Benjamin Franklin - Man Quotes

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The cause of the South was the cause of constitutional government, the cause of government regulated by law, and the cause of honesty and fidelity in public servants. No nobler cause did man ever fight for!

Benjamin Franklin
Virtue alone is sufficient to make a man great, glorious, and happy.

Benjamin Franklin
Let all Men know thee, but no man know thee thoroughly: Men freely ford that see the shallows.

Benjamin Franklin
I resolve to speak ill of no man whatever, not even in a matter of truth; but rather by some means excuse the faults I hear charged upon others, and upon proper occasions speak all the good I know of everybody.

Benjamin Franklin
If you teach a poor young man to shave himself, and keep his razor in order, you may contribute more to the happiness of his life than in giving him a thousand guineas. This sum may be soon spent, the regret only remaining of having foolishly consumed it; but in the other case, he escapes the frequent vexation of waiting for barbers, and of their sometimes dirty fingers, offensive breaths, and dull razors.

Benjamin Franklin
Don't think so much of your own Cunning, as to forget other Men's; a Cunning Man is overmatched by a cunning Man and a Half.

Benjamin Franklin
We are more thoroughly an enlightened people, with respect to our political interests, than perhaps any other under heaven. Every man among us reads, and is so easy in his circumstances as to have leisure for conversations of improvement and for acquiring information.

Benjamin Franklin
There is much difference between imitating a good man and counterfeiting him.

Benjamin Franklin
The poor man must walk to get meat for his stomach,
the rich man to get a stomach to his meat.

Benjamin Franklin
It is a grand mistake to think of being great without goodness and I pronounce it as certain that there was never a truly great man that was not at the same time truly virtuous.

Benjamin Franklin
A perfect character might be attended with the inconvenience of being envied and hated; and that a benevolent man should allow a few faults in himself, to keep his friends in countenance.

Benjamin Franklin
Many a man thinks he is buying pleasure, when he is really selling himself to it.

Benjamin Franklin
Pride is said to be the last vice the good man gets clear of.

Benjamin Franklin
Be at War with your Vices, at Peace with your Neighbours, and let every New-Year find you a better Man.

Benjamin Franklin
One Man may be more cunning than another, but not more cunning than every body else.

Benjamin Franklin
That man alone loves himself rightly who procures the greatest possible good to himself through the whole of his existence and so pursues pleasure as not to give for it more than it is worth.

Benjamin Franklin
Poverty often deprives a man of all spirit and virtue; it is hard for an empty bag to stand upright.

Benjamin Franklin
I believe that Man is not the most perfect Being but One, rather that as there are many Degrees of Beings his Inferiors, so there are many Degrees of Beings superior to him.

Benjamin Franklin
God grant, that not only the Love of Liberty, but a thorough Knowledge of the Rights of Man, may pervade all the Nations of the Earth, so that a Philosopher may set his Foot anywhere on its Surface, and say, 'This is my Country.'

Benjamin Franklin
When you speak to a man, look on his eyes; when he speaks to you, look on his mouth.

Benjamin Franklin
If any man flatters me, I'll flatter him again; tho' he were my best Friend.

Benjamin Franklin
Poor man, said I, you pay too much for your whistle.

Benjamin Franklin
I believe there is one Supreme most perfect being. … I believe He is pleased and delights in the happiness of those He has created; and since without virtue man can have no happiness in this world, I firmly believe He delights to see me virtuous.

Benjamin Franklin
So much for industry, my friends, and attention to one's own business; but to these we must add frugality if we would make our industry more certainly successful. A man may, if he knows not how to save as he gets, keep his nose all his life to the grindstone, and die not worth a grout at last.

Benjamin Franklin
A change of fortune hurts a wise man no more than a change of the moon.

Benjamin Franklin