Benjamin Franklin's Famous Quotes

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Benjamin Franklin, head and shoulders portrait, facing right
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Joseph-Siffrède Duplessis (French, 1725-1802) | The Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

 

  1. “Love your Enemies, for they tell you your Faults.”
    - Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1756

  2. “He that falls in love with himself will have no rivals.”
    - Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1739

  3. “There never was a good war or a bad peace.”
    -Letter to Sir Joseph Banks, president of the Royal Society of London, July 1783. Also cited in a letter to Quincy, Sr., American merchant, planter and politician, September 1783.

  4. “He that lies down with Dogs, shall rise up with fleas.”
    - Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1733

  5. “Better slip with foot than tongue.”
    - Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1734

  6. “Look before, or you’ll find yourself behind.”
    - Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1735

  7. “Don’t throw stones at your neighbors, if your own windows are glass.”
    - Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1736

  8. “He that would live in peace & at ease, Must not speak all he knows or judge all he sees.”
    - Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1736

  9. “Well done is better than well said.”
    - Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1737

  10. “A right Heart exceeds all.”
    - Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1739

  11. “What you seem to be, be really.”
    - Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1744

  12. “A true Friend is the best Possession.”
    - Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1744

  13. “No gains without pains.”
    - Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1745

  14. “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander Time; for that’s the Stuff Life is made of.”
    - Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1746

  15. “Lost Time is never found again.”
    - Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1747

  16. “When you’re good to others, you’re best to yourself.”
    - Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1748

  17. “Pardoning the Bad, is injuring the Good.”
    - Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1748

  18. “Hide not your Talents, they for Use were made. What’s a Sun-Dial in the shade!”
    - Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1750

  19. “Glass, China, and Reputation, are easily crack’d, and never well mended.”
    - Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1750

  20. “What more valuable than Gold? Diamonds. Than Diamonds? Virtue.”
    - Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1751

  21. “Haste makes Waste.”
    - Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1753

  22. “Search others for their virtues, thy self for thy vices.”
    - Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1738

  23. “It is better to take many Injuries than to give one.”
    - Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1735
     
  24. “Wish not so much to live long as to live well.”
    - ​Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1738

More: 7 Things Benjamin Franklin Never Said