Instead of cursing the darkness, light a candle.

He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither.

He that drinks his cider alone, let him catch his horse alone.

Well done is better than well said.

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

But if you will not take this Counsel, and persist in thinking a Commerce with the Sex inevitable, then I repeat my former Advice, that in all your Amours you should prefer old Women to...

He that lives upon hope will die farting.

The best way to see Faith is to shut the eye of Reason.

The Things which hurt, instruct.

Be not sick too late, nor well too soon

Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.

How many observe Christ’s birthday! How few, His precepts!

For the best return on your money, pour your purse into your head.

Nine men in ten are suicides.

Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.

…as I am not fond of giving advice,having seldom seen it taken

Politicians are a lot like diapers. They should be changed frequently, and for the same reasons.

Tis easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follow it.

Your kindness shall be rewarded; come to this place after thirteen moons, and you will find something that will be of great benefit in nourishing you and your children to the latest generations.” They did...

So convenient a thing to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for every thing one has a mind to do.

Most people die at 25 and aren’t buried until they’re 75.

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Be studious in your profession, and you will be learned. Be industrious and frugal, and you will be rich. Be sober and temperate, and you will be healthy. Be in general virtuous, and you will...

I didn’t fail the test. I just found 100 different ways to do it wrong.

Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.

Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.

I am for doing good to the poor, but…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. I...

My Parents had early given me religious Impressions, and brought me through my Childhood piously in the Dissenting Way. But I was scarce 15 when, after doubting by turns of several Points as I found...

Vessels large may venture more, But little boats should keep near shore.

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

In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it...

Old boys have their playthings as well as young ones; the difference is only in the price.

Never confuse Motion with Action.

Fools make feasts and wise men eat them.

The people heard it, and approved the doctrine, and immediately practiced the contrary.

Were I a Roman Catholic, perhaps I should on this occasion vow to build a chapel to some saint, but as I am not, if I were to vow at all, it should be to...

The securest place is a prison cell, but there is no liberty

Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.

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.

Ohne Gedankenfreiheit gibt es keine Weisheit. Und ohne Redefreiheit keine öffentliche Freiheit.

Motivation is when your dreams put on work clothes

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...

To be proud of virtue, is to poison yourself with the Antidote.

Tis a great confidence in a friend to tell him your faults; greater to tell him his.

For my own Part, when I am employed in serving others, I do not look upon myself as conferring Favours, but as paying Debts. In my Travels, and since my Settlement, I have received much...

I know not which lives more unnatural lives, obeying husbands, or commanding wives.

Happiness depends more on the inward disposition of mind than on outward circumstances.

Great beauty, great strength, and great riches are really and truly of no great use; a right heart exceeds all

…wine [is] a constant proof that God loves us, and loves to see us happy.

239Fish and Visitors stink after three days