The Works of Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Consisting of Essays, Humorous, Moral and Literary, with His Life, Written by Himself

Front Cover
Leavitt, Trow & Company, 1848 - Statesman - 288 pages

From inside the book

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 235 - How much more than is necessary do we spend in sleep, forgetting that the sleeping fox catches no poultry, and that there will be sleeping enough in the grave, as Poor Richard says.
Page 238 - So much for industry, my friends, and attention to one's own business; but to these we must add frugality, if we would make our industry more certainly successful. A man may, if he knows not how to save as he gets, keep his nose all his life to the grindstone, and die not worth a groat at last. A fat kitchen makes a lean will, as Poor Richard says; and — • Many estates are spent in the getting, Since women for tea ' forsook spinning and knitting, And men for punch forsook hewing and splitting.
Page 276 - I doubt, too, whether any other convention we can obtain may be able to make a better constitution ; for when you assemble a number of men, to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views.
Page 237 - Methinks I hear some of you say, Must a man afford himself no leisure? I will tell thee, my friend, what Poor Richard says: Employ thy time well, if thou meanest to gain leisure ; and since thou art not sure of a minute, throw not away an hour.
Page 276 - Constitution. For, when you assemble a number of men to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views. From such an assembly can a perfect production be expected ? It therefore astonishes me, sir, to find this system approaching so near to perfection as it does...
Page 240 - And again, Pride is as loud a beggar as want, and a great deal more saucy. When you have bought one fine thing, you must buy ten more, that your appearance may be all of a piece; but Poor Dick says, 'Tis easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follow it.
Page 127 - THE BODY .of BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Printer, (Like the cover of an old Book, Its contents torn out, And stript of its lettering and gilding,) Lies here, food for worms : • Yet the work itself shall not be lost, For it will (as he believed) appear once more, In a new And more beautiful edition Corrected and Amended by The Author.
Page 217 - We are, however, not the less obliged by your kind offer, though we decline accepting it ; and to show our grateful sense of it, if the gentlemen of Virginia will send us a dozen of their sons, we will take great care of their education, instruct them in all we know, and make men of them.
Page 216 - We have had some experience of it ; several of our young people were formerly brought up at the colleges of the northern provinces ; they were instructed in all your sciences ; but when they came back to us, they were bad runners ; ignorant of every means of living in the woods ; unable to bear either cold or hunger ; knew neither how to build a cabin, take a deer, or kill an enemy ; spoke our language imperfectly ; were therefore neither fit for hunters, warriors, or counsellors : they were totally...
Page 158 - Remember this. saying, The good paymaster is lord of another man's purse. He that is known to pay punctually and exactly to the time he promises, may at any time, and on any occasion, raise all the money his friends can spare. This is sometimes of great use.

Bibliographic information