I leave you the best phrases of Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790), American politician, scientist and inventor, considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He actively participated in the independence process and in the drafting of the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution.
You may also be interested in these quotes from Thomas Jefferson.
-Most men die from the neck up at twenty-five years of age, because they stop dreaming.
-He who is not used to being advised cannot be helped.
-Don't trade health for wealth, or freedom for power.
-We need a revolution every 200 years, because all governments become obsolete and corrupt after that time.
-He who sacrifices freedom to have security does not deserve it.
-War is when the government tells you who the bad guy is. Revolution is when you decide for yourself.
-Women are books, and men are readers…
-Tell me and I'll forget. Teach me and I remember. Get me involved and I'll learn it.
-Security without freedom is called prison.
-Fear God, and your enemies will fear you.
-I don't believe in stereotypes. I prefer to hate people in a more personal way.
-Tricks and betrayal are the practice of fools, who do not have enough intelligence to be honest.
-A penny saved is a penny earned.
-I never knew a man who was good at making excuses and who, at the same time, was good at something else.
-If you do tomorrow what you did today, you will receive tomorrow what you get today.
-He who is good at making excuses is rarely good at anything else.
-The tragedy of life is that we grow old too soon and wise too late.
-By improving oneself, the world becomes better. Don't be afraid to grow too slow, just be afraid to stay still.
-How few are those who have enough courage to be masters of their own faults, or sufficient resolution to amend them.
-For every minute we spend in the organization, one hour is earned.
- Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what they have to eat for lunch. Liberty is a well-protected lamb contesting the vote.
-The best thing you can give your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; a good example to your son; to a father, your respect; your mother, a behavior that makes her be proud of you; to yourself, respect; and all the others, your charity.
-I have been prone to think that there has never been, and never will be, such a thing as a good war or a bad peace.
-I am doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion about the media. I believe that the best way to do good to the poor is not to make things easy for them in poverty, but by leading them or leading them out of it.
-Freedom is not a gift granted by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature.
-Being ignorant is not as shameful as being unwilling to learn.
-Don't be afraid of mistakes. You will know the failures. Keep moving forward.
-The way to ensure peace is to be prepared for war. Those who are on guard and seem ready to meet their adversaries are in much less danger of being attacked than those who are indolent, confident, and negligent.
-God helps those who help themselves.
-The best doctor gives the least amount of medicine.
-Eat to live, do not live to eat.
-Common sense is something that everyone needs, few have, and no one thinks it is lacking.
-A good conscience is a continuous Christmas.
-I didn't fail, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong.
-Educate your children in self-control, in the habit of containing passion, prejudice and the perverse tendencies of the subject towards an upright and reasonable will, and you will have done much to abolish the misery of their future and the crimes of society.
-Take a coin from your wallet and invest in your mind. It will blow out of your mind and overflow your wallet.
-The Constitution of the United States does not guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it.
-Money has never made man happy, nor will it, there is nothing in his nature that produces happiness. The more you have, the more you want.
-Whoever wants to overthrow the freedom of a nation must begin by repressing freedom of expression.
-Rebellion against tyrants is obedience to God.
-The lost time is never found again.
-The noblest question in the world is: «What good can I do?
-In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom, in water there are bacteria.
-Originality is the art of hiding your sources.
-He who cannot obey, cannot command.
-Forget your mistakes, but remember what they have taught you. So how do you become better tomorrow? Becoming a better person today.
-It is the first responsibility of each citizen to question authority.
-A highway robber is just as a thief when he loots with his gang as when he is alone; and a nation that makes an unjust war is just a magnificent gang.
-When you are good to others, you are better to yourself.
-If you want revenge on your enemy, dominate yourself.
-All humanity is divided into three classes: those who are immobile, those who move, and those who move.
-If you want to know the value of money, go and try to get a loan.
-I believe that there is a more perfect Supreme Being.
-Justice will not be exercised until those little affected are as outraged as those who are.
-Without freedom of thought there cannot be that which is called wisdom; and there is no such thing as public freedom without freedom of speech.
-There is no profit without effort.
-One of two; you write something worth reading or you do something worth writing.
"Foolish scholars write their nonsense in a language that is better than that of the ignorant, but it is still nonsense.
-Industry, perseverance and austerity produce a fortune.
-The safest place is a prison cell, but there is no freedom there.
-It is the working man who is a happy man. It is the idle man who is a miserable man.
-He who talks a lot is very wrong.
-Going to bed early and getting up early make a man healthy, rich and wise.
-It is very difficult to dislike someone you have helped.
-Be studious in your profession and you will have learned. Be hardworking and austere, and you will be rich.
-I have found the Christian dogma unintelligible. Early in my life, I was absent from Christian meetings.
-The door to the temple of wisdom is the knowledge of our own ignorance.
-Remember not just to say the right thing at the right time, but something more difficult, to leave the wrong thing unsaid at a tempting moment.
-The best of all medicines is rest and fasting.
-He who does not prepare, prepares to fail.
-Love your enemies, because they tell you your mistakes.
-Go to war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you being a better man.
-Anything that begins with anger ends with shame.
-Well done is better than well said.
-The best investment is in the tools of the trade itself.
-There is no good war, no bad peace.
-The way of seeing faith is to close the eyes of reason.
-Humility makes great men twice honorable.
-When the well runs dry, we know the value of water.
-You will be able to observe with consternation how long a useful truth takes to be known and to exist, before it is received and put into practice.
-A place for everything and everything in its place.
-He who wants to live in peace and comfort should not talk about everything he knows or everything he sees.
-If you want to be rich, think about saving, as well as obtaining.
-Sin is not harmful because it is prohibited, but it is prohibited because it is harmful.
