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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.

-Benjamin Franklin

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Women Are Books, And

Benjamin Franklin

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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.

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Be Ashamed To Catch Yourself Idle.

Well Done Is Better Than Well Said.

Motivational Sports

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

Promises May Get Thee Friends, But Non-performance Will Turn Them Into Enemies.

Keeping Promises

Broken Promises

An Undutiful Daughter Will Prove An Unmanageable Wife.

It Is Hard For An Empty Bag To Stand Upright.

Since Thou Are Not Sure Of A Minute, Throw Not Away An Hour.

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.

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

To Be Thrown Upon One's Own Resources, Is To Be Cast In The Very Lap Of Fortune.

A Countryman Between Two Lawyers Is Like A Fish Between Two Cats.

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.

He Who Will Not Be Counseled Cannot Be Helped.

The Way To Be Safe Is Never To Be Secure.

Take Care Of The Halfpence And Pence, And The Shillings And Pounds Will Take Care Of Themselves.

Cunning Proceeds From Want Of Capacity.

If You Have A Bald Head Don't Walk Out In The Sun Because You Will Get Burned.

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

Success Has Ruined Many A Man.

Pride That Dines On Vanity, Sups On Contempt.

Pride Is As Loud A Beggar As Want, And A Great Deal More Saucy

Laziness Travels So Slowly That Poverty Soon Overtakes It.

It Is Much Easier To Suppress A First Desire Than To Satisfy Those That Follow.

Increase In Me That Wisdom Which Discovers My Truest Interest, Strengthen My Resolution To Perform That Which Wisdom Dictates.

Notwithstanding My Experiments With Electricity The Thunderbolt Continues To Fall Under Our Noses And Beards; And As For The Tyrant, There Are A Million Of Us Still Engaged At Snatching Away His Sceptre.

One Day Is Worth A Thousand Tomorrows.

Dally Not With Other Folk's Spouses Or Money.

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

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

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

To Whom You Betray Your Secret You Sell Your Liberty.

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.

An Old Man In A House Is A Good Sign.

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

The Art Of Acting Consists In Keeping People From Coughing.

There Are No Ugly Loves Nor Handsome Prisons.

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

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

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

Perhaps I Was Too Saucy And Provoking.

The Only Certain Things In Life Are Death And Taxes!

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

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

Life Is Rather A State Of Embryo, A Preparation For Life; A Man Is Not Completely Born Till He Has Passed Through Death.

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

As To The Kindness You Mention, I Wish I Could Have Been Of More Service To You Than I Have Been, But If I Had, The Only Thanks That I Should Desire Are That You Would Always Be Ready To Serve Any Other Person That May Need Your Assistance, And So Let Good Offices Go Around, For Humankind Are All Of A Family. As For My Own Part, When I Am Employed In Serving Others I Do Not Look Upon Myself As Conferring Favors But Paying Debts.

Believe None Of What You Hear And Half Of What You See.

No Man Ought To Own More Property Than Needed For His Livelihood; The Rest, By Right, Belonged To The State.

There Will Be Sleeping Enough In The Grave.

Positive Thinking

Eat What You Like, But Dress For Other People.

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

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.

You Must Not, When You Have Gained A Victory, Use Any Triumphing Or Insulting Expressions, Nor Show Too Much Of The Pleasure You Feel; But Endeavour To Console Your Adversary, And Make Him Less Dissatisfied With Himself By Every Kind And Civil Expression That May Be Used With Truth; Such As, You Understand The Game Better Than I, But You Are A Little Inattentive, Or, You Play Too Fast; Or, You Had The Best Of The Game, But Something Happened To Divert Your Thoughts, And That Turned It In My Favour.

Idle Hands Are The Devil's Playthings.

That Which Hurts, Also Instructs.

A Little Religion, And A Little Honesty, Goes A Great Way In Courts.

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

He That Composes Himself Is Wiser Than He That Composes A Book.

Our Friend And We Were Invited Aboard On A Party Of Pleasure, Which Is To Last Forever. His Chair Was Ready First, And He Has Gone Before Us. We Could Not All Conveniently Start Together; And Why Should You And I Be Grieved At This, Since We Are Soon To Follow, And Know Where To Find Him.

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

Where Security Exists, Liberty And Opportunity Do Not.

Better Slip With Foot Than Tongue.

The Strictest Law Sometimes Becomes The Severest Injustice.

Those Who Laugh Often Never Grow Old.

'tis More Noble To Forgive, And More Manly To Despise, Than To Revenge An Injury.

