Benjamin Franklin Quotes
- “Time is money.”
- “There never was a good war or a bad peace.”
- “I would rather have it said, He lived usefully, than, He died rich.”
- “Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.”
- “He that lies down with dogs shall rise up with fleas.”
- “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”
- “To pour forth benefits for the common good is divine.”
- “If any form of government is capable of making a nation happy, ours I think bids fair now for producing that effect. But after all, much depends on the people who are to be governed.”
- “Reading makes a full Man, Meditation a profound Man, discourse a clear Man.”
- “I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen as the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly...the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America...He is besides, tho’ a little vain and silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on.”
- “Work as if you were to live 100 Years, Pray as if you were to die To-morrow.”
- “The noblest question in the world is What Good may I do in it?”
- “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”
- “A learned blockhead is a greater blockhead than an ignorant one.”
Franklin Facts
- As publisher of the Pennsylvania Gazette, Franklin established a style—examining all sides of a story and publishing differing points of view—that is the basis of modern journalism.
- The Declaration of Independence originally read, “We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable.” Franklin’s revision changed it to, “We hold these truths to be self-evident.”
- Franklin was the oldest delegate to sign both the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution.
- Franklin is the only founding father to have signed all three of the documents that freed the colonies from British rule and established the United States as an independent nation—the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Paris and the U.S. Constitution.
- Franklin is rarely remembered as an athlete, but he was an avid swimmer from an early age and invented swim fins. He is included in the Swimming Hall of Fame.
- Franklin appointed the first postmistress of Boston, who was the first woman to hold public office.
- Franklin’s “firsts” included founding the first American subscription library, the first American mutual insurance company, the first American hospital, the first learned society and Pennsylvania’s first college, which was also the nation’s first non-religious college and first officially designated university.
- Franklin was also famous for being second, as many of his successes were built by improving upon others’ “firsts.” He published the second newspaper in Pennsylvania, as well as the second magazine. He was the second bookseller in Philadelphia, the second postmaster and the second government printer.
- Franklin set up the first franchise system in North America. He sent his apprentices to cities such as Charleston, New York, New Haven, Annapolis and Antigua with a press and type. In exchange, they sent him one-third of their profits. This removed potential rivals from the Philadelphia market and provided Franklin with vendors for his publications and outlets that would reprint selections from his newspapers.
- Though Franklin retired from his printing business in 1748, and later went on to become an internationally known scientist, diplomat and founder of the United States, he continued to refer to himself as “B. Franklin, Printer.”
- By the time of Franklin’s death in 1790, and due in part to his many pioneering contributions, Philadelphia had matured into the nation’s premier social, political and cultural metropolis, called the “Athens of the Western World.”
- Franklin’s contributions to science were in areas as diverse as health and medicine, geology, weather, oceanography and electricity. He invented a variety of practical devices, from bifocals to the lightning rod to the flexible catheter.
- Franklin was fascinated by weather and its effects—he once followed a dust devil for miles on horseback to study its characteristics.
- Benjamin Franklin is credited with creating some of the first political cartoons, including “The Waggoner and Hercules,” which appeared in his publication Plain Truth, and the famous “Join or Die” image of a snake cut into many sections.
- Franklin was disappointed with the choice of the eagle as the symbol of the country. He had lobbied hard for another bird—the turkey, a uniquely American creature. “The humble turkey minds his own business, respecting the rights of others,” said Franklin.
- Even while he was alive, Franklin was one of the most famous men in the world. He was celebrated by kings, consulted by philosophers and read by scientists. David Hume counted Franklin as a friend, Voltaire hailed him as a champion of liberty and, on his deathbed, John Quincy Adams spoke of his first meeting with Franklin.
- Franklin was one of America’s first environmentalists. He advocated conservation and spoke out against pollution, notably in his attempts to end the waste that tanneries emptied into a tributary of the Delaware River.
- Franklin has a tree named after him, the Franklinia alatamaha, native to Georgia.
- Franklin died peacefully in his sleep on April 17, 1790, at 84 years of age. His funeral in Philadelphia attracted an estimated 20,000 people, one of the largest crowds of mourners ever known.
- Before the United States adopted the current national flag, Franklin was obliged to have one made for purposes of foreign recognition. The Franklin Flag is similar to the first United States flag, red, white and blue in color with 13 stars and 13 stripes. It differs in that four of the stripes were blue and each star had eight points rather than five.
- Benjamin Franklin did not seek a patent for any of his inventions. He believed that, “As we benefit from the inventions of others, we should be glad to share our own.”
- Franklin’s musical talents are among his least well-known accomplishments. However, he composed music and invented an instrument, the glass armonica, which became so popular that Mozart and Beethoven composed music for it and Marie Antoinette took lessons. Thousands of the instruments were built and sold, with one such factory employing over 100 people.
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