-The best thing for people is what they do for themselves.
-It is easier to prevent bad habits than to break them.
-Be slow to choose a friend, and be slower to change it.
-When the wine comes in, the truth comes out.
-Remember that credit is money.
-Become a sheep and the wolves will eat you.
-A long life may not be good enough, but a good life is long enough.
-Drive your business, don't let him lead you.
-Three people can keep a secret, if two of them are dead.
-If you want to be loved, love and be adorable.
-Be careful of the hobby you consume.
-The path to wealth is as clear as the path to the market. It depends mainly on two words, industry and austerity: that is, not wasting neither time nor money, but making the best use of both. Without industry and austerity you can do nothing, and with them you can do everything.
-In my youth, I have traveled a lot and I have observed in different countries, that the more public supplies were made for the poor, the less they provided themselves, and of course they became poorer. And conversely, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and they became richer.
-Therefore, I ask your permission so that, from now on, the prayers beg for Heaven's assistance and its blessing on our deliberations, which will take place in this Assembly every morning…
-Reading makes a man complete, meditation makes a man profound, speech makes a man clear.
-If time were the most precious of all things, wasting time should be the greatest prodigality.
-When you finish changing, you are complete.
-Soon they will outnumber us, because all the advantages we have, in my opinion, will not be able to preserve our language and even our government will become precarious.
-Who loves himself has no rival.
-He who thinks that money can do everything, it is possible to suspect with certainty that he will be able to do anything for money.
-When I reflect on the happiness that I have enjoyed, which I often do, I sometimes tell myself that if exactly the same life were offered to me again, I would live it again from beginning to end. The only thing I would ask for would be the privilege of an author to correct some errors of the first in a second edition.
-In this world, there are only two things for sure: death and paying taxes.
-The heart of the madman is in the mouth; but the mouth of the wise is in the heart.
-I have heard that nothing gives an author such great satisfaction as to find his works respectfully cited by other scholarly authors.
-Be careful with the young doctor and the old barber.
-The problems arise from laziness and the painful work of unnecessary ease.
-Make the wealth small, and the wishes great.
-Don't waste time. Employ it on something useful and cut out all unnecessary actions.
-All human situations have their drawbacks. We judge the present but neither see nor feel the future and therefore we often make problematic changes without amendment, and often for the worse.
-Don't tolerate dirt on the body, clothes or in the room.
-He who gets everything he can with modesty and saves everything he gets (necessary expenses are excluded), will undoubtedly become a millionaire.
-The large amount of forest land that we still have to clear and put in order for cultivation will take a long time.
-The number of industries and the discretion among humanity, exceeds the amount of idleness and madness.
-Hunger never saw bread bad.
-Be careful with twice-boiled meat and a reconciled old enemy.
-After a party, the host scratches his head.
-Is there something that men worry about more than feeling unhappy? Nothing brings more pain than too much pleasure, there is nothing but bondage within so much freedom.
-He who sleeps with dogs, gets up with many fleas.
-He who lives carnally, will not live forever.
-You cannot pluck roses without being afraid of thorns.
-Without justice, courage becomes a weak feeling.
-A new truth is a truth, an old error is still an error.
-As enchantments usually mean absence, non-presence becomes an enchantment.
-Laws love cobwebs that catch little flies.
-You must not approve of someone who praises you for everything you say.
-A small well-filled house, a small well-worked field, and a well-intentioned little wife are great riches.
-It is better to take many lessons than to give one.
-The sun never regrets the good it does, nor does it ever demand a reward.
-Fish and visitors start to stink in 3 days.
-Don't throw stones at your own neighbors, if your own windows are made of glass.
-The lovers, the travelers and the poets, will give money to be heard.
-By my talk, I realize that I am old. I used to write more methodically, but you don't dress for a private company like you would for a public party. Maybe it's just laziness.
-Creditors always have better memories than debtors.
-Love, cough and smoke cannot hide.
-If you want to have a servant that you like… Help yourself.
-The ancients tell us what is the best but we must learn from the modern ones what is the most appropriate.
-Time is a plant that is capable of curing all diseases.
-If all printers were determined not to print anything until they were sure not to offend anyone, there would be very little printed material.
-Slavery is such a cruel humiliation of human nature, that its own extirpation, if not done carefully, can sometimes open a source of grave evils.
-Without continuous development and progress, words such as improvement, achievement and success have no meaning.
-He who blows the embers in scandals with which he has nothing to do, has no right to complain if the sparks fly in his face.
-I wanted to please everyone and, having little to supply, I gave expectations.
-People who argue, refute and confuse are generally unlucky in their affairs. Sometimes they win, but they never get goodwill, which would be very helpful.
-Persuasion moves you to do anything you know is wrong.
-Those who have nothing to bother them, usually will not have problems at all.
-The complexity lies in finding an exact measurement. Eat out of need, not pleasure, because lust tastes only where the need ends.
-Mark with what insolence and pride arrogance takes its step.
-Who is strong? The one who can conquer his bad habits. Who is rich? The one who enjoys his portion.
-The one who buys needs to have 100 eyes, but one is enough for the one who sells things.
-Mothers with a light heel have daughters with a loaded heel.
-Lack of care hurts us more than lack of knowledge.
-None knows the unfortunate, and the fortunate do not know themselves.
-A father is a treasure; a brother is a comfort; a friend is both.
- Better is a little with content, than a lot with containment.
-Abandonment kills injuries, revenge increases them.
- Drunkenness is the worst of evils. It makes some men fools, some beasts, and some turn into demons.
-He who is aware of a stench in his panties, is jealous of every wrinkle in the nose of another.
-Who judges the best of a man, his enemies or himself?