41 Wise Quotes by Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was a US writer, journalist, publisher, politician, statesman, diplomat, inventor, scientist, businessman, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. (1706-1790)

A sculpture of Benjamin Franklin's face in white marble. It is very realistic and expressive. Benjamin is in his seventies or so. He has an oval-shaped face; round, high forehead; bushy, arched eyebrows; big eyes with big lids; big nose; small mouth. He wears his hair long.

“A good example is the best sermon.”

-Benjamin

Scultpure by Jean-Antoine Houdon, 1778.
(Photo: MET Museum/Public domain)

“He that waits upon Fortune, is never sure of a dinner.”

Benjamin Franklin

“Death takes no bribes.”

Benjamin Franklin

“He that speaks much, is much mistaken.”

Benjamin Franklin

“Honesty is the best policy.”

Benjamin Franklin
A painting of Benjamin. Same face as in the sculpture. His hair is long and gray.

“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

-Benjamin

Painting by Joseph Duplessis, 1778.
(Photo: MET Museum/Public domain)

“He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.”

Benjamin Franklin

“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.”

Benjamin Franklin

“Hide not your talents, they for use were made.”

Benjamin Franklin

“Diligence is the mother of good luck.”

Benjamin Franklin
A painting of a younger Benjamin, probably in his early fifties. His hair is curlier -it may be a wig-, his nose straighter, his chin more prominent, it juts forward. He wears a brown suit and is writing a letter.

“As we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours, and this we should do freely and generously.”

-Benjamin

Painting by Mason Chamberlin, 1762.
(Photo: Philadelphia Museum of Art/Public domain)

“Speak little, do much.”

Benjamin Franklin

“Anger is never without a reason, but seldom with a good one.”

Benjamin Franklin

“Don’t throw stones at your neighbors if your own windows are glass.”

Benjamin Franklin

“I resolve to speak ill of no man whatever.”

Benjamin Franklin
An even younger Benjamin, perhaps in his thirties. He is standing. He wears an elegant black suit with a white puffy shirt underneath. He is wearing a long, brown, curly wig. He has brown eyes.

“Humility makes great men twice honourable.”

-Benjamin

Painting by Robert Feke, 1746.
(Photo: Harvard Art Museum/Public domain)

“Do good to your friends to keep them, to your enemies to win them.”

Benjamin Franklin

“If you would be loved, love, and be loveable.”

Benjamin Franklin

“A good wife and health is a man’s best wealth.”

Benjamin Franklin

“You can bear your own faults, and why not a fault in your wife?”

Benjamin Franklin

“Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards.”

Benjamin Franklin
Painting of  Benjamin Franklin in his seventies. He wears his natural, straight, grayish hair long. He is wearing glasses and a velvety-looking suit.

“The opinions of men are almost as various as their faces.”

-Benjamin

Painting by Charles Willson Peale, 1785.
(Photo: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts/Public domain)

“Most men indeed as well as most sects in Religion, think themselves in possession of all truth, and that wherever others differ from them it is so far error.”

Benjamin Franklin

“There can be no such thing… as public liberty without freedom of speech.”

Benjamin Franklin

“If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed.”

Summary of a written article by Benjamin Franklin

“For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions, even on important subjects, which I once thought right but found to be otherwise.”

Benjamin Franklin
Painting of Benjamin in his seventies. Same facial features s in all the other paintings. His forehead is high and rounded, he has arched eyebrows, somewhat deep-set brown eyes, a straight nose, small mouth, and somewhat pointy chin.

“Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.”

-Benjamin

Anonymous painter after Duplessis’ portrait, 1783.
(Photo: National Portrait Gallery/Public domain)

“How few there are who have courage enough to own their faults, or resolution enough to mend them.”

Benjamin Franklin

“Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools.”

Benjamin Franklin

“Wise men learn by other’s harms; fools by their own.”

Benjamin Franklin

“You may delay, but time will not.”

Benjamin Franklin
A painting of Benjamin in his late sixties or early seventies. He is wearing a fur coat and an elegant silky white shirt.

“By diligence and patience, the mouse bit in two the cable.”

-Benjamin

Painting by Charles Paul Jerome de Brea, 1777.
(Photo: MET Museum/Public domain)

“Many a man thinks he is buying pleasure, when he is really selling himself to it.”

Benjamin Franklin

“Silence is not always a sign of wisdom but babbling is ever a mark of folly.”

Benjamin Franklin

“The worst wheel of the cart makes the most noise.”

Benjamin Franklin

“Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame.”

Benjamin Franklin
A painting of Benjamin in his seventies. He looks unrecognizable here. He is wearing a puffy fur hat and glasses.

“Glass, china, and reputation are easily cracked and never well mended.”

-Benjamin

Painting by John Trumbull, 1778.
(Photo: Yale University Art Gallery/Public domain)

“Where there’s marriage without love, there will be love without marriage.”

Benjamin Franklin

“He that lies down with dogs shall rise up with fleas.”

Benjamin Franklin

“There was never a good war, or a bad peace.”

Benjamin Franklin
A painting of Benjamin in his fifties. He looks like a statesman. He is wearing his military uniform, a white wig, and glasses. He sits at his desk which is covered in red velvet. Benjamin reads a letter while pensively holding his chin with his thumb. On his desk is a sculpture of Isaac Newton.

“Write injuries in dust, benefits in marble.”

-Benjamin

Painting by David Martin, 1767.
(Photo: White House/Public domain)

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2021-05-24
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