Inventive, witty, and wise

Today I'm celebrating the birthday of Benjamin Franklin!

Benjamin Franklin was a printer and postmaster. The owned The Pennsylvania Gazette and authored an annual Poor Richard's Almanack. Franklin used cartoons and pictures so that everyone could understand the news, even those who had not learned to read. Benjamin Franklin not only signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, he actually helped to write parts of them. Benjamin Franklin was very talented, playing several musical instruments, including the harp, violin, and guitar.

Benjamin Franklin was also an inventor. He was the first to chart the gulf stream. He discovered whirlwinds. He invented bifocals, a flexible urinary catheter, an iron furnace stove (called the Franklin stove), swim fins, a long reach device, the library chair, and the odometer. He did not invent electricity, but invented the lightning rod which protected buildings and ships from lightning damage. He started the first fire department and the first fire insurance company. He was the first to suggest Daylight Savings Time. He created the first political cartoon.

Many of Benjamin Franklin's writings are very well known, but often not attributed to him. For example, my pastor recently noted the results of a recent survey where the source of some of his quotes was mistakenly identified as the Bible. I also recognized a lot of advice I heard from my parents and teachers from his writings as well. His writings cover many topics, including health, personal communication, personal integrity, relationships, time management, money management, and organization. Here's a list of some of the most popular quotes that you're likely to recognize.

Honesty is the best policy
Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise
Well done is better than well said
A good example is the best sermon
It is easier to prevent bad habits than to break them
God helps them that help themselves
Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards
One today is worth two tomorrows
You may delay, but time will not
Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today
Time is money
Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days
A penny saved is a penny earned
A place for everything, everything in its place
A small leak can sink a great ship
By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail
Certainty? In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes
Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results


I also found numerous other quotes, perhaps not as well known, that I thought you'd like to read:

Speak little, do much
Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead
Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do
He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else
He that speaks much, is much mistaken
Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment
Speak ill of no man, but speak all the good you know of everybody
It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it
Half a truth is often a great lie
Be slow in choosing a friend, slower in changing
Do good to your friends to keep them, to your enemies to win them
When befriended, remember it; when you befriend, forget it
If you would be loved, love and be lovable
Lost time is never found again
Pay what you owe and you'll know what's your own
He does not possess wealth; it possesses him
He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money
Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of filling a vacuum, it makes one
All mankind is divided into 3 classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move
Anger is never without a reason, but seldom with a good one
He that can have patience can have what he will
How few there are who have courage enough to own their faults, or resolution enough to mend them
I didn't fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong
Life's tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late
To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions
Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame
When in doubt, don't
When you're finished changing, you're finished

Benjamin Franklin also wrote, Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. I have found that most of what Mr Franklin wrote was well worth reading, full of wit and wisdom. Today I hope that daily I will write something worth reading in my blog or indeed do something worth writing.

References:
The Franklin Institute
Benjamin Franklin FAQs
Benjamin Franklin quotes at Brainyquote

Image credit: Famouspeople.com