99+ Benjamin Franklin Short Quotes to Inspire Success, Wisdom & Life

Well done is better than well said.

Energy and persistence conquer all things.

Lost time is never found again.

By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.

Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.

Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.

Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.

Diligence is the mother of good luck.

He that can have patience can have what he will.

Little strokes fell great oaks.

A penny saved is a penny earned.

Honesty is the best policy.

Life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.

Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.

Do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.

Fish and visitors stink after three days.

Genius without education is like silver in the mine.

God helps those who help themselves.

Hide not your talents, they for use were made.

If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.

In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.

It is the working man who is the happy man.

Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards.

Never confuse motion with action.

Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.

Observe all men; thyself most.

One today is worth two tomorrows.

Read much, but not too many books.

Search others for their virtues, thyself for thy vices.

Take time for all things: great haste makes great waste.

The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is a knowledge of our own ignorance.

The most acceptable service of God is doing good to man.

The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.

There are no gains without pains.

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.

To lengthen thy life, lessen thy meals.

Never ruin an apology with an excuse.

When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.

Wise men don’t need advice. Fools won’t take it.

You may delay, but time will not.

Words may show a man’s wit, but actions his meaning.

Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame.

Speak little, do much.

Sloth makes all things difficult, but industry all things easy.

Since thou art not sure of a minute, throw not away an hour.

One good husband is worth two good wives; for the scarcer things are, the more they’re valued.

No nation was ever ruined by trade.

Necessity never made a good bargain.

Love your neighbor; yet don’t pull down your hedge.

Let all men know thee, but no man know thee thoroughly.

Kings and bears often worry their keepers.

If you would be wealthy, think of saving as well as getting.

Rather go to bed without dinner than rise in debt.

He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money.

Money has never made man happy, nor will it, there is nothing in its nature to produce happiness.

Drive thy business, let not that drive thee.

Industry pays debts, while despair increases them.

Employ thy time well if thou meanest to gain leisure.

If you know how to spend less than you get, you have the philosopher’s stone.

Plough deep while sluggards sleep, and you shall have corn to sell and to keep.

Have you somewhat to do tomorrow, do it today.

For want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; for want of a horse the rider was lost.

He that riseth late must trot all day, and shall scarce overtake his business at night.

Trouble springs from idleness, and grievous toil from needless ease.

Constant complaint is the poorest sort of self-love.

Many a little makes a mickle.

Silks and satins put out the kitchen fire.

The used key is always bright.

If you would know the value of money, go try to borrow some.

He that goes a-borrowing goes a-sorrowing.

Great talkers, little doers.

Creditors have better memories than debtors.

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

A small leak will sink a great ship.

A place for everything, everything in its place.

A learned blockhead is a greater blockhead than an ignorant one.

Whoever is out of patience is out of possession of their soul.

An empty bag cannot stand upright.

Half the truth is often a great lie.

Being ignorant is not so much a shame as being unwilling to learn.

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

He that falls in love with himself will have no rivals.

Anger is never without a reason, but seldom with a good one.

Sudden power is apt to be insolent, sudden liberty saucy.

Where there’s marriage without love, there will be love without marriage.

Many foxes grow gray, but few grow good.

There was never a good war or a bad peace.

Wish not so much to live long as to live well.

Marry your son when you will, but marry your daughter when you can.

None but the well-bred man knows how to confess a fault, or acknowledge himself in an error.

Great beauty, great strength, and great riches are really and truly of no great use; a right heart exceeds all.

Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, nor liberty to purchase power.

We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.

A true friend is the best possession.

A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over.

A false friend and a shadow attend only while the sun shines.

At twenty years of age the will reigns; at thirty, the wit; and at forty, the judgment.

Don’t throw stones at your neighbors, if your own windows are glass.

Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other.

Fear not death, for the sooner we die, the longer we shall be immortal.

If you would keep your secret from an enemy, tell it not to a friend.