Benjamin Franklin

“ Finally, if you are determined to be utterly destroyed in estate, body, and soul, be a drunkard; and you will soon know that it is impossible to adopt a more effectual means to accomplish your—end.
Drunkenness expels reason— drowns the memory— defaces beauty— diminishes strength— inflames the blood— causes internal, external, and incurable wounds—is a witch to the senses, a devil to the soul, a thief to the purse—the beggars companion, a wife’s woe, and children’s sorrow—makes a strong man weak, and a wise man a fool. ”

“ John Anderson alone pleased him. He would frequently walk to his mill, where he would pass long winter evenings in conversation with the youthful pair, filling them with admiration of his courage, and the perils he had sustained. The stranger frequently declared, that it was a shame so fine a youth as Anderson should be pent up for life in a crazy mill;— that he could show him the way to honour and riches;— and that his courago and address would win for him the proudest distinctions. It was thus that the once-contented young man gradually acquired a dislike of his occupation ”

“ And when you have got the philosopher’s stone, sure you will no longer complain of bad times, or the difficulty of paying taxes.
This doctrine, my friends, is reason and wisdom; but, after all, do not depend too much on your own industry, and frugality, and prudence, though excellent things; for they may all be blasted, without the blessing of heaven; and therefore ask that blessing humbly, and be not uncharitable to those that at present seem to want it, but comfort and help them. ”

“ Leisure is time for doing something useful; this leisure the diligent man will obtain, but the lazy man never; so that, as poor Richard says, “A life of leisure and a life of laziness are two things.”
Do you imagine that sloth will afford you more comfort than labour? No; for, as poor Richard says, “Troubles spring from idleness, and grievous toil from needless ease:” Many without labour would live by their own wits only; but they break for want of stock: “Whereas industry gives comfort, and plenty, and respect. “Fly pleasures, and they’ll follow you; the diligent spinner has a large shift ”

“ Again, poor Richard says, “It is foolish to lay out money in a purchase of repentance; and yet this folly is practised every day at auctions, for want of minding the Almanack. “Wise men,” (as poor Dick says,) “learn by others harms; fools scarcely by their own.” Many a one for the sake of finery on the back, have gone with a hungry belly, and have starved their families. ”

“ It would be thought a hard government that should tax its people one-tenth part of their time, to be employed in its service; but idleness taxes many of us much mere, if we reckon all that is spent in absolute sloth, or doing of nething, with that which is spent in idle employments, or amusements that amount to nothing.
“Sloth, by bringing on disease, absolutely shortens life.”
“Sloth, like rust, consumes faster than labour wears, while the key used is always bright,” as poor Richard says. ”

“ It consists of a few scattered houses, and one or two little farms;— its inhabitants are principally agricultural labourers;— it has its small parish-church and its green and leafy burial place; and a very humble cottage, with an uncouth and half-obliterated sign, affords sufficient refreshment to the contented peasants. On a neighbouring hill stands an old-fashioned windmill;— and from this spot, which serves as a beacon to the mariner, there is one of those magnificent prospects which are so attractive to the reflecting mind. ”

“ 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 kitten makes a lean will,” as poor Richard says ”

“ These are not the necessaries of life, they can scarcely be called the conveniences; and yet, only because they look pretty, how many want to have them? The artificial wants of mankind thus become more numerous than the natural: and, as poor Richard says, “For one poor person there are a hundred indigent.”
By these and other extravagancies, tho genteel are reduced to poverty, and forced to borrow of those whom they formerly despised, but who, through industry and frugality, have maintained their standing ”

“ In short, I conceived that great part of the miseries of mankind were brought upon them by the false estimates they had made of the value of things, and by their giving too much for their whistle.
The Advantages of Drunkenness.
“Oh! that man should put an enemy into their mouths to
steal away their brains.”
Shakespeare. “All the enemies on the earth do not destroy so many of the
human race, nor alienate so much property as drunkenness.”
Lord Bacon If you wish to be always thirsty, be a drunkard; for the oftener and more you drink, the oftener and more thirsty you will be. ”

“ Friends, says he, and neighbeurs, the taxes are indeed very heavy; and if those laid on by the government were the only ones we had to pay, we might more easily discharge them; but we have many others, and much more grievous to some of us. We are taxed twice as much by our idleness, three times as much by our pride, and four times as much by our folly; and from these taxes the commissioner cannot ease or deliver us by allowing an abatement. ”

“ And again, “The eye of a master will do more work than both his hands; and again, “Want of care does us more damage than want of knowledge; and again, "Not to oversee workmen is to leave them your purse open.”
Trusting too much to others’ care is the ruin of many; for, as the Almanack says, “In tho affairs of the world, men are saved not by faith, but by the want of it;” but a man’s own care is profitable ”

“ Perhaps they have had a small estate left them, which they knew not the getting of; they think “it is day, and will never be night;” that a little to be spent out of so much is not worth minding: “A child and a fool” (as poor Richard says) “imagine twenty shillings and twenty years can never be spent ”

“ On the coast of Sussex there is a little village which is almost secluded from the observation of the world, and which is at a sufficient distance from the sea to bear the ordinary character of inland scenery. ”

“ They left the house. The landlord suspected that something would be wrong, and sat up till a late hour. It was near midnight when he heard firing. He rushed, with some country people, in the direction of the sound, and found on the beach a small party of revenue-officers engaged with a gang of smugglers. The officers being overpowered with numbers made a hasty retreat; and the smugglers speedily embarked. ”

“ Since women for tea forsook spinning and knitting,
And men for punch forsook hewing and splitting,”
“If you would be wealthy, (says, he in another Almanack,) think of saving, as well as of getting: The Indians have not made Spain rich, because her outgoes are greater than her incomes.”
Away, then, with your expensive follies, and you will not have much cause to complain of hard times, heavy taxes, and chargeable families ”