Franklin’s Four Rules for Living

1. It is necessary for me to be extremely frugal for some time, until I have paid what I owe.
2. To endeavor to speak truth in every instance; to give nobody expectations that are not likely to be answered, but aim at sincerity in every word and action – the most amiable excellence in a rational being.
3. To apply myself industriously to whatever business I take in hand, and not divert my mind from my business by any foolish project of growing suddenly rich; for industry and patience are the surest means of plenty.
4. I resolve to speak ill of no man whatever, not even in a matter of truth; but rather by some means excuse the faults I hear charged upon others, and upon proper occasions speak all the good I know of everybody.

If you ride a horse sit close and tight, If you ride a man, sit easy and light.

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.

Faith is the worst curse of mankind, as the exact antithesis and enemy of thought. To rest one's case on faith means to concede that reason is on the side of one's enemies - that one has no rational arguments to offer.

When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.

If there was any constitutional issue resolved by the Civil War, it is that there is no right to secede

“We are not planning to attack other countries,” he told a Turkish reporter. “We didn’t attack Ukraine, either.” 

Did anyone ever tell you you have the face of a Botticelli and the body of a Degas

I think, too, that we’ve got to recognize that where the preservation of a natural resource like the redwoods is concerned, that there is a common sense limit. I mean, if you’ve looked at a hundred thousand acres or so of trees — you know, a tree is a tree, how many more do you need to look at?