# Benjamin Franklin quotes he actually wrote

Franklin's sharpest lines from Poor Richard's Almanack, his letters and his Autobiography, each with its source. Left out: «Tell me and I forget…» and «The definition of insanity…», which he never wrote.

- 15 votes · 12 items
- Jun 9, 2022 · Shannon Y.
- https://even.best/en/l/1788/benjamin-franklin-quotes-he-actually-wrote

## Top 12

1. **In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Letter to Jean-Baptiste Le Roy, 13 November 1789, quoting a saying already around since 1716.
2. **Remember that time is money.** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Advice to a Young Tradesman (1748).
3. **Well done is better than well said.** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Poor Richard's Almanack (1737).
4. **If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed.** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — «Apology for Printers» (1731).
5. **Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Pennsylvania Assembly's «Reply to the Governor», 11 November 1755.
6. **Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Poor Richard's Almanack (1735).
7. **He has paid dear, very dear, for his whistle.** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — «The Whistle» (1779), on a childhood lesson about overpaying for things.
8. **It is better 100 guilty Persons should escape than that one innocent Person should suffer.** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Letter to Benjamin Vaughan, 14 March 1785.
9. **Human Felicity is produc'd not so much by great Pieces of good Fortune that seldom happen, as by little Advantages that occur every Day.** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.
10. **Distrust & caution are the parents of security.** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Poor Richard's Almanack (1733).
11. **Love your Enemies, for they tell you your Faults.** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Poor Richard's Almanack (1756).
12. **A great Empire, like a great Cake, is most easily diminished at the Edges.** (-1 · ▲0 ▼1) — «Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One» (1773), his satire on British policy.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.