Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

by Walter Isaacson

He’s a fool that makes his doctor his heir . . . Eat to live, and not live to eat . . . He that lies down with dogs shall rise up with fleas . . . Where there’s marriage without love, there will be love without marriage . . . Necessity never made a good bargain . . . There’s more old drunkards than old doctors . . . A good example is the best sermon . . . None preaches better than the ant, and she says nothing . . . A Penny saved is Twopence clear . . . When the well’s dry we know the worth of water . . . The sleeping fox catches no poultry . . . The used key is always bright . . . He that lives on hope dies farting [he later wrote it as “dies fasting,” and the early version may have been a misprint] . . . Diligence is the mother of good luck . . . He that pursues two hares at once does not catch one and lets the other go . . . Search others for their virtues, thy self for thy vices . . . Kings and bears often worry their keepers . . . Haste makes waste . . . Make haste slowly . . . He who multiplies riches multiplies cares . . . He’s a fool that cannot conceal his wisdom . . . No gains without pains . . . Vice knows she’s ugly, so puts on her mask . . . The most exquisite folly is made of wisdom spun too fine . . . Love your enemies, for they will tell you your faults . . . The sting of a reproach is the truth of it . . . There’s a time to wink as well as to see . . . Genius without education is like silver in the mine . . . There was never a good knife made of bad steel ...