Dave Grow > Dave's Quotes

“Politicians are a lot like diapers. They should be changed frequently, and for the same reasons.”
― Mark Twain

“He who is good at making excuses is seldom good at anything else.”
― Benjamin Franklin

“He that cannot obey cannot command.”
― Benjamin Franklin

“Time is money.”
― Benjamin Franklin

“I know not which lives more unnatural lives, obeying husbands, or commanding wives.”
― Benjamin Franklin

“The wise man draws more advantage from his enemies than the fool from his friends.”
― Benjamin Franklin

“The names of virtues, with their precepts, were:
1. Temperance. Eat not do dullness; drink not to elevation.
2. Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
3. Order. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
4. Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
5. Frugality. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
6. Industry. Lose no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
7. Sincerity. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
8. Justice. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
9. Moderation. Avoid extreams; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
10. Cleanliness. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloths, or habitation.
11. Tranquillity. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
12. Chastity. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.
13. Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.”
― Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

“Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God.”
― Benjamin Franklin

“To err is human, to repent divine; to persist devilish.”
― Benjamin Franklin

“After crosses and losses men grow humbler and wiser.”
― Benjamin Franklin

“If you would know the worth of money, go and try to borrow some.”
― Benjamin Franklin

“If your head is made of wax, don't walk in the sun.”
― Benjamin Franklin

“A Swedish minister having assembled the chiefs of the Susquehanna Indians, made a sermon to them, acquainting them with the principal historical facts on which our religion is founded — such as the fall of our first parents by eating an apple, the coming of Christ to repair the mischief, his miracles and suffering, etc. When he had finished an Indian orator stood up to thank him.

‘What you have told us,’ says he, ‘is all very good. It is indeed bad to eat apples. It is better to make them all into cider. We are much obliged by your kindness in coming so far to tell us those things which you have heard from your mothers. In return, I will tell you some of those we have heard from ours.

‘In the beginning, our fathers had only the flesh of animals to subsist on, and if their hunting was unsuccessful they were starving. Two of our young hunters, having killed a deer, made a fire in the woods to boil some parts of it. When they were about to satisfy their hunger, they beheld a beautiful young woman descend from the clouds and seat herself on that hill which you see yonder among the Blue Mountains.

‘They said to each other, “It is a spirit that perhaps has smelt our broiling venison and wishes to eat of it; let us offer some to her.” They presented her with the tongue; she was pleased with the taste of it and said: “Your kindness shall be rewarded; come to this place after thirteen moons, and you will find something that will be of great benefit in nourishing you and your children to the latest generations.” They did so, and to their surprise found plants they had never seen before, but which from that ancient time have been constantly cultivated among us to our great advantage. Where her right hand had touched the ground they found maize; where her left had touched it they found kidney-beans; and where her backside had sat on it they found tobacco.’

The good missionary, disgusted with this idle tale, said: ‘What I delivered to you were sacred truths; but what you tell me is mere fable, fiction, and falsehood.’

The Indian, offended, replied: ‘My brother, it seems your friends have not done you justice in your education; they have not well instructed you in the rules of common civility. You saw that we, who understand and practise those rules, believed all your stories; why do you refuse to believe ours?”
― Benjamin Franklin, Remarks Concerning the Savages

“Necessity never made a good bargain.”
― Benjamin Franklin

“We hold these truths to be self-evident.

{Franklin's edit to the assertion in Thomas Jefferson's original wording, 'We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable' in a draft of the Declaration of Independence changes it instead into an assertion of rationality. The scientific mind of Franklin drew on the scientific determinism of Isaac Newton and the analytic empiricism of David Hume and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. In what became known as 'Hume's Fork' the latters' theory distinguished between synthetic truths that describe matters of fact, and analytic truths that are self-evident by virtue of reason and definition.}”
― Benjamin Franklin

“Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out.”
― Benjamin Franklin

“It isn't what you know that counts,it's what you think of in time”.”
― Benjamin Franklin

“In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.”
― Benjamin Franklin, Declaration of Independence, Constitution of the United States of America, Bill of Rights and Constitutional Amendments

“The trouble with doing nothing is not knowing when you're finished.”
― Benjamin Franklin

“Diplomacy is seduction in another guise, Mr. Adams. One improves with practice.”
― Benjamin Franklin

“If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”
― Benjamin Franklin

“dost thou love life? then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of,”
― Benjamin Franklin, The Way to Wealth

“We must all hang together or we shall most assuredly all hang separately.”
― Benjamin Franklin

“He that won't be counseled, can't be helped.”
― Benjamin Franklin

“We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid”
― Benjamin Franklin

“The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself.”
― Benjamin Franklin

“If we all think alike, no one is thinking.”
― Benjamin Franklin

“Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain - and most fools do.”
― Benjamin Franklin