“The first Degree of Folly, is to conceit one’s self wise; the second to profess it; the third to despise Counsel.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard Improved, 1754
“The Good-will of the Governed will be starv’d, if not fed by the good Deeds of the Governors.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard Improved, 1753
“Success has ruin’d many a Man.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard Improved, 1752
“Children and Princes will quarrel for Trifles.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard Improved, 1752
“Mankind are very odd Creatures: One Half censure what they practise, the other half practise what they censure; the rest always say and do as they ought.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard Improved, 1752
“There are three things extremely hard, Steel, a Diamond and to know one’s self.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard Improved, 1750
“ ‘Tis not improbable that a Man may receive more solid Satisfaction from Pudding, while he is living, than from Praise, after he is dead.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard Improved, 1750 (emphases in original)
“9 men in 10 are suicides.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard Improved, 1749
“Pardoning the Bad, is injuring the Good.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1748
“How the future manifests itself and brings to pass what it holds is a multifaceted phenomenon that is not necessarily guided by theoretical forces or mathematical models. Instead, causal agents that engender knowing and purposeful human behavior, individual and collective, fundamentally shape that narrative.” – Judge Victor Marrero, State of New York v. Deutsche Telecom (February 10, 2020)
“One Man may be more cunning than another, but not more cunning that every body else.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1745
“There are no fools so troublesome as those that have wit.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1745
“No gains without pains.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1745
“Where there’s no Law, there’s no Bread.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1744
“Death takes no bribes.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1742
“Wish not so much to live long as to live well.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1738
“Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1738
“Let thy vices die before thee.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1738
“If you wou’d not be forgotten As soon as you are dead and rotten, Either write things worth reading, or do things worth the writing.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1738
“Who has deceiv’d thee so oft as thyself?” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1738
“There are three faithful friends, an old wife, an old dog, and ready money.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1738
“The noblest question in the world is What Good may I do in it?” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1737 (emphasis in original)
“The greatest monarch on the proudest throne, is oblig’d to sit upon his own arse.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1737
“He that would live in peace & at ease, Must not speak all he knows, nor judge all he sees.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1736
“Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1735
“There is no little enemy.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1733
“Men & Melons are hard to know.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1733
“Distrust & caution are the parents of security.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1733
“To lengthen thy Life, lessen thy Meals.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1733
“The poor have little, beggars none, the rich too much, enough not one.” – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1733 (emphasis in original)