In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.
He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.
Were I a Roman Catholic, perhaps I should on this occasion vow to build a chapel to some saint, but as I am not, if I were to vow at all, it should be to build a light-house.
[Letter to his wife, 17 July 1757, after narrowly avoiding a shipwreck; often misquoted as “Lighthouses are more helpful than churches.”]
Who is wise? He that learns from everyone. Who is powerful? He that governs his passions. Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody.
I didn’t fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong.
Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.
If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth writing.
Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.
A life of leisure and a life of laziness are two things. There will be sleeping enough in the grave.
Fear not death for the sooner we die, the longer we shall be immortal.
I look upon death to be as necessary to our constitution as sleep. We shall rise refreshed in the morning.
In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is Freedom, in water there is bacteria.
Leisure is the time for doing something useful. This leisure the diligent person will obtain the lazy one never.
Many people die at twenty five and aren’t buried until they are seventy five.
If time be of all things the most precious, wasting time must be the greatest prodigality.
Happiness depends more on the inward disposition of mind than on outward circumstances.
Many people die at twenty five and aren’t buried until they are seventy five.