Benisms

[piece-itpete]

As our old philandering friend Ben Franklin is being discussed in another thread I thought I'd post some quotes of his.

These must be 110% true - I found them on the internet.

He's very loquacious - there's books of his quotes.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Old Man of the Revolution.

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“Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.” [I had a reason to use this last week!]


“Instead of cursing the darkness, light a candle.”


“If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed.”


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


"Every encroachment on rights is not worth a rebellion." [from early on]


“The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.”


“In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is Freedom, in water there is bacteria.” [hear hear!]


“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”


“Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.”


“Educate your children to self-control, to the habit of holding passion and prejudice and evil tendencies subject to an upright and reasoning will, and you have done much to abolish misery from their future and crimes from society.”


“Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.”


“To find out a girl's faults, praise her to her girlfriends.”


“When you're testing to see how deep water is, never use two feet.”


“Trouble knocked at the door, but, hearing laughter, hurried away”


“If Jack's in love, he's no judge of Jill's beauty.”


“Be civil to all; sociable to many; familiar with few; friend to one; enemy to none.”


[I could go on and on. I leave this with a bit of awesome prose:]

"....
I have lived, Sir, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth -- that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings that "except the Lord build they labor in vain that build it." I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall be become a reproach and a bye word down to future age. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing Governments by Human Wisdom, and leave it to chance, war, and conquest.
..."

Read that whole speech here: https://www.americanrhetoric.com/spe...enfranklin.htm


Oh one more


“The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all others, charity.”


.

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by piece-itpete

As our old philandering friend Ben Franklin is being discussed in another thread I thought I'd post some quotes of his...

Did you watch the Ken Burns show on Franklin on PBS last week? Truly great.

[piece-itpete]

That was the thread I referenced - I hope to see it soon!

Good to se you again Finn

[Mark B]

“Be civil to all; sociable to many; familiar with few; friend to one; enemy to none.”

Unlike Benjamin:

While slow to make friends I don't limit myself to only one.

I'm honor bound to be the enemy of evil persons.