Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklinwas one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A renowned polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, freemason, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. As an inventor, he is known for the lightning rod, bifocals, and the Franklin stove, among other inventions. He facilitated many civic organizations, including...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth17 January 1706
CityBoston, MA
CountryUnited States of America
Spare when young, and spend when old.
Human happiness comes not from infrequent pieces of good fortune, but from the small improvements to daily life.
Idle hands are the devil's playthings.
I think that humanity brings much misery on itself by the false value they put on things.
The rapid progress of the sciences makes me sorry, at times, that I was born so soon. Imagine the power that man will have over matter, a few hundred years from now. We may learn how to remove gravity from large masses, and float them over great distances. Agriculture will double its produce with less labor. All diseases will surely be cured... even old age. If only the moral sciences could be improved as well. Perhaps men would cease to be wolves to one another... and human beings could learn to be human.
The world is run by the people who show up.
Success is the residue of planning.
Life is a kind of chess.
It is easier to build two chimneys than to keep one in fuel.
There is no gains without pain.
I wish it were possible, from this instance, to invent a method of embalming drowned persons in such a manner that they may be recalled to life at any period, however distant; for having a very ardent desire to see and observe the state of America a hundred years hence, I should prefer to any ordinary death the being immersed in a cask of Madeira wine with a few friends till that time, to be then recalled to life by the solar warmth of my dear country!
The expenses required to prevent a war are much lighter than those that will, if not prevented, be absolutely necessary to maintain it.
Those who give up liberty for the sake of security, deserve neither liberty nor security.
You will discover 3 trustworthy mates, an aged wife, an aged canine, and ready dollars.