127+ Inspirational Benjamin Franklin Quotes [2024] American Philosopher & Inventor

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December 24th, 2021

Benjamin Franklin was an American Polymath, Writer, Scientist, Inventor, Diplomat, Political Philosopher, and Printer Publisher.

Benjamin Franklin is the only founding father to have signed all four of the key documents establishing the United States the Declaration of Independence.

Benjamin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, a drafter, and the first United States postmaster general. As an inventor, Benjamin Franklin is known for the lightning rod, bifocals, and the Franklin stove, among his other inventions.

We've put together an incredible collection of Benjamin Franklin quotes to read.

Here they are:

127+ Inspirational Benjamin Franklin Quotes [2024] American Philosopher & Inventor

List of Inspiring Benjamin Franklin Quotes

“Lost Time is never found again.” - Benjamin Franklin

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

“The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.” - Benjamin Franklin

“He that speaks much is much mistaken.” - Benjamin Franklin

“I will speak ill of no man and speak all the good I know of everybody.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Clean your Finger, before you point at my Spots.” - Benjamin Franklin

“They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Joy is not in things, it is in us.” - Benjamin Franklin

“He that won't be counseled can't be helped.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Content makes poor men rich; discontent makes rich men poor.” - Benjamin Franklin

“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

“Either writes something worth reading or does something worth writing.” - Benjamin Franklin

“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.” - Benjamin Franklin

“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

“Tis a great confidence in a friend to tell him your faults; greater to tell him his.” - Benjamin Franklin

“The person who deserves most pity is a lonesome one on a rainy day who doesn't know how to read.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Never confuse Motion with Action.” - Benjamin Franklin

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

“We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.” - Benjamin Franklin

“When you are finished changing, you're finished.” - Benjamin Franklin

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

“When you're testing to see how deep water is, never use two feet.” - Benjamin Franklin

“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!” - Benjamin Franklin

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” - Benjamin Franklin

“A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Trouble knocked at the door, but, hearing laughter, hurried away.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Many people die at twenty-five and aren't buried until they are seventy-five.” - Benjamin Franklin

“In wine, there is wisdom, in beer, there is Freedom, in the water, there are bacteria.” - Benjamin Franklin

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

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

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

“Fear not death for the sooner we die, the longer we shall be immortal.” - Benjamin Franklin

“I didn't fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong.” - Benjamin Franklin

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” - Benjamin Franklin

“An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.” - Benjamin Franklin

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

“Life biggest tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.” - Benjamin Franklin

“When the people find that they can vote themselves money that will herald the end of the republic.” - Benjamin Franklin

“If Jack's in love, he's no judge of Jill's beauty.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Happiness depends more on the inward disposition of mind than on outward circumstances.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterward.” - Benjamin Franklin

“If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading or do things worth writing.” - Benjamin Franklin

“In the Affairs of this World Men are saved, not by faith, but by the Lack of it.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Be civil to all; sociable to many; familiar with few; friend to one; enemy to none.” - Benjamin Franklin

“If a man could have half of his wishes, he would double his troubles.” - Benjamin Franklin

“We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing!” - Benjamin Franklin

“Speak ill of no man, but speak all the good you know of everybody.” - Benjamin Franklin

“While we may not be able to control all that happens to us, we can control what happens inside us.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Never leave till tomorrow that which you can do today.” - Benjamin Franklin

“A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body.” - Benjamin Franklin

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

“Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.” - Benjamin Franklin

“The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of a wise man is in his heart.” - Benjamin Franklin

“There was never a bad peace or a good war.” - Benjamin Franklin

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

“Be slow in choosing a friend, slower in changing.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Love your Enemies, for they tell you your Faults.” - Benjamin Franklin

“The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Work as if you were to live a thousand years, play as if you were to die tomorrow.” - Benjamin Franklin

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

“Contentment makes poor men rich, Discontent makes rich men poor.” - Benjamin Franklin

“All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move.” - Benjamin Franklin

“When the well is dry, we know the worth of water.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Those things that hurt, instruct.” - Benjamin Franklin

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

“It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.” - Benjamin Franklin

“To be humble to superiors is a duty, to equals courtesy, to inferiors nobleness.” - Benjamin Franklin

“A Brother may not be a Friend, but a Friend will always be a Brother.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Fish and visitors smell in three days.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Eat to live, don't live to eat.” - Benjamin Franklin

“There will be sleeping enough in the grave.” - Benjamin Franklin

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

“Fools make feasts and wise men eat them.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Words may show a man's wit, actions his meaning.” - Benjamin Franklin

“He who can have patience can have what he will.” - Benjamin Franklin

“You will find the key to success under the alarm clock.” - Benjamin Franklin

“There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know one's self.” - Benjamin Franklin

“For the best return on your money, pour your purse into your head.” - Benjamin Franklin

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

“So convenient a thing to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do.” - Benjamin Franklin

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

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

“No one cares what you know until they know that you care!” - Benjamin Franklin

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

“you can do anything you set your mind to.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Happiness consists more in the small conveniences of 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.” - Benjamin Franklin

“One today is worth two tomorrows” - Benjamin Franklin

“He that lieth down with Dogs, shall rise up with Fleas.” - Benjamin Franklin

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

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

“Women are books, and men the readers be.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Absence sharpens love, presence strengthens it.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Speak little, do much.” - Benjamin Franklin

“For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Genius without education is like silver in the mine.” - Benjamin Franklin

“To cease to think creatively is to cease to live.” - Benjamin Franklin

“All the little money that ever came into my hands was ever laid out in books.” - Benjamin Franklin

“There cannot be good living where there is not good drinking.” - Benjamin Franklin

“The people heard it and approved the doctrine, and immediately practiced the contrary.” - Benjamin Franklin

“A false friend and a shadow attend only while the sun shines.” - Benjamin Franklin

“When the well is dry we know the value of water.” - Benjamin Franklin

“To lengthen thy life, lessen thy meals.” - Benjamin Franklin

“You only have the right to pursue happiness; you have to catch it yourself.” - Benjamin Franklin

“A friend in need is a friend indeed!” - Benjamin Franklin

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

“Critics are our friends, they show us our faults.” - Benjamin Franklin

“An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Reading was the only amusement I allowed myself.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Thinking aloud is a habit which is responsible for most of mankind's misery.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Nothing ventured, nothing gained!!!” - Benjamin Franklin

“If Passion drives, let Reason hold the Reins.” - Benjamin Franklin

“To all apparent beauties blind, each blemish strikes an envious mind.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other, and scarce in that.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” - Benjamin Franklin

“He that can have patience can have what he will.” - Benjamin Franklin

“You may delay, but time will not.” - Benjamin Franklin

“A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Three may keep a secret if two of them are dead.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” - Benjamin Franklin

“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” - Benjamin Franklin

“How many observe Christ's birthday! How few, His precepts!” - Benjamin Franklin

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

“Hide not your talents, they for use were made, What's a sundial in the shade?” - Benjamin Franklin

“Well done is better than well said.” - Benjamin Franklin

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Pat Walls

I'm Pat Walls and I created Starter Story - a website dedicated to helping people start businesses. We interview entrepreneurs from around the world about how they started and grew their businesses.

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