Benjamin Franklin 1706-1790 John Bartlett


1
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. 1
Historical Review of Pennsylvania.
2
God helps them that help themselves. 2
Maxims prefixed to Poor Richard’s Almanac, 1757.
3
Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.
Maxims prefixed to Poor Richard’s Almanac, 1757.
4
Early to bed and early to rise, Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. 3
Maxims prefixed to Poor Richard’s Almanac, 1757.
5
Plough deep while sluggards sleep.
Maxims prefixed to Poor Richard’s Almanac, 1757.
6
Never leave that till to-morrow which you can do to-day.
Maxims prefixed to Poor Richard’s Almanac, 1757.
7
Three removes are as bad as a fire.
Maxims prefixed to Poor Richard’s Almanac, 1757.
8
Little strokes fell great oaks. 4
Maxims prefixed to Poor Richard’s Almanac, 1757.
9
A little neglect may breed mischief: for want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the rider was lost.
Maxims prefixed to Poor Richard’s Almanac, 1757.
10
He that goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing. 5
Maxims prefixed to Poor Richard’s Almanac, 1757.



11
A man may, if he knows not how to save as he gets, keep his nose to the grindstone. 6
Maxims prefixed to Poor Richard’s Almanac, 1757.
12
Vessels large may venture more, But little boats should keep near shore.
Maxims prefixed to Poor Richard’s Almanac, 1757.
13
It is hard for an empty bag to stand upright.
Maxims prefixed to Poor Richard’s Almanac, 1757.
14
Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other.
Maxims prefixed to Poor Richard’s Almanac, 1757.
15
We are a kind of posterity in respect to them. 7
Letter to William Strahan, 1745.
16
Remember that time is money.
Advice to a Young Tradesman, 1748.
17
Idleness and pride tax with a heavier hand than kings and parliaments. If we can get rid of the former, we may easily bear the latter.
Letter on the Stamp Act, July 1, 1765.
18
Here Skugg lies snug As a bug in a rug. 8
Letter to Miss Georgiana Shipley, September, 1772.
19
There never was a good war or a bad peace. 9
Letter to Josiah Quincy, Sept. 11, 1773.
20
You and I were long friends: you are now my enemy, and I am yours.
Letter to William Strahan, July 5, 1775.
21
We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.
At the signing of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.
22
He has paid dear, very dear, for his whistle.
The Whistle. November, 1779.
23
Here you would know and enjoy what posterity will say of Washington. For a thousand leagues have nearly the same effect with a thousand years.
Letter to Washington, March 5, 1780.
24
Our Constitution is in actual operation; everything appears to promise that it will last; but in this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.
Letter to M. Leroy, 1789.

Note 1.
This sentence was much used in the Revolutionary period. It occurs even so early as November, 1755, in an answer by the Assembly of Pennsylvania to the Governor, and forms the motto of Franklin’s “Historical Review,” 1759, appearing also in the body of the work.—Frothingham: Rise of the Republic of the United States, p. 413. [back]

Note 2.
See Herbert, Quotation 28. [back]

Note 3.
Clarke: Paræmiolgia, 1639.

My hour is eight o’clock, though it is an infallible rule, “Sanat, sanctificat, et ditat, surgere mane” (That he may be healthy, happy, and wise, let him rise early).—A Health to the Gentle Profession of Serving-men, 1598 (reprinted in Roxburghe Library), p. 121. [back]

Note 4.
See Lyly, Quotation 8. [back]

Note 5.
See Tusser, Quotation 5. [back]

Note 6.
See Heywood, Quotation 30. [back]

Note 7.
Byron’s European fame is the best earnest of his immortality, for a foreign nation is a kind of contemporaneous posterity.—Horace Binny Wallace: Stanley, or the Recollections of a Man of the World, vol. ii. p. 89. [back]

Note 8.
Snug as a bug in a rug.—The Stratford Jubilee, ii. 1, 1779. [back]

Note 9.
It hath been said that an unjust peace is to be preferred before a just war.—Samuel Butler: Speeches in the Rump Parliament. Butler’s Remains. [back]

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