When You Taste Honey, Remember Gall.

Human Felicity Is Produced Not As Much By Great Pieces Of Good Fortune That Seldom Happen As By Little Advantages That Occur Every Day.

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?

Who Is Wise? He That Learns From Everyone. Who Is Powerful? He That Governs His Passions. Who Is Rich? He That Is Content. Who Is That? Nobody.

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

Innocence Is Its Own Defense.

There Is No Little Enemy

There Is Always Room For The Man Of Force.

A House Is Not A Home Unless It Contains Food And Fire For The Mind As Well As The Body.

Never Praise Your Cider Or Your Horse

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.

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

Now I've A Sheep And A Cow, Every Body Bids Me Good Morrow.

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

Educate Your Children To Self-control, To The Habit Of Holding Passion And Prejudice And Evil Tendencies Subject To An Upright And Reasoning Will, And You Have Done Much To Abolish Misery From Their Future And Crimes From Society.

The Electrical Matter Consists Of Particles Extremely Subtile, Since It Can Permeate Common Matter, Even The Densest Metals, With Such Ease And Freedom As Not To Receive Any Perceptible Resistance.

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

If You'd Be Beloved, Make Yourself Amiable. A True Friend Is The Best Possession.

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.

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

Man Is A Tool-making Animal

Those Who Would Give Up Liberty For Safety Deserve Neither.

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.

Those Who Are Fear'd, Are Hated.

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

People Who Are Willing To Give Up Freedom For The Sake Of Short Term Security, Deserve Neither Freedom Nor Security.

In Humility Imitate Jesus And Socrates.

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

To Expect People To Be Good, To Be Just, To Be Temperate, Etc., Without Showing Them How They Should Become So, Seems Like The Ineffectual Charity Mentioned By The Apostle, Which Consisted In Saying To The Hungry, The Cold And The Naked, Be Ye Fed, Be Ye Warmed, Be Ye Clothed, Without Showing Them How They Should Get Food, Fire Or Clothing.

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.

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.

He Does Not Possess Wealth; It Possesses Him.

Men's Minds Do Not Die With Their Bodies But Are Made More Happy Or Miserable After This Life According To Their Actions.

Take Counsel In Wine, But Resolve Afterwards In Water.

One Today Is Worth Two Tomorrows.

What You Would Seem To Be, Be Really.

Justice Is As Strictly Due Between Neighbor Nations As Between Neighbor Citizens.

A Quarrelsome Man Has No Good Neighbours.

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

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

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

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

Who Is Wise? He That Learns From Everyone.

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

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

A Lighthouse Is More Useful Than A Church.

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

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

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.

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

Plough Deep While Sluggards Sleep.

[it Was] The Poverty Caused By The Bad Influence Of The English Bankers On The Parliament Which Has Caused In The Colonies Hatred Of The English And . . . The Revolutionary War.

Those Who Govern, Having Much Business On Their Hands, Do Not Generally Like To Take The Trouble Of Considering And Carrying Into Execution New Projects. The Best Public Measures Are Therefore Seldom Adopted From Previous Wisdom, But Forced By The Occasion.

Wise Men Learn By Others' Harms, Fools Scarcely By Their Own.

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.

Death Takes No Bribes.

When You Speak To A Man, Look On His Eyes; When He Speaks To You, Look On His Mouth.

This [the U.s. Constitution] Is Likely To Be Administered For A Course Of Years And Then End In Despotism... When The People Shall Become So Corrupted As To Need Despotic Government, Being Incapable Of Any Other.

You Will Find The Key To Success Under The Alarm Clock.

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 Scatters Thorns, Let Him Not Go Barefoot.

A True Friend Is The Greatest Possesion.

In My Youth, I Traveled Much, And I Observed In Different Countries, That The More Public Provisions Were Made For The Poor, The Less They Provided For Themselves, And Of Course Became Poorer. And, On The Contrary, The Less Was Done For Them, The More They Did For Themselves, And Became Richer.

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

Blame-all And Praise-all Are Two Blockheads.

It Is Observable That God Has Often Called Men To Places Of Dignity And Honor When They Have Been Busy In The Honest Employment Of Their Vocation.

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.

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

Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither.

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.

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

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

The Tongue Offends And The Ears Get The Cuffing

There's No Gain, Without Pain.

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

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?

Oh The Wonderful Knowledge To Be Found In The Stars. Even The Smallest Things Are Written There ... If You Had But Skill To Read.

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

All Would Live Long, But None Would Be Old.

Do Not Fear Mistakes.

