Benjamin Franklin Quotes
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From a Child I was fond of Reading, and all the little Money that came into my Hands was ever laid out in Books.
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Let me add, that only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.
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But I must own that I am much in the Dark about Light. I am not satisfy'd with the doctrine that supposes particles of matter call'd light continually driven off from the Sun's Surface, with a Swiftness so prodigious!
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Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
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Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.
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Diligence is the mother of good luck.
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strong
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That it is better 100 guilty Persons should escape than that one innocent Person should suffer, is a maxim that has been long and generally approved; never, that I know of, controverted.
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He has paid dear, very dear, for his whistle.
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Let all Men know thee, but no man know thee thoroughly: Men freely ford that see the shallows.
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Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.
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A great Empire, like a great Cake, is most easily diminished at the Edges.
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Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government; when this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins. Republics and limited monarchies derive their strength and vigor from a popular examination into the action of the magistrates.
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The Way to ſee by Faith is to ſhut the Eye of Reaſon: The Morning Daylight appears plainer when you put out your Candle.
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Advice to a Young Tradesman, Written by an Old One (1748), as quoted by Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Chapter II: The Spirit of Capitalism, 1905. 12, 3
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Here you would know and enjoy what posterity will say of Washington. For a thousand leagues have nearly the same effect with a thousand years.
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Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes!
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You and I were long friends: you are now my enemy, and I am yours.
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But our great security lies, I think, in our growing strength, both in numbers and wealth; … unless, by a neglect of military discipline, we should lose all martial spirit …; for there is much truth in the Italian saying, Make yourselves sheep, and the wolves will eat you.
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Man is a tool-making animal.
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Love your Enemies, for they tell you your Faults.
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God grant, that not only the Love of Liberty, but a thorough Knowledge of the Rights of Man, may pervade all the Nations of the Earth, so that a Philosopher may set his Foot anywhere on its Surface, and say, 'This is my Country.'
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Every Body cries, a Union is absolutely necessary, but when they come to the Manner and Form of the Union, their weak Noddles are perfectly distracted.
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I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country; he is a bird of bad moral character; like those among men who live by sharping and robbing, he is generally poor, and often very lousy. The turkey is a much more respectable bird.