Benjamin Franklin - Poor Quotes

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I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country; he is a bird of bad moral character…like those among men who live by sharping and robbing, he is generally poor, and often very lousy.…The turkey…is a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America.

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

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
Content makes poor men rich; discontent makes rich men poor.

Benjamin Franklin
'Tis true there is much to be done,... but stick to it steadily, and you will see great effects, for constant dropping wears away stones... and little strokes fell great oaks, as Poor Richard says....

Benjamin Franklin
Has not the famous political Fable of the Snake, with two Heads and one Body, some useful Instruction contained in it? She was going to a Brook to drink, and in her Way was to pass thro' a Hedge, a Twig of which opposed her direct Course; one Head chose to go on the right side of the Twig, the other on the left, so that time was spent in the Contest, and, before the Decision was completed, the poor Snake died with thirst.

Benjamin Franklin
I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion about the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it.

Benjamin Franklin
In my youth, I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.

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
The poor have little; beggars, none; the rich, too much; enough, not one.

Benjamin Franklin
Epitaph on a scolding wife by her husband: Here my poor Bridget's corpse doth lie, she is at rest - and so am I!

Benjamin Franklin
The church, the state, and the poor, are 3 daughters which we should maintain, but not portion off.

Benjamin Franklin