Benjamin Franklin Quotes

A person who has not done one half his day's work by ten o clock, runs a chance of leaving the other half undone.

Sloth makes all things difficult, but industry all easy; and he that riseth late must trot all day, and shall scarce overtake his business at night; while laziness travels so slowly, that poverty soon overtakes him.

I don't have a good work ethic. I have a real casual relationship with hours.

Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness, no laziness, no procrastination: never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.

I suppose that there is no point wasting time being lazy, though of course indolence in a divine way, actually has its advantages.

Do not put off today's work for tomorrow.

As he that lives longest lives but a little while, every man may be certain that he has no time to waste. The duties of life are commensurate to its duration; and every day brings its task, which, if neglected, is doubled on the morrow.

The leading rule for the lawyer, as for the man of every other calling, is diligence. Leave nothing for to-morrow which can be done to-day. Never let your correspondence fall behind. Whatever piece of business you have in hand, before stopping, do all the labor pertaining to it which can then be done.

Idleness is the Dead Sea that swallows all virtues. Be active in business, that temptation may miss her aim; the bird that sits is easily shot.

Momentum is a fragile force. Its worst enemy: procrastination. Its best friend: a deadline (think Election Day). Implication no. 1 (and there is no no. 2): Get to work! NOW!

Roosevelt could always keep ahead with his work, but I cannot do it, and I know it is a grievous fault, but it is too late to remedy it. The country must take me as it found me. Wasn't it your mother who had a servant girl who said it was no use for her to try to hurry, that she was a "Sunday chil" and no "Sunday chil" could hurry? I don't think I am a Sunday child, but I ought to have been; then I would have had an excuse for always being late.

Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. General recognition of this fact is shown in the proverbial phrase "It is the busiest man who has time to spare."

Laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes it.

Business is business, that is, you must do everything promptly; delay and shuffling won't do.

Leave nothing for to-morrow which can be done to-day.

There is large difference between indolent impatience of labor and intellectual impatience of delay, large difference between leaving things unfinished because we have more to do or because we are satisfied with what we have done.

I have a feeling the writers who find screenwriting difficult are usually just not lazy enough for the job. They don't know how to stop before the task is done. I've always had a knack for leaving things unfinished, which makes screenwriting easier for me than most.

The lazy manage to keep up with the earth's rotation just as well as the industrious.

I always arrive late at the office, but I make up for it by leaving early.

If you give yourself to your task at once, you won't have to do it twice.

It's really not that hard. If I do a Tonight Show, it's six or seven minutes. If I do a concert, it's 90 minutes. If I do an interview, that's 15 minutes. So by the end of the day I've done three hours worth of work.

I think of all my time as existing in 15-minute blocks. Most people think in terms of 30-minute chunks, but I've found that when I free up more time, I waste it.

I always need huge amounts of time to do anything.

Argh... I could be better with my time. I like to be punctual, but I could be better.

Review your work. You will find, if you are honest, that 90% of the trouble is traceable to loafing.