Benjamin Franklin quotes, verified

“God helps them that help themselves.”

Poor Richard's Almanack, 1736

From the 1736 edition of Poor Richard's Almanack, which Franklin printed in Philadelphia.

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“Diligence is the Mother of Good-Luck.”

Poor Richard, 1736 (Poor Richard's Almanack)

From Poor Richard, 1736, the almanac Benjamin Franklin printed and sold in Philadelphia under the pen name Richard Saunders.

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“Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, nor Liberty to purchase power.”

Poor Richard, 1738 (Poor Richard's Almanack)

From Poor Richard, 1738, the yearly almanac Benjamin Franklin printed in Philadelphia and sold across the colonies.

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“So the Years roll round, and the last will come; when I would rather have it said, He lived usefully, than, He died rich.”

Letter to Abiah Franklin (his mother), Philadelphia, 12 April 1750

From a letter Franklin wrote in Philadelphia on 12 April 1750 to his aged mother, Abiah Franklin, in Boston, sending news of the family.

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“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”

Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor, 11 Nov 1755

From the Pennsylvania Assembly's reply of 11 November 1755 to Governor Robert Hunter Morris, a message Franklin wrote as a leading member of the Assembly.

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“I must soon quit the Scene, but you may live to see our Country flourish, as it will amazingly and rapidly after the War is over.”

Letter to George Washington, Passy, 5 March 1780

From a letter Franklin wrote at Passy, outside Paris, on 5 March 1780 to General George Washington, while serving as American minister to France.

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“I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth- that God Governs in the affairs of men.”

Speech at the Constitutional Convention, 28 Jun 1787 (Madison's notes)

Spoken by Franklin, then 81, at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on 28 June 1787, as recorded in James Madison's notes of the debates.

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“A republic, if you can keep it.”

Reported Written down by someone else, not the speaker

Reported by James McHenry in his journal, 18 September 1787: Franklin's reply to a question as the Constitutional Convention closed

James McHenry recorded this exchange in his journal as the Constitutional Convention closed in Philadelphia in 1787.

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“For my own personal Ease, I should have died two Years ago; but tho’ those Years have been spent in excruciating Pain, I am pleas’d that I have liv’d them, since they have brought me to see our present Situation.”

Letter from Benjamin Franklin to George Washington, 16 September 1789

From a letter written in Philadelphia on 16 September 1789 to President Washington, carried to New York by Franklin's son-in-law Richard Bache.

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