The following Benjamin Franklin quotes demonstrate the reasons why he is often referred to as “The First American” and is widely acknowledged as a significant figure in American history. These quotes by Benjamin Franklin will inspire you to be active and have patience.
Also Read: 60+ Helen Keller Quotes About Vision, Happiness, and Purpose
Don’t forget to also read our collection of Aristotle quotes to develop your logical thinking.
Who is Benjamin Franklin:
Benjamin Franklin was a polymath and one of the most significant personalities of the American Revolutionary War and the early days of the United States. He is famous for his experiments with electricity, his role as one of the United States Founding Fathers, and his numerous inventions and discoveries.
Following are some widely known facts about Benjamin Franklin:
- He was born in Boston on January 17, 1706, and passed away in Philadelphia on April 17, 1790.
- Franklin was a multifaceted thinker who excelled in a variety of subjects, including science, literature, and politics. He also made significant contributions to music, cartography, and mathematics.
- Many of his inventions, like bifocals and the Franklin stove, are still in use today.
- Franklin was also an accomplished writer and publisher, and he is regarded as one of the best printers of his day. He is best known for his publication of “Poor Richard’s Almanack,” which he wrote under the pseudonym “Richard Saunders”.
- He also served as Pennsylvania’s sixth President and as a delegate to the Continental Congress.
- He died in Philadelphia at the age of 84 and is largely considered one of the most influential figures in American history.
Inspiring Benjamin Franklin Quotes On Life
Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.
Better slip with foot than tongue.
While we may not be able to control all that happens to us, we can control what happens inside us.
Three may keep a secret if two of them are dead.
Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.
Love your Enemies, for they tell you your Faults.
Happiness depends more on the inward disposition of the mind than on outward circumstances.
There never was a good war or a bad peace.
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.
He that can have patience can have what he will.
Many people die at twenty-five and aren’t buried until they are seventy-five.
Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.
Don’t throw stones at your neighbors, if your own windows are glass.
He that can have patience can have what he will.
He that falls in love with himself will have no rivals.
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.
Energy and persistence conquer all things.
The only thing that is more expensive than education is ignorance.
There never was a good war or a bad peace.
Glass, China, and Reputation are easily cracked, and never well mended.
What is more valuable than Gold? Diamonds. Than Diamonds? Virtue.
He that falls in love with himself will have no rivals.
Early to bed and early to rise, make a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.
He that would live in peace & at ease, Must not speak all he knows or judge all he sees.
He that lies down with Dogs shall rise up with fleas.
Look before, or you’ll find yourself behind.
Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.
When you are finished changing, you’re finished.
Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.
Benjamin Franklin Quotes On Freedom, Time and Education
Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom – and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech.
Laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes him.
Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freedom of speech.
I didn’t fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong.
You may delay, but time will not.
When you’re good to others, you’re best to yourself.
It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.
An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.
Pardoning the Bad is injuring the Good.
In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.
Genius without education is like silver in the mine.
Hide not your Talents, they for Use were made. What’s a Sun-Dial in the shade?
We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing!
Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.
Search others for their virtues, thy self for thy vices.
There are three things extremely hard – steel, a diamond, and knowing one’s self.
It is better to take many Injuries than to give one.
Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship.
When you’re good to others, you’re best to yourself.
Wish not so much to live long as to live well.
If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading or do things worth writing.
We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.
What you seem to be, be really.
We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.
The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of a wise man is in his heart.
Famous Benjamin Franklin Quotes
Search others for their virtues, thy self for thy vices.
Whatever is begun in anger, ends in shame.
He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.
Wish not so much to live long as to live well.
He that would live in peace & at ease, Must not speak all he knows or judge all he sees.
Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.
Content makes poor men rich; discontent makes rich men poor.
If you would know the value of money, go and try to borrow some; for he that goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing.
The best way to see faith is to shut the eye of Reason.
Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.
He that speaks much, is much mistaken.
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
You only have the right to pursue happiness; you have to catch it yourself.
I didn’t fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong.
There are two ways to increase your wealth. Increase your means or decrease your wants. The best is to do both at the same time.
For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned.
A countryman between 2 Lawyers, is like a fish between two cats.
All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move.
When you’re good to others, you’re best to yourself.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
When you’re testing to see how deep water is, never use two feet.
Life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.
Genius without education is like silver in the mine.
Wine is constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy.
Reading makes a full Man, Meditation a profound Man, and Discourse a clear Man.
Fear not death for the sooner we die, the longer we shall be immortal.
To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions.
Security without liberty is called prison.
If a man could have half of his wishes, he would double his troubles.
Keep the eyes wide open before marriage and half shut afterward.
A false friend and a shadow attend only while the sun shines.
Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.
To lengthen thy life, lessen thy meals.
To find out a girl’s faults, praise her to her girlfriends.
Life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.
When you’re testing to see how deep water is, never use two feet.
This a great confidence in a friend to tell him your faults; greater to tell him his.
Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship.
Following is the list of some awards and achievements by Benjamin Franklin:
- In 1753, he received the Copley Medal from the Royal Society for his electricity experiments.
- He was elected to the Royal Society of Arts in recognition of his creation of the lightning rod in 1756.
- In 1759, he received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
- He served as the Postmaster General of the British colonies in America from 1753 to 1774.
- In honor of Franklin’s contributions to American history and culture, several schools, organizations, and libraries have been named after him.
