Benjamin Franklin built one of the most respected legacies in American history, as a printer, inventor, diplomat, and self-made businessman. His words on success, hard work, and achievement still guide people who want to build a better life today. Below you’ll find 91+ Benjamin Franklin quotes about success, grouped so you can find exactly the kind of wisdom you need.
Most of these lines come straight from Poor Richard’s Almanack and The Way to Wealth, two of the most quoted texts in early American writing. A few phrases are popularly attributed to Franklin even though historians debate their exact origin, we’ve noted that where it applies, so you know the source behind each idea.
Table of Contents
Benjamin Franklin Quotes About Success On Hard Work and Discipline
Franklin believed daily discipline, not luck, built real achievement.
Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.
Diligence is the mother of good luck.
God helps them that help themselves.
Industry pays debts, while despair increases them.
Sloth makes all things difficult, but industry all easy.
He that riseth late must trot all day.
Plough deep while sluggards sleep, and you shall have corn to sell and to keep.
Employ thy time well if thou meanest to gain leisure.
Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.
Franklin treated failure as feedback, not a final verdict.
By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.
Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out.
Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.
I didn’t fail the test. I just found 100 ways to do it wrong.
Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other, and scarce in that.
He that can have patience can have what he will.
Little strokes fell great oaks.
To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions.
Some people die at twenty-five and aren’t buried until seventy-five.
Never confuse motion with action.
Quotes On Wealth, Money, and Success
Franklin’s writing on money stressed frugality far more than luck.
Time is money.
A penny saved is a penny earned.
An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.
If you would know the value of money, go and try to borrow some.
Creditors have better memories than debtors.
Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.
Without frugality none can be rich, and with it very few would be poor.
Rather go to bed without dinner than to rise in debt.
It is hard for an empty bag to stand upright.
Money can beget money, and its offspring can beget more.
The way to wealth is as plain as the way to market. It depends chiefly on two words, industry and frugality.
Waste neither time nor money, but make the best use of both.
He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money.
A fat kitchen makes a lean will.
Necessity never made a good bargain.
He does not possess wealth; it possesses him.
Remember that credit is money.
Think of saving as well as of getting.
What we call time enough, always proves little enough.
Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made of.
One today is worth two tomorrows.
Quotes On Wisdom, Growth, and Self-Improvement
Franklin treated self-improvement as a lifelong project, not a phase.
Genius without education is like silver in the mine.
The doors of wisdom are never shut.
Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.
Search others for their virtues, thy self for thy vices.
Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.
A new truth is a truth, an old error is an error.
Reading makes a full man.
He that falls in love with himself will have no rivals.
Human felicity is produced not so much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen, as by little advantages that occur every day.
Who is strong? He that can conquer his bad habits.
A right heart exceeds all the heads in the world.
Wish not so much to live long as to live well.
Quotes On Leadership and Character
Leadership, for Franklin, was proven through actions, not titles.
He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.
A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds.
If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth the writing.
There never was a good knife made of bad steel.
Would you live with ease, do what you ought, and not what you please.
Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.
A true friend is the best possession.
Love your enemies, for they tell you your faults.
Doing an injury puts you below your enemy; revenging one makes you but even with him; forgiving it sets you above him.
Anger is never without a reason, but seldom with a good one.
Glass, china, and reputation are easily cracked, and never well mended.
If you would persuade, you must appeal to interest rather than intellect.
Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, nor liberty to purchase power.
A good example is the best sermon.
Quotes On Time, Opportunity, and Greatness
Franklin returned to one theme again and again: time is the resource you never get back.
Lost time is never found again.
He that idly loses five shillings worth of time, loses five shillings, and might as prudently throw five shillings into the river.
Great talkers, little doers.
A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over.
Happiness depends more on the inward disposition of mind than on outward circumstances.
Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.
Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.
If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.
Vessels large may venture more, but little boats should keep near shore.
Fools make feasts, and wise men eat them.
Keep thy shop, and thy shop will keep thee.
He that goes a-borrowing goes a-sorrowing.
For want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the rider was lost.
What maintains one vice would bring up two children.
Trouble springs from idleness, and grievous toil from needless ease.
Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.
He that waits upon fortune, is never sure of a dinner.
Handle with your hands nothing but what belongs to your business, and cast a watchful eye over your own affairs.
There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know one’s self.
Since thou art not sure of a minute, throw not away an hour.
Lose no time; be always employed in something useful.
FAQs
What is Benjamin Franklin’s most famous quote about success?
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail” is one of his most-cited lines on success, along with “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”
What did Benjamin Franklin say about hard work and achievement?
Franklin linked achievement directly to daily habits, writing that “diligence is the mother of good luck” and “sloth makes all things difficult, but industry all easy.”
Did Benjamin Franklin really say all the quotes credited to him?
Not all of them. Many phrases, including “a penny saved is a penny earned,” are popularly attributed to Franklin, though scholars note he often adapted older proverbs rather than invented every line himself.
What was Benjamin Franklin’s personal philosophy on success?
His essay The Way to Wealth sums it up in two words: industry and frugality. He believed steady work and careful spending, not luck, produced lasting greatness.
Which Benjamin Franklin quote is best for daily motivation?
“Lost time is never found again” works well as a daily reminder, since it pushes you to treat each day as something you can’t get back.
Conclusion
Franklin’s quotes about success hold up because they’re built on habits, not shortcuts, work, patience, and honest self-reflection. Pick a few lines that speak to where you are right now, and let them guide how you approach today.
Vicky ABROY is a writer, editorial curator, and lead researcher for AmericansQuotes.com. With a deep appreciation for the power of language, Vicky specializes in documenting, analyzing, and contextualizing iconic American speeches, literary excerpts, and historical quotations. Through meticulous research and engaging commentary, Vicky highlights the voices that have defined American thought, culture, and leadership across generations—helping readers discover the timeless wisdom hidden within famous words.
