Benjamin Franklin Quotes About Desire

• A wise man will desire no more than what he may get justly, use soberly, distribute cheerfully, and leave contently.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Wise, Wisdom, Men

• As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the system of Morals and his Religion, as he left them to us, the best the World ever saw or is likely to see; but I apprehend it has received various corrupting Changes; and I have, with most of the present Dissenters in England, some doubts as to his divinity.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Jesus, Thinking, Doubt

  Benjamin Franklin (2006). “The Portable Benjamin Franklin”, p.375, Penguin

• If you desire many things, many things will seem few.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Desire, Poor Richard, Seems

  Benjamin Franklin (2008). “The Way to Wealth and Poor Richard's Almanac”, p.24, Nayika Publishing

• Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have either one.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Giving Up, 4th Of July, Order

• Ambition has its disappointments to sour us, but never the good fortune to satisfy us. Its appetite grows keener by indulgence and all we can gratify it with at present serves but the more to inflame its insatiable desires.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Disappointment, Ambition, Desire

  Benjamin Franklin (1839). “Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin”, p.15

• As to the kindness you mention, I wish I could have been of more service to you than I have been, but if I had, the only thanks that I should desire are that you would always be ready to serve any other person that may need your assistance, and so let good offices go around, for humankind are all of a family. As for my own part, when I am employed in serving others I do not look upon myself as conferring favors but paying debts.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Letting Go, Kindness, Office

• It is much easier to suppress a first desire than to satisfy those that follow.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Happiness, Desire, Firsts

  Philip Dormer Stanhope Earl of Chesterfield, James Forrester, Hugh Blair, James Fordyce, William Cecil Baron Burghley (1831). “Practical Morality; Or, A Guide to Men and Manners: Consisting of Lord Chesterfield's Advice to His Son. To which is Added, a Supplement Containing Extracts from Various Books, Recommended by Lord Chesterfield to Mr. Stanhope. Together with the Polite Philosopher; Or, An Essay on the Art which Makes a Man Hapopy in Himself, and Agreeable to Others; Dr. Blair's Advice to Youth; Dr. Fordyce on Honour as a Principle; Lord Burghley's Ten Percepts to His Son; Dr. Franklin's Way to Wealth; and Pope's Universal Prayer”, p.175

• Christians are directed to have faith in Christ, as the effectual means of obtaining the change they desire.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Faith, Christian, Mean

  Benjamin Franklin, Epes Sargent (1854). “The Select Works of Benjamin Franklin: Including His Autobiography”, p.420

• But they have two other Rights; those of sitting when they please, and as long as they please, in which methinks they have the advantage of your Parliament; for they cannot be dissolved by the Breath of a Minister, or sent packing as you were the other day, when it was your earnest desire to have remained longer together.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Two, Rights, Long

  Benjamin Franklin, William Temple Franklin (1817). “Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin ...”, p.150

• Pride is as loud a beggar as want, and a great deal more saucy. When you have bought one fine thing, you must buy ten more, that your appearance may be all of a piece; but it is easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follow it.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Pride, Desire, Pieces

  Benjamin Franklin (1836). “The Works of Benjamin Franklin; Containing Several Political and Historical Tracts Not Included in Any Former Edition, and Many Letters, Official and Private, Not Hitherto Published; with Notes and a Life of the Author”, p.100

• ...till we are uneasy in Rest, we can have no Desire to move, and without Desire of moving there can be no voluntary Motion.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Moving, Desire, Uneasy

  Benjamin Franklin (2006). “The Portable Benjamin Franklin”, p.359, Penguin

• A [desire] to abolish slavery prevails in North America, many of the Pennsylvanians have set their slaves at liberty, and [Virginia legislators] have petitioned the King for permission to make a law for preventing the importation of more [slaves] into that colony. This request, however, will probably not be granted, as their former laws of that kind have always been repealed.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Kings, Virginia, Law

• I wish it were possible, from this instance, to invent a method of embalming drowned persons in such a manner that they may be recalled to life at any period, however distant; for having a very ardent desire to see and observe the state of America a hundred years hence, I should prefer to any ordinary death the being immersed in a cask of Madeira wine with a few friends till that time, to be then recalled to life by the solar warmth of my dear country!

  Benjamin Franklin

  Country, Wine, America

  Benjamin Franklin (1815). “The works of the late Dr. Benjamin Franklin: consisting of his Life, written by himself. Together with humorous, moral and literary essays, chiefly in the manner of the Spectator. Among which are several not in any American edition”, p.199

• In short, the way to wealth, if you desire it, is as plain as the way to market. It depends chiefly on two works, industry and frugality.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Two, Desire, Way

  Benjamin Franklin, William Temple Franklin (1809). “The Works of Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Political, before the revolution”, p.245

• Keep out of the Sight of Feasts and Banquets as much as may be; for 'tis more difficult to refrain good Cheer, when it's present, than from the Desire of it when it is away; the like you may observe in the Objects of all the other Senses.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Cheer, Sight, Desire

  Benjamin Franklin (2004). “Poor Richard's Almanack”, p.102, Barnes & Noble Publishing

• Evil, as evil, can never be chosen; and though evil is often the effect of our own choice, yet we never desire it but under the appearance of an imaginary good.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Evil, Choices, Desire

  Benjamin Franklin, William-Temple Franklin (1818). “Memoirs of the Life and Writings of (the Same), Continued to the Time of His Death by William Temple Franklin. - London, H. Colburn 1818”, p.238

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