it is hard for an empty sack to stand upright

A man being sometimes more generous when he has but a little money than when he has plenty, perhaps thro’ fear of being thought to have but little.

Slavery is such an atrocious debasement of human nature, that its very extirpation, if not performed with solicitous care, may sometimes open a source of serious evils. The unhappy man who has been treated as...

If Jack’s in love, he’s no judge of Jill’s beauty.

Be slow in choosing a friend, slower in changing.

Vicious actions are not hurtful because they are forbidden, but forbidden because they are hurtful.

You may delay, but time will not.

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

People willing to trade their freedom for temporary security deserve neither and will lose both

We stand at the crossroads, each minute, each hour, each day, making choices. We choose the thoughts we allow ourselves to think, the passions we allow ourselves to feel, and the actions we allow ourselves...

Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as publick Liberty, without Freedom of Speech; which is the Right of every Man, as far as by it,...

The U.S. Constitution doesn’t guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. Your have to catch up with it yourself.

Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. There is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of its filling a vacuum, it...

1. TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation. 2. SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation. 3. ORDER. Let all your things have their places; let each...

Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.[misquote of a letter about wine, see quotes/831031]

In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is Freedom, in water there is bacteria.

I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, if they are such: because I think a General Government necessary for us, and there is no Form of Government but what may be a Blessing...

Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools that don’t have brains enough to be honest.

Never leave till tomorrow that which you can do today.

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.

When Benjamin Franklin invented the lightning-rod, the clergy, both in England and America, with the enthusiastic support of George III, condemned it as an impious attempt to defeat the will of God. For, as all...

There seem to be but three ways for a nation to acquire wealth. The first is by war…This is robbery. The second by commerce, which is generally cheating. The third by agriculture, the only honest...

I’d rather be a pessimist because then I can only be pleasantly surprised.

Fear not death for the sooner we die, the longer we shall be immortal.

There are three faithful friends, an old wife, an old dog, and ready money.

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

A man who would sacrifice freedom for security deserves neither.

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

They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.—written for the Pennsylvania Assembly in its Reply to the Governor, 11 November 1755

Educate your children to self-control, to the habit of holding passion and prejudice and evil tendencies subject to an upright and reasoning will, and you have done much to abolish misery from their future and...

Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.

Hide not your talents, they for use were made,What’s a sundial in the shade?

If we look back into history for the character of present sects in Christianity, we shall find few that have not in their turns been persecutors, and complainers of persecution. The primitive Christians thought persecution...

Imitate Jesus and Socrates

If Passion drives, let Reason hold the Reins.

That bodies should be lent us, while they can afford us pleasure, assist us in acquiring knowledge, or doing good to our fellow creatures, is a kind and benevolent act of God – when they...

A man of words and not of deeds, Is like a garden full of weeds.

A learned blockhead is a greater blockhead than an ignorant one.

In 1736 I lost one of my sons, a fine boy of four years old, by the small-pox, taken in the common way. I long regretted bitterly, and still regret that I had not given...

Many people die at twenty five and aren’t buried until they are seventy five.

We must, indeed, all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.

A perfect character might be attended with the inconvenience of being envied and hated; and that a benevolent man should allow a few faults in himself, to keep his friends in countenance.

Let no pleasure tempt thee, no profit allure thee, no ambition corrupt thee, to do anything which thou knowest to be evil; so shalt thou always live jollily; for a good conscience is a continual...

Lost Time is never found again.

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

After crosses and losses men grow humbler and wiser.

We are not so sensible of the greatest Health as of the least Sickness.

It’s better to swim in the sea belowThan to swing in the air and feed the crow,Says jolly Ned Teach of Bristol.

Sloth makes all things difficult, but industry all easy; and he that riseth late must trot all day, and shall scarce overtake his business at night; while laziness travels so slowly, that poverty soon overtakes...

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.