50 Best Benjamin Franklin Quotes

Best Benjamin Franklin Quotes

1- “War is when the government tells you who the bad guy is.
Revolution is when you decide that for yourself.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

2- “He who would trade liberty for some temporary security, deserves neither liberty nor security.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

3- “Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

4- “If everyone is thinking alike, then no one is thinking.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

5- “Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools, that don’t have brains enough to be honest.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

6- “The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all others, charity.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

7- “Make yourself sheep and the wolves will eat you.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

8- “We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

9- “When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.
When you’re down to nothing, God is up to something. The faithful see the invisible, believe the incredible and then receive the impossible.
Where liberty dwells there is my country.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

10- “It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

11- “Little minds think and talk about people.
Average minds think and talk about things and actions.
Great minds think and talk about ideas.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

12- “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.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

13- “Security without liberty is called prison.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

14- “Creditors have better memories than debtors.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

15- “The problem with doing nothing is not knowing when you’re finished.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

16- “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.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

17- “Take the money in your wallet and invest it in your mind. And in return, your mind will fill up your wallet!” ~ Benjamin Franklin

18- “There are two ways to increase your wealth. Increase your means or decrease your wants. The best is to do both at the same time.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

19- “Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

20- “Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain – and most fools do.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

21- “Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

22- “Believe none of what you hear and half of what you see.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

23- “Those who beat their swords into plowshares usually end up plowing for those who kept their swords.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

24- “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.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

25- “The U. S. Constitution doesn’t guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

26- “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

27- “Fart for freedom, fart for liberty—and fart proudly.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

28- “Doing your best means never stop trying.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

29- “He that cannot obey, cannot command.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

30- “Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

31- “To find out a girl’s faults, praise her to her girlfriends.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

32- “Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

33- “Who is strong? He that can conquer his bad habits.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

34- “The learned fool writes his nonsense in better language than the unlearned, but it is still nonsense.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

35- “I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion about the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

36- “To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

37- “Common sense is something that everyone needs, few have, and none think they lack.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

38- “Change is the only constant in life. Ones ability to adapt to those changes will determine your success in life.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

39- “Reading makes a full man, meditation a profound man, discourse a clear man.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

40- “Instead of cursing the darkness, light a candle.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

41- “In free governments the rulers are the servants, and the people their superiors and sovereigns.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

42- “Never ruin an apology with an excuse.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

43- “Without Freedom of thought there can be no such thing as wisdom;and no such thing as public liberty, without freedom of speech.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

44- “They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

45- “If you do tomorrow what you did today , you will get tomorrow what you got today” ~ Benjamin Franklin

46- “Beer is proof that God wants us to be happy” ~ Benjamin Franklin

47- “Thirteen virtues necessary for true success: temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, and humility.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

48- “A good example is the best sermon.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

49- “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.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

50- “The only thing that is more expensive than education is ignorance.” ~ Benjamin Franklin