Historic Messages: Ben Franklin

Here’s a selection of a few Benjamin Franklin (the original self-made man) quotes from Bartleby’s and his Autobiography to remind us of some of his thoughts on America.

Liberty

“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Historical Review of Pennsylvania

“This will be the best security for maintaining our liberties. A nation of well-informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the religion of ignorance that tyranny begins.”

War

“There never was a good war or a bad peace.” – Letter to Josiah Quincy, Sept. 11, 1773

Rights of Man

“God grant that not only the love of liberty but a thorough knowledge of the rights of man may pervade all the nations of the earth, so that a philosopher may set his foot anywhere on its surface and say: This is my country.”- Letter to David Hartley, December 4, 1789

Religion

“Most men, indeed, as well as most sects in religion, think themselves in possession of all truth, and that whenever others differ from them, it is in error.” – Speaking to the Constitutional Convention, September 17, 1787

On Patents and Ownership

“That as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours, and this we should do freely and generously.” – The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

The Public Library

“That since our books were often referred to in our disquisitions upon the queries, it might be convenient to us to have them all together where we met, that upon occasion they might be consulted; and by thus clubbing our books to a common library, we should, while we liked to keep them together, have each of us the advantage of using the books of all the other members, which would be nearly as beneficial as if each owned the whole.” – The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin