They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

—Benjamin Franklin

About Benjamin Franklin

Portrait of Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706 [O.S. January 6, 1705] – April 17, 1790) was an American polymath active as a physicist, philosopher, statesman and inventor who was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was a drafter and signer of the Declaration of Independence, and the first...

More quotations from Benjamin Franklin

If you would be loved, love, and be loveable.

—Benjamin Franklin

But in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.

—Benjamin Franklin

certainty world death taxes

A learned blockhead is a greater blockhead than an ignorant one.

—Benjamin Franklin

ignorance knowledge

All human situations have their inconveniences. We feel those of the present but neither see nor feel those of the future; and hence we often make troublesome changes without amendment, and frequently for the worse.

—Benjamin Franklin

future inconvenience

Well done is better than well said.

—Benjamin Franklin

History

23 Nov 2014 Added