Benjamin Quotes

As sore places meet most rubs, proud folks meet most affronts.

Thou can'st not joke an enemy into a friend, but thou may'st a friend into an enemy.

Liberality is not giving much, but giving wisely.

Old boys have their playthings as well as young ones; the difference is only in the price.

Half-wits talk much, but say little.

A dying man can do nothing easy.

What is a butterfly? At best He's but a caterpiller drest. The gaudy Fop's his picture just.

Not to oversee workmen is to leave them your purse open.

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. . . .

Many would live by their Wits, but break for want of Stock.

He that by the Plough would thrive, Himself must either hold or drive.

Willows are weak, but they bind the Faggot.

Drink does not drown care, but waters it, and makes it grow faster.

Mary's mouth cost her nothing for she never opens it but at others' expense.

When befriended, remember it; when you befriend, forget it.

Love of country is the Mason's deed; world citizenship is his thought.

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.

Wouldst thou enjoy a long Life, a healthy Body, and a vigorous Mind, and be acquainted also with the wonderful Works of God? labour in the first place to bring thy Appetite into Subjection to Reason.

I have been apt to think that there has never been, nor ever will be, any such thing as a good war, or a bad peace.

A fine genius in his own country is like gold in the mine.

Philosophy as well as foppery often changes fashion.

He that resolves to mend hereafter, resolves not to mend now.

Quarrels never could last long, if on one side only lay the wrong.

What's a Sun-Dial in the shade?

That which resembles most living one's life over again, seems to be to recall all the circumstances of it; and, to render this remembrance more durable, to record them in writing.

None are deceived but they that confide.

Why should the cotton growers suffer if there is shortage of wheat?

There is something paradoxical in the fact that by establishing an export market we subject our entire domestic production to the vagaries of that market.

It must be fundamentally wrong to reduce production of food and fiber while one-third of our population is still ill fed and ill clothed.

The Reservoir plan is an engineering mechanism applied to the field of economics, and in its essence it has nothing to do with democracy or any other political philosophy.

Congress is responsible for everything and unable to do anything, hated by the public creditors, insulted by the soldiers and unsupported by the citizens.

Knowledge and Experience do not necessarily speak the same language.

To Buddha, the second figure in the painting, life on earth was bitter, filled with attachments and desires that led to suffering.

I have long feared that my sins would return to visit me. And the cost is more than I can bear.

Why should I trade one tyrant three thousand miles away for three thousand tyrants one mile away?

Intelligence is a critical thing.

I will say that I think Israel enjoys strong bipartisan support in the United States. It's really above and beyond American politics.

The relationship between Israel and the United States is a bond of - it’s just a very powerful bond. It was, it is, and will be and will continue to be.

We want to end this misery of the Palestinian people in order for us really to live with dignity as human beings in an independent state side by side with the Israeli state.

I would say we want to stop the firing of rockets, for sure. But we also want to dismantle the terror - the tunnel - the terror tunnel networks that we have uncovered.

What is man? ... What a strange union of matter and mind! A machine for converting material into spiritual force.

You can't teach talent, but you can teach people how to read strenuously and mimic the moves of rock-star writers so that they eventually accumulate a toolbox of skills.

I anticipate the Day when to command Respect in the remotest Regions it will be sufficient to say I am an American.

Christianity is the only true and perfect religion; and... in proportion as mankind adopt its principles and obey its precepts, they will be wise and happy.

Dreams are nothing but incoherent ideas, occasioned by partial or imperfect sleep.

I've come to the realization that a lot of our problems are because of a dearth of spiritual values.

I was so afraid of being bad and being caught at it.

People have said, "You've turned your back on pediatrics." I said, "No. It took me until I was in my 60s to realize that politics was a part of pediatrics."

Vulnerability isn't a bad thing. Everyone's vulnerable and it only makes you human.

Government is the assumption of authority over a given area and all within it, exercised generally for the double purpose of more complete oppression of its subjects and extension of its boundaries.