The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.
Author
Benjamin Franklin
139 quotations
About Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin was an American polymath who was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States; a drafter and signer of the Declaration of Independence; and the first postmaster general.
Read on Wikipedia → Find books by Benjamin FranklinHuman felicity is produced not as much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen as by little advantages that occur every day.
It is a grand mistake to think of being great without goodness and I pronounce it as certain that there was never a truly great man that was not at the same time truly virtuous.
There never was a truly great man that was not at the same time truly virtuous.
A great empire, like a great cake, is most easily diminished at the edges.
I conceive that the great part of the miseries of mankind are brought upon them by false estimates they have made of the value of things.
Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship.
Take time for all things: great haste makes great waste.
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Half a truth is often a great lie.
There is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more easily and frequently fall than that of defrauding the government.
Laws too gentle are seldom obeyed too severe, seldom executed.
Necessity never made a good bargain.
Many foxes grow gray but few grow good.
Human felicity is produced not as much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen as by little advantages that occur every day.
Each year one vicious habit discarded, in time might make the worst of us good.
There is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more easily and frequently fall than that of defrauding the government.
There was never a good war, or a bad peace.
Those disputing, contradicting, and confuting people are generally unfortunate in their affairs. They get victory, sometimes, but they never get good will, which would be of more use to them.
Anger is never without a reason, but seldom with a good one.
Speak ill of no man, but speak all the good you know of everybody.
Diligence is the mother of good luck.
Do good to your friends to keep them, to your enemies to win them.
Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones.
A good conscience is a continual Christmas.
He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.