2,150 Quotes by Benjamin Franklin

Strive to be the greatest man in your country, and you may be disappointed. Strive to be the best and you may succeed: he may well win the race that runs by himself.

We do not stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing.

Glass, china, and reputation are easily cracked, and never well mended.

Masonic labor is purely a labor of love. He who seeks to draw Masonic wages in gold and silver will be disappointed. The wages of a Mason are in the dealings with one another, sympathy begets sympathy, kindness begets kindness, helpfulness begets helpfulness, and these are the wages of a Mason.

In going on with these experiments, how many pretty systems do we build, which we soon find ourselves obliged to destroy! If there is no other use discovered of electricity, this, however, is something considerable, that it may help to make a vain man humble.

Be neither silly, nor cunning, but wise.

Wise men learn by others' harms; fools by their own.

The declaration of Independence only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.

The learned fool writes his nonsense in better language than the unlearned; but still 'tis nonsense.