"Savages we call them, because their manners differ from ours, which we think the perfection of civility; they think the same of theirs."
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Quote collection
Benjamin Franklin quotes (page 51 of 70)
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"Thou can'st not joke an enemy into a friend, but thou may'st a friend into an enemy."
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"What is a butterfly? At best He's but a caterpiller drest. The gaudy Fop's his picture just."
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"A dying man can do nothing easy."
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"Half-wits talk much, but say little."
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"Old boys have their playthings as well as young ones; the difference is only in the price."
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"Liberality is not giving much, but giving wisely."
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"Drink does not drown care, but waters it, and makes it grow faster."
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"Industry and frugality, as the means of procuring wealth . . . thereby [secures] virtue, it being more difficult for a man in want to act always honestly. . . ."
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"'Tis true there is much to be done, . . . but stick to it steadily, and you will see great effects, for constant dropping wears away stones . . . and little strokes fell great oaks, as Poor Richard says. . . ."
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"Not to oversee workmen is to leave them your purse open."
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"He that by the Plough would thrive, Himself must either hold or drive."
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"Many would live by their Wits, but break for want of Stock."
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"When about 16 Years of Age, I happened to meet with a Book written by one Tryon, recommending a Vegetable Diet. I determined to go into it.... My refusing to eat Flesh occasioned an inconveniency, and I was frequently chid for my singularity."
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"Willows are weak, but they bind the Faggot."
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"When befriended, remember it; when you befriend, forget it."
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"The electrical matter consists of particles extremely subtile, since it can permeate common matter, even the densest metals, with such ease and freedom as not to receive any perceptible resistance. If anyone should doubt whether the electrical matter passes through the substance of bodies, or only over along their surfaces, a shock from an electrified large glass jar, taken through his own body, will probably convince him. Electrical matter differs from common matter in this, that the parts of the latter mutually attract, those of the former mutually repel each other."
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"An infallible Remedy for the Tooth-ach, viz Wash the Root of an aching Tooth, in Elder Vinegar, and let it dry half an hour in the Sun; after which it will never ach more; Probatum est."
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"A fine genius in his own country is like gold in the mine."
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"In going on with these Experiments, how many pretty systems do we build, which we soon find ourselves oblig'd to destroy! If there is no other Use discover'd of Electricity, this, however, is something considerable, that it may help to make a vain Man humble."
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