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
Bright as the day and as the morning fair, Such Cloe is, & common as the air.
Be temperate in wine, in eating, girls, and sloth; Or the Gout will seize you and plague you both
Best is the Tongue that feels the rein; He that talks much, must talk in vain; We from the wordy Torrent fly: Who listens to the chattering Pye?
Eat and drink such an exact Quantity as the Constitution of thy Body allows of, in reference to the Services of the Mind.
Be not niggardly of what costs thee nothing, as courtesy, counsel, & countenance.
Beware of the little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.
Experience is a dear teacher, but fools will learn at no other.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for every thing one has a mind to do.
From a child I was fond of reading, and all the little money that came into my hands was ever laid out in books. Pleased with the 'Pilgrim's Progress,' my first collection was of John Bunyan's works in separate little volumes.
I have never entered into any controversy in defense of my philosophical opinions; I leave them to take their chance in the world. If they are right, truth and experience will support them; if wrong, they ought to be refuted and rejected. Disputes are apt to sour one's temper and disturb one's quiet.
Where there is a free government, and the people make their own laws by their representatives, I see no injustice in their obliging one another to take their own paper money.
My elder brothers were all put apprentices to different trades. I was put to the grammar-school at eight years of age, my father intending to devote me, as the tithe of his sons, to the service of the Church.
A child thinks 20 shillings and 20 years can scarce ever be spent.
There cannot be a stronger natural right than that of a man's making the best profit he can of the natural produce of his lands.