Benjamin Franklin Men Quotations [Page 2]

The rapid progress of the sciences makes me sorry, at times, that I was born so soon. Imagine the power that man will have over matter, a few hundred years from now. We may learn how to remove gravity from large masses, and float them over great distances. Agriculture will double its produce with less labor. All diseases will surely be cured... even old age. If only the moral sciences could be improved as well. Perhaps men would cease to be wolves to one another... and human beings could learn to be human.

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.

A change of fortune hurts a wise man no more than a change of the moon.

Two passions have powerful influence on the affairs of men: the love of power and the love of money.

Don't think so much of your own Cunning, as to forget other Men's; a Cunning Man is overmatched by a cunning Man and a Half.

Life with Fools consists in Drinking; with the wise Man, living's Thinking.

The honest Man takes Pains, and then enjoys Pleasures; the knave takes Pleasure, and then suffers Pains.

An honest Man will receive neither Money nor Praise that is not his due.

An assembly of great men is the greatest fool upon earth.

The cause of the South was the cause of constitutional government, the cause of government regulated by law, and the cause of honesty and fidelity in public servants. No nobler cause did man ever fight for!

The greatest inventions are those inquiries which tend to increase the power of man over matter.

Observe all men, thyself most.

Serving God is doing good to man, but praying is thought an easier service and therefore more generally chosen.

Fools make feasts and wise men eat them.

This gave me occasion to observe, that when Men are employ'd they are best contented. For on the Days they work'd they were good-natur'd and chearful; and with the consciousness of having done a good Days work they spent the Evenings jollily; but on the idle Days they were mutinous and quarrelsome, finding fault with their Pork, the Bread, and in continual ill-humour. (Autobiography, 1771)

On the whole, though I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it, yet as I was, by the endeavor, a better and a happier man than I otherwise should have been had I not attempted it

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.

A perfect character might be attended with the inconvenience of being envied and hated; and that a benevolent man should allow a few faults in himself, to keep his friends in countenance.

A quarrelsome man has no good neighbours.

In going on with these Experiments, how many pretty systems do we build, which we soon find ourselves oblig'd to destroy! If there is no other Use discover'd of Electricity, this, however, is something considerable, that it may help to make a vain Man humble.

It is much to be lamented that a man of Franklin's general good character and great influence should have been an unbeliever in Christianity, and also have done as much as he did to make others unbelievers.

I believe that Man is not the most perfect Being but One, rather that as there are many Degrees of Beings his Inferiors, so there are many Degrees of Beings superior to him.

Women are books, and men the readers be...

Most men die from the neck up at age twenty-five because they stop dreaming.

I never knew a man who was good at making excuses who was good at anything else.

[E]very Man who comes among us, and takes up a piece of Land, becomes a Citizen, and by our Constitution has a Voice in Elections, and a share in the Government of the Country.

The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either.

Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature.

Most men die at 25, we just don't bury them until they are 70.

Humility makes great men twice honorable

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.

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.

A Man of Knowledge like a rich Soil, feeds If not a world of Corn, a world of Weeds.

The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of a wise man is in his heart.

After three days men grow weary, of a wench, a guest, and weather rainy.

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.

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.

Man will ultimately be governed by God or by tyrants.

Poverty often deprives a man of all spirit and virtue; it is hard for an empty bag to stand upright.

A wise man will desire no more than what he may get justly, use soberly, distribute cheerfully, and leave contently.

If Men are so wicked as we now see them with Religion what would they be if without it?

I have lived a long time, sir, and the longer I live the more convincing proofs I see of this truth - that God governs in the affairs of men.

I think opinions should be judged by their influences and effects; and if a man holds none that tend to make him less virtuous or more vicious, it may be concluded that he holds none that are dangerous, which I hope is the case with me.

Men and Melons are hard to know.

That there is one God, who made all things. That he governs the world by his providence. That he might be worshipped by adoration, prayer, and thanksgiving. But that the most acceptable service of God is doing good to Man. That the Soul is immortal. And that God will certainly reward virtue and punish vice, either here or hereafter.

Men take more pains to mask than mend.

I believe there is one Supreme most perfect being. ... I believe He is pleased and delights in the happiness of those He has created; and since without virtue man can have no happiness in this world, I firmly believe He delights to see me virtuous

The most acceptable service of God is doing good to man.

It is better to let 100 criminals go free than to imprison 1 innocent man.

Much Virtue in Herbs, little in Men.

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.

A single man has not nearly the value he would have in a state of union. He is an incomplete animal. He resembles the odd half of a pair of scissors.

Don't judge men's wealth or godliness by their Sunday appearance.

Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom; and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech; which is the right of every man as far as by it he does not hurt or control the right of another; and this is the only check it ought to suffer and the only bounds it ought to know.... Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freedom of speech, a thing terrible to traitors.

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 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.

An old young man, will be a young old man.

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.

If you wish information and improvement from the knowledge of others, and yet at the same time express yourself as firmly fix'd in your present opinions, modest, sensible men, who do not love disputation, will probably leave you undisturbed in the possession of your error.

Here is my Creed. I believe in one God, creator of the Universe. That he governs it by his Providence. That he ought to be worshiped. That the most acceptable service we render him is doing good to his other children. That the soul of Man is immortal, and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this.

The discontented man finds no easy chair.

And where is the Prince who can afford to so cover his country with troops for its defense, as that ten thousand men descending from the clouds, might not in many places do an infinite deal of mischief, before a force could be brought together to repel them?

Wise men learn by others' harms, fools scarcely by their own.

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.

The busy man has few idle visitors; to the boiling pot the flies come not.

After crosses and losses men grow humbler and wiser.

I am the laziest man in the world. I invented all those things to save myself from toil.

No man ought to own more property than needed for his livelihood; the rest, by right, belonged to the state.

The general policy of the past has been to drive, but the era of force must give way to that of knowledge, and the policy of the future will be to teach and to lead, to the advantage of all concerned. Henry Gantt If a man empties his purse into his head no man can take it from him. An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.

Life is rather a state of embryo, a preparation for life; a man is not completely born till he has passed through death.

Every other sect supposes itself in possession of the truth, and that those who differ are so far in the wrong. Like a man traveling in foggy weather they see those at a distance before them wrapped up in a fog, as well as those behind them, and also people in the fields on each side; but near them, all appears clear, though in truth they are as much in the fog as any of them.

There is much difference between imitating a good man and counterfeiting him.

Before Noah, men having only water to drink, could not find the truth. Accordingly...they became abominably wicked, and they were justly exterminated by the water they loved to drink. This good man, Noah, having seen that all his contemporaries had perished by this unpleasant drink, took a dislike to it; and God, to relieve his dryness, created the vine and revealed to him the art of making le vin. By the aid of this liquid he unveiled more and more truth.

Fools need advice most, but wise men only are the better for it.

Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools talk because they have to say something.

When knaves fall out, honest men get their goods; when priests dispute, we come at the truth

Is there any thing Men take more pains about than to render themselves unhappy?

Think how great a proportion of mankind, consists of weak and ignorant men and women, and of inexperienced youth of both sexes, who have need of the motives of religion to restrain them from vice, to support their virtue, and retain them in the pract

Of learned Fools I have seen ten times ten, Of unlearned wise men I have seen a hundred

A wolf eats sheep but now and then, ten thousands are devoured by men

Can grave and formal pass for wise, When Men the solemn Owl despise?

It's common for Men to give 6 pretended Reasons instead of one real one.

The excellency of hogs is fatness, of men virtue