Benjamin Franklin

Quotes

• “Today a man owns a jackass worth fifty dollars and he is entitled to vote; but before the next election the jackass dies...”
• “Francklin repéta plus d'une fois à ses éleves de Paris, que celui qui transporterait dans l'état politique les principes...”
• “The Face first grows lank and wrinkled; then the Neck; then the Breast and Arms; the lower Parts continuing to the last ...”
• “[Referring to private hospital funding alone:] That won't work, it will never be enough, good health care costs a lot of...”
• “Claimed by American Fascist William Dudley Pelley in Liberation (February 3, 1934) to have appeared in notes taken at th...”
• “Governor Thomas was so pleas'd with the Construction of this Stove, as describ'd in it, that he offer'd to give me a Pat...”
• “Widely attributed response to a questioner doubting the usefulness of hot air balloons. See Seymor L. Chapin, "A Legenda...”
• “In 1736 I lost one of my Sons, a fine Boy of 4 Years old, by the Smallpox taken in the common way. I long regretted bitt...”
• “The more the people are discontented with the oppression of taxes; the greater need the prince has of money to distribut...”
• “That Being, who gave me existence, and through almost threescore years has been continually showering his favors upon me...”
• “[T]he waters moved away from the North American Coast towards the coasts of Spain and Africa, whence they get again into...”
• “Has not the famous political Fable of the Snake, with two Heads and one Body, some useful Instruction contained in it? S...”
• “This seems to have been first attributed to Franklin in The New Age Magazine Vol. 66 (1958), and the earliest appearance...”
• “In reality there is perhaps no one of our natural Passions so hard to subdue as Pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, be...”
• “Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, as quoted in The Monthly Anthology, and Boston Review (November 1803 - April 1804; 1811), p....”
• “This Library afforded me the Means of Improvement by constant Study, for which I set apart an Hour or two each Day; and ...”
• “Also quoted as "Lighthouses are more helpful than churches" or "A lighthouse is more useful than a church." Although not...”
• “The colonies would gladly have borne the little tax on tea and other matters had it not been that England took away from...”
• “I confess that there are several parts of this Constitution which I do not at present approve, but I am not sure I shall...”
• “America has sent us many good things, gold, silver, sugar, tobacco; but you are the first philosopher for whom we are be...”
• “They had previously spent time living in Barbados, where nine in ten people were enslaved on vast sugar plantations and ...”
• “In the Colonies we issue our own money. It is called Colonial Scrip. We issue it in proper proportion to the demands of ...”
• “Letter to Joseph Priestley" in response to Priestley's "experiments on the restoration of air [by plants] made noxious b...”
• “The bell ringing for church, we went thither immediately, and with hearts full of gratitude, returned sincere thanks to ...”
• “Much less is it adviseable for a Person to go thither [to America], who has no other Quality to recommend him but his Bi...”
• “While new American leaders such as George Washington, Patrick Henry, and Benjamin Franklin studied the Haudenosaunee gov...”
• “To demonstrate, in the completest manner possible, the sameness of the electric fluid with the matter of lightning, Dr. ...”
• “Joseph Priestley; The Kite Experiment, The Pennsylvania Gazette, October 19, 1752; also copy: The Royal Society. II. Pri...”
• “Mr. Burke then, to Miss Shipley's great delight, burst forth into an eulogy of the abilities and character of Dr. Frankl...”
• “Some volumes against Deism fell into my hands ... they produced an effect precisely the reverse to what was intended by ...”
• “The Body of B. Franklin Printer; Like the Cover of an old Book, Its Contents torn out, And stript of its Lettering and G...”
• “Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government; when this support is taken away, the constitution of a fre...”
• “Letter to Joseph Huey (6 June 1753); published in Albert Henry Smyth, The Writings of Benjamin Franklin, volume 3, p. 14...”
• “The last of Franklin's chart of 13 virtues: "My List of Virtues contain'd at first but twelve; but a Quaker Friend havin...”
• “Father Abraham's Speech," preface to: "Poor Richard Improved, 1758," Founders Online, National Archives, accessed 27 May...”
• “If men are so wicked with religion, what would they be Without it? Think how many inconsiderate and inexperienced youth ...”
• “Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pensilvania (1749), p. 22; the statement relates to the teaching of Hist...”
• “On being presented to any one as the Minister of America, the common-place question, used in such cases, was 'c'est vous...”
• “[B]lessings ought rightfully to be administered, without distinction of Colour, to all descriptions of People, so they i...”
• “This quote was used as a motto on the title page of An Historical Review of the Constitution and Government of Pennsylva...”
• “But our great security lies, I think, in our growing strength, both in numbers and wealth; ... unless, by a neglect of m...”
• “September 1741. "Poor Richard, 1741," Founders Online, National Archives, accessed 27 May 2020. [Original source: The Pa...”
• “:Not having heard of it is not as good as having heard of it.Having heard of it is not as good as having seen it.Having ...”
• “Attributed in various post-2000 works, but actually Dale Carnegie in How to Win Friends and Influence People p.14, publi...”
• “I fully agreed with Gen. Washington that we must safeguard this young nation, as yet in its swaddling clothes, from the ...”
• “All Wars are Follies, very expensive & very mischievous ones. When will Mankind be convinc'd of this, and agree to settl...”
• “Misattributed to various people, including Albert Einstein and Mark Twain. An early occurrence was used as a teaching re...”
• “I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country; he is a bird of bad moral character; lik...”
• “In 1775 Franklin again used this phrase in his contribution to Massachusetts Conference (Objections to Barclay's Draft A...”
• “The Yale Book of Quotations quotes "'Tis impossible to be sure of any thing but Death and Taxes," from Christopher Bullo...”