Benjamin Franklin’s Best Sayings
With Numerous
Old Wood Engravings in Color
Benjamin Franklin wrote and published many works in his long lifetime. None were more popular than his several editions of Poor Richard’s Almanack. The first was published in 1732. Full of wit, wisdom, and useful hints, it soon became the most widely read almanac in all the colonies of pre-Revolutionary America. It helped make Franklin’s fortune, and contributed to his growing fame.
The young, Boston-born Philadelphian came early to health, wealth, and wisdom. Born in 1706, the son of a sturdy English tradesman, Ben was apprenticed at 10 years of age to his half-brother, a Boston printer. By the time he moved to Philadelphia at 17, the boy had already published many articles of his own.
From Philadelphia he was sent to England and there made many friends with his philosophic and political writings and his honest hard work. Back in Philadelphia, he established his own printing shop, bought a failing newspaper – the Philadelphia Gazette – and made it a profitable enterprise.
Distinguished statesman, respected scientist, practical and wise thinker, and the most famous American of his time, Benjamin Franklin put into Poor Richard’s Almanack much of the keen understanding of human nature that guided him through his long life. In the three centuries since its first publishing, the Almanack has continued to delight and inspire new generations of Americans with its sound practicality and its humorous turns of phrase. This new edition is a sampling of Franklin’s best.
(from the cover- 1967 edition Hallmark Cards, Inc.)
A FEW SAMPLES FROM THE ALMANACK
- Fish and Visitors stink after three days.
- Necessity never made a good bargain.
- Three may keep a secret, if two or them are dead.
- Fear not death; for the sooner we die, the longer shall we be immortal.
- Well Done is better than well Said.
- A stitch in time saves nine.
- A penny saved is a penny earned.
- If a man could have Half his Wishes, he would double his Troubles.
- Haste makes Waste.
- Diligence is the mother of good luck.
- If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading or do things worth the writing.