Famous quotes containing the words benjamin franklin, benjamin, franklin and/or national:
“If you would not be forgotten,
as soon as you are dead and rotten,
either write things worth reading
or do things worth the writing.”
—Benjamin Franklin (17061790)
“These are days when no one should rely unduly on his competence. Strength lies in improvisation. All the decisive blows are struck left-handed.”
—Walter Benjamin (18921940)
“Most people dislike vanity in others, whatever share they have of it themselves; but I give it fair quarter, wherever I meet with it, being persuaded that it is often productive of good to the possessor, and to others who are within his sphere of action: and therefore, in many cases, it would not be altogether absurd if a man were to thank God for his vanity among the other comforts of life.”
—Benjamin Franklin (17061790)
“All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.”
—Thomas Paine (17371809)