Benjamin Franklin Quotes

Will people ever be wise enough to refuse to follow bad leaders …?

Men of power have no time to read; yet the men who do not read are unfit for power.

At Athens, wise men propose, and fools dispose.

In bridge clubs and in councils of state, the passions are the same.

Do you not know, my son, with how little wisdom the world is governed?

Nothing is more fallacious than to expect to produce any valuable or permanent results in political projects by relying merely on the reason of men. Men are ... for the most part governed by the impulses of passion.

Any 6 year old’s hindsight is better than a President’s foresight.

Our system does not know how to bring strength and intellect into the front rank of politics and government...

We assemble parliaments and councils, to have the benefit of their collected wisdom; but we necessarily have, at the same time, the inconvenience of their collected passions, prejudices and private interests.

All political theories assume, of course, that most individuals are very ignorant. Those who plead for liberty differ from the rest in that they include among the ignorant themselves as well as the wisest.

Those great and glorious actions that dazzle our eyes with their luster are represented by statesmen as the result of great wisdomand excellent design; whereas, in truth, they are commonly the effects of the humors and passions.

Democracy is based on the assumption that a million men are wiser than one man. How's that again? I missed something.

The gods never let us love and be wise at the same time.

Rhetoric matters, but at the end of the day policy matters more.

It was observed of Elizabeth that she was weak herself, but chose wise counsellors; to which it was replied, that to choose wise counsellors was, in a prince, the highest wisdom.

Politics is not a science...but an art.

A prince who is not himself wise cannot be wisely advised. . . . Good advice depends on the shrewdness of the prince who seeks it, and not the shrewdness of the prince on good advice.

If you have an informed electorate, it makes great choices.

Running for the presidency's not an IQ test.

I was very skeptical when he began, and there have been moments where I think he's shown absolute leadership, and I think the jury is out, still out. I haven't made any final decisions on him, but I've been surprised at times. I agree with him about one thing absolutely - George W. Bush said recently that he believed in prayer and exercise. So do I.

You will find that reason, which always ought to direct mankind, seldom does; but that passions and weaknesses commonly usurp itsseat, and rule in its stead.

Every country has its own reality and its own leaders, and the leaders act in accordance with their reality.

There may be in every government a few choice spirits, who may act from more worthy motives. One great error is that we suppose mankind more honest than they are. Our prevailing passions are ambition and interest.

To model our political system upon speculations of lasting tranquility, is to calculate on the weaker springs of the human character.

He thinks like a philosopher, but governs like a king.