Famous Freemason Quotes – Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was one of the leading figures of early American history. He was a statesman, author, publisher, scientist, inventor, and diplomat.

Ben Franklin was born into a Boston family of modest means when Massachusetts was still a colony of England. Franklin had little formal education.

He went on to start a successful printing business in Philadelphia and grew wealthy. Franklin was deeply active in public affairs in his adopted city, where he helped launch a lending library, hospital, and college and garnered acclaim for his experiments with electricity, among other projects.

During the American Revolution, he served in the Second Continental Congress and helped draft the Declaration of Independence in 1776. He also negotiated the 1783 Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War (1775-83). In 1787, in his final significant act of public service, he was a delegate to the convention that produced the U.S. Constitution.

Here are some famous quotes from Ben Franklin

“Love your Enemies, for they tell you your Faults.” – Benjamin Franklin from the year 1756
“He that falls in love with himself will have no rivals.” – quote from 1739
“There never was a good war or a bad peace.” – quote from B Franklin from between July 1783 & September 1783.
“He that lies down with Dogs, shall rise up with fleas.” – quote from 1733
“Better slip with foot than tongue.” – Ben Franklin from 1734
“Look before, or you’ll find yourself behind.”- 1735
“Don’t throw stones at your neighbors, if your own windows are glass.”- Ben Franklin, 1736
“He that would live in peace & at ease, Must not speak all he knows or judge all he sees.”- 1736
“Well done is better than well said.”- 1737
“A right Heart exceeds all.” Benjamin Franklin from 1739
“What you seem to be, be really.” – 1744
“A true Friend is the best Possession.”- Benjamin Franklin, 1744
“No gains without pains.” – Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1745
“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander Time; for that’s the Stuff Life is made of.”- Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1746
“Lost Time is never found again.”- Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1747
“When you’re good to others, you’re best to yourself.”- Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1748
“Pardoning the Bad, is injuring the Good.”- Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1748
“Hide not your Talents, they for Use were made. What’s a Sun-Dial in the shade!”- 1750
“Glass, China, and Reputation, are easily crack’d, and never well mended.”- 1750
“What more valuable than Gold? Diamonds. Than Diamonds? Virtue.”- 1751
“Haste makes Waste.”- 1753
“Search others for their virtues, thy self for thy vices.”- 1738
“It is better to take many Injuries than to give one.”- 1735
“Wish not so much to live long as to live well.”- 1738
“Life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.” – Benjamin Franklin
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
“All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move. ”
“For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned.”
“You only have the right to pursue happiness; you have to catch it yourself.” ― Ben Franklin
“He that speaks much, is much mistaken.”
“The best way to see faith is to shut the eye of Reason.”

What did Benjamin Franklin invent?

Benjamin Franklin’s had a very long list of inventions which includes but is not limited to:

bifocals
the lightning rod
the glass armonica
a library chair
swim fins
a long-reach device
the Franklin stove
the catheter

Here are some more amazing and powerful Benjamin Franklin quotes to enjoy reading…

“He that can have patience can have what he will.”
“Honesty is the best policy.” –Benjamin Franklin
“Three may keep a secret if two of them are dead.”
“Energy and persistence conquer all things.”
“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” – Benjamin Franklin
“Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.”
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
“Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.”
“Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.”― Benjamin Franklin
“When you are finished changing, you’re finished.”
“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”
“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”― Benjamin Franklin
“I didn’t fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong.”
“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”
“Genius without education is like silver in the mine.”
“Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.”
“The only thing that is more expensive than education is ignorance.”
“Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship.”
“Tis a great confidence in a friend to tell him your faults; greater to tell him his.”― Benjamin Franklin
“Well done is better than well said.”
“He that falls in love with himself will have no rivals.”
“Don’t cry over spilled milk”
“Content makes poor men rich; discontent makes rich men poor.”

What else is Benjamin Franklin known for?

He is credited with discovering the Gulf Stream.
He started the first volunteer fire company in Philadelphia.
He helped create the first subscription library in the Colonies, called the Library Company of Philadelphia.
He bought the struggling Pennsylvania Gazette and made it profitable.
The famous “JOIN, or DIE.” political cartoon, which was published in the Gazette on May 9, 1754, has been attributed to Franklin.
His testimony helped repeal the Stamp Act in 1766.
He was a vocal opponent of slavery and served as president of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery.

Here a bunch more Benjamin Franklin Quotes…

“Never confuse motion with action.”
“We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.”
“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.”
“When you’re testing to see how deep water is, never use two feet.”
“To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions.”
“To find out a girl’s faults, praise her to her girlfriends.”
“One today is worth two tomorrows.”
“A false friend and a shadow attend only while the sun shines.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“To lengthen thy life, lessen thy meals.”
“Speak little, do much.”
“Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.”
“Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom – and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech.”
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
“Happiness depends more on the inward disposition of mind than on outward circumstances.”― Benjamin Franklin
“Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.”
“If a man could have half of his wishes, he would double his troubles.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“Security without liberty is called prison.”
“Fear not death for the sooner we die, the longer we shall be immortal.”
“Wine is constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy.”
“In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

Benjamin Franklin Life in Freemasonry

Ben Franklin held a deep respect for the institution of Freemasonry and the Freemason Brothers. In a letter to his mother, he explained his trust of Freemasons, “I assured her that they are in general a very harmless sort of people, and have no principles or practices that are inconsistent with religion and good manners.”

He respected the teaching of the fraternity and the way his brothers practiced them with the peaceful ways in which tried to live their lives through strong morals, and dedication to self-betterment. He also liked the fraternity having a requirement for a belief in God. Benjamin Franklin possessed a strong faith in God.

He wrote, “Scripture assures me, that at the last Day, we shall not be examin’d what we thought, but what we did; and our Recommendation will not be that we said Lord, Lord, But that we did Good to our Fellow Creatures.”

Here is a brief chronology of Benjamin Franklin’s Life in Freemasonry:

1731: Brother Benjamin Franklin was ‘made’ a Freemason when he joined St. John’s Lodge in Philadelphia

1734: Right Worshipful Benjamin Franklin was elected the Grand Master for the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania

Thank you for reading this brief Masonic documented history of Brother Benjamin Franklin. I hope you have enjoyed it as much as the Freemasonry Report has researched it.

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