A Father's A Treasure; A Brother's A Comfort; A Friend Is Both.

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

What Is The Recipe For Successful Achievement? Choose A Career You Love. Give It The Best There Is In You. Seize Your Opportunities. And Be A Member Of The Team.

Opportunity Is The Great Bawd.

He That Speaks Much, Is Much Mistaken.

Let All Men Know Thee, But No Man Know Thee Thoroughly: Men Freely Ford That See The Shallows.

Don't Go To The Doctor With Every Distemper, Nor To The Lawyer With Every Quarrel, Nor To The Pot For Every Thirst.

A Ship Under Sail And A Big-bellied Woman, Are The Handsomest Two Things That Can Be Seen Common.

If It Were Not For The Belly, The Back Might Wear Gold.

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

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

In Every Animal That Walks Upright, The Deficiency Of The Fluids That Fill The Muscles Appears First In The Highest Part: The Face First Grows Lank And Wrinkled; Then The Neck; Then The Breast And Arms; The Lower Parts Continuing To The Last As Plump As Ever; So That Covering All Above With A Basket, And Regarding Only What Is Below The Girdle, It Is Impossible Of Two Women To Know An Old From A Young One.

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

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

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.

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.

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

If Anyone Should Doubt Whether The Electrical Matter Passes Through The Substance Of Bodies, Or Only Over Along Their Surfaces, A Shock From An Electrified Large Glass Jar, Taken Through His Own Body, Will Probably Convince Him.

A Republic, If You Can Keep It.

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

If We Restrict Liberty To Attain Security We Will Lose Them Both.

Strangers Are Welcome Because There Is Room Enough For Them All, And Therefore The Old Inhabitants Are Not Jealous Of Them; The Laws Protect Them Sufficiently So That They Have No Need Of The Patronage Of Great Men; And Every One Will Enjoy Securely The Profits Of His Industry. But If He Does Not Bring A Fortune With Him, He Must Work And Be Industrious To Live.

Venison And Venery Defeated Me.

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.

Tis A Common Observation Here That Our Cause Is The Cause Of All Mankind, And That We Are Fighting For Their Liberty In Defending Our Own.

Great Beauty, Great Strength, And Great Riches Are Really And Truly Of No Great Use; A Right Heart Exceeds All

The Absent Are Never Without Fault. Nor The Present Without Excuse.

Those Who In Quarrels Interpose, Must Often Wipe A Bloody Nose.

That Man Alone Loves Himself Rightly Who Procures The Greatest Possible Good To Himself Through The Whole Of His Existence And So Pursues Pleasure As Not To Give For It More Than It Is Worth.

Common Sense Without Education, Is Better Than Education Without Common Sense.

Thank God! We Are In The Full Enjoyment Of All These Privileges. But Can We Be Taught To Prize Them Too Much? Or How Can We Prize Them Equal To Their Value, If We Do Not Know Their Intrinsic Worth, And That They Are Not A Gift Bestowed Upon Us By Other Men, But A Right That Belongs To Us By The Laws Of God And Nature?

A Learned Blockhead Is A Greater Blockhead Than An Ignorant One.

Sloth And Silence Are A Fool's Virtues

Virtue May Not Always Make A Face Handsome, But Vice Will Certainly Make It Ugly.

Every Pot Must Sit On Its Own Bottom.

Hunger Is The Best Pickle.

Acquire Riches By Industry And Frugality.

Setting Too Good An Example Is A Kind Of Slander Seldom Forgiven.

You Have Two Choices, Write About Something Of Significance Or Do Something Someone Wants To Write About.

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

The Punishment Of Murder By Death Is Contrary To Reason, And To The Order And Happiness Of Society, And Contrary To Divine Revelation.

Divine Revelation

How Do You Become Better Tomorrow? By Improving Yourself, The World Is Made Better. Be Not Afraid Of Growing Too Slowly. Be Afraid Of Standing Still. Forget Your Mistakes, But Remember What They Taught You. So How Do You Become Better Tomorrow? By Becoming Better Today.

Becoming Better

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

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

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

Silence Is Not Always A Sign Of Wisdom, But Babbling Is Ever A Mark Of Folly.

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

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.

Lost Time Can Never Be Found Again

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

The Constitution Only Guarantees The American People The Right To Pursue Happiness. You Have To Catch It Yourself.

A Wise Man Will Desire No More Than What He May Get Justly, Use Soberly, Distribute Cheerfully, And Leave Contently.

Friends Are The True Sceptres Of Princes.

Many Have Been Ruined By Buying Good Pennyworths.

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