"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."
"There seem to be but three ways for a nation to acquire wealth. The first is by war, as the Romans did, in plundering their conquered neighbors. This is robbery. The second by commerce, which is generally cheating. The third by agriculture, the only honest way, wherein man receives a real increase of the seed thrown into the ground, in a kind of continual miracle, wrought by the hand of God in his favor, as a reward for his innocent life and his virtuous industry."
33 likes
Source: Benjamin Franklin (1819). “Memoirs of the life and writings of B.F. ...”, p.60
About the author
Same author
More quotes by Benjamin Franklin
"War is when the government tells you who the bad guy is. Revolution is when you decide that for yourself."
"Women are books, and men the readers be."
"If everyone is thinking alike, then no one is thinking."
"Common sense is something that everyone needs, few have, and none think they lack."
"Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech."