Benjamin Franklin Quotes

I take it as a man's duty to restrain himself.

Character is long-standing habit.

Men are more accountable for their motives, than for anything else; and primarily, morality consists in the motives, that is in the affections.

Civilization is that mode of conduct which points out to man the path of duty. Performance of duty and observance of morality are convertible terms. To observe morality is to attain mastery over our mind and our passions. So doing, we know ourselves.

Disciplined people can do the right thing at the right time in the right way for the right reason.

We must understand that the highest form of freedom carries with it the greatest measure of discipline.

To have done no man a wrong...to walk and live, unseduced, within arm's length of what is not your own, with nothing between your desire and its gratification but the invisible law of rectitude-this is to be a man.

Weak men act to satisfy their needs, stronger men their duties.

I've never had any desire to be good. I don't like goodness particularly.

A man can do what he ought to do; and when he says he cannot, it is because he will not.

It is his restraint that is honorable to a person, not their liberty.

The highest proof of virtue is to possess boundless power without abusing it.

I cannot trust a man to control others who cannot control himself.

Respect for self is the beginning of cultivating virtue in men and women.

Moderation is the silken string running through the pearl chain of all virtues.

All philosophy lies in two words, sustain and abstain.

You cheat yourself when you don't do what it is you're supposed to do. You have an obligation to learn everything that you can.

Most of us don't mind doing what we ought to do when it doesn't interfere with what we want to do, but it takes discipline and maturity to do what we ought to do whether we want to or not.

A prince must, above all things, accustom himself to moderate his desires. For as he has the power of gratifying them, if he once gives way to them, he will run to the greatest excess, and, by destroying his subjects, will at last complete his own ruin. In order to form himself to this moderation, nothing is more proper, than to accustom himself to patience. This is the most necessary of all virtues for those, who are to command. A man must be patient to become master of himself and others.

A well-governed appetite is the greater part of liberty.

Anything which tends to bring a greater sense of responsibility to individuals should be encouraged.

People have been fed this diet of pabulum, rights, and impulsive freedom. There's just an absolute starvation for the other side of the story.

We need to hold ourselves accountable for the work we do and the choices we make.

The boundary of man is moderation. When once we pass that pale our guardian angel quits his charge of us.

One can acquire some virtues by feigning them for a long time.