Both.

A Cheerful Face Is Nearly As Good For An Invalid As Healthy Weather.

What Signifies Knowing The Names, If You Know Not The Natures Of Things.

Speak Little, Do Much.

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.

There Are Three Faithful Friends - An Old Wife, An Old Dog, And Ready Money.

Stand Firm, Don't Flutter!

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.

Being Ignorant Is Not So Much A Shame, As Being Unwilling To Learn.

Games Lubricate The Body And The Mind.

An Undutiful Daughter Will Prove An Unmanageable Wife.

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.

Taxes On Consumption, Like Those On Capital Or Income, To Be Just, Must Be Uniform.

Snowy Winter, A Plentiful Harvest.

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

Be Ashamed To Catch Yourself Idle.

We Are All Born Ignorant, But One Must Work Hard To Remain Stupid.

The Church, The State, And The Poor, Are 3 Daughters Which We Should Maintain, But Not Portion Off.

If You Wouldn't Live Long, Live Well; For Folly And Wickedness Shorten Life.

Those Renowned Generals [alexander And Caesar] Received More Faithful Service, And Performed Greater Actions By Means Of The Love Their Soldiers Bore Them, Than They Could Possibly Have Done, If Instead Of Being Beloved And Respected They Had Been Hated And Feared By Those They Commanded.

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.

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

The Good Or Ill Hap Of A Good Or Ill Life, Is The Good Or Ill Choice Of A Good Or Ill Wife.

I Wish It Were Possible, From This Instance, To Invent A Method Of Embalming Drowned Persons In Such A Manner That They May Be Recalled To Life At Any Period, However Distant; For Having A Very Ardent Desire To See And Observe The State Of America A Hundred Years Hence, I Should Prefer To Any Ordinary Death The Being Immersed In A Cask Of Madeira Wine With A Few Friends Till That Time, To Be Then Recalled To Life By The Solar Warmth Of My Dear Country!

Let Thy Maid Servant Be Faithful, Strong, And Homely.

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

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

Remember, Sir, That [england] Began The Slave Trade!

Take Heed Of The Vinegar Of Sweet Wine, And The Anger Of Good-nature.

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

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.

The Art Of Acting Consists In Keeping People From Coughing.

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

There Cannot Be Good Living Where There Is Not Good Drinking.

Distrust And Caution Are The Parents Of Security.

If You Want To Be Loved, Love And Be Loveable.

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

La Pereza Anda Tan Despacio Que La Pobreza No Tarda En Alcanzarla.

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.

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

Half-wits Talk Much, But Say Little.

Tis A Well Spent Penny That Saves A Groat.

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

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

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.

When In Doubt, Don't.

Overcoming Doubt

The Greatest Inventions Are Those Inquiries Which Tend To Increase The Power Of Man Over Matter.

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

Many Foxes Grow Gray But Few Grow Good.

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

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