Poor Richard's Almanac, page 2
Fools by their own.
He that won’t be counselled, can’t be helped.
All things are cheap to the saving,
dear to the wasteful.
If you ride a horse sit close and tight,
if you ride a man sit easy and light.
Would you persuade, speak of interest, not of reason.
He that waits on fortune is never sure of a dinner.
A slip of the foot you may soon recover,
but a slip of the tongue you may never get over.
A house without woman and firelight
is like a body without soul or spirit.
Do good to thy friend to hold him,
to thy enemy to gain him.
Teach your child to hold his tongue,
he’ll learn fast enough to speak.
In rivers and bad governments
the lightest things swim at top.
Cut the wings of your hens and hopes,
lest they lead you a weary dance after them.
Would you live with ease,
do what you ought,
not what you please.
The horse thinks one thing,
and he that saddles him another.
In the affairs of this world men are saved, not by faith, but by the want of it.
Friendship cannot live with ceremony, nor without civility.
Men and melons are hard to know.
The thrifty maxim of the wary Dutch,
is to save all the money they can touch.
It is better to take many injuries than to give one.
An old young man will be a young old man.
Do not do that which you would not have known.
If you would live long, live well;
for folly and wickedness shorten life.
God works wonders now and then;
Behold! a lawyer, an honest man.
He that pays for work before it’s done has but a pennyworth for two pence.
You may be more happy than princes if you will be more virtuous.
An ill wound, but not an ill name, may be healed.
Thou can’st not joke an enemy into a friend,
but thou may’st a friend into an enemy.
Many dishes, many diseases.
The sting of a reproach is the truth of it.
A good wife and health is a man’s best wealth.
Virtue and happiness are mother and daughter.
A quarrelsome man has no good neighbors.
Many a man would have been worse if his estate had been better.
Don’t throw stones at your neighbors’ if your own windows are glass.
The honey is sweet, but the bee has a sting.
He that sells upon trust loses many friends, and always wants money.
Time is an herb that cures all diseases.
If you do what you should not, you must hear what you would not.
Good wives and good plantations are made by good husbands.
He that scatters thorns, let him not go barefoot.
Drunkenness, that worst of evils, makes some men fools, some beasts, some devils.
‘Tis easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follow it.
Don’t judge of men’s wealth or piety by their Sunday appearances.
The Wise and Brave dares own that he was wrong.
To whom thy secret thou dost tell,
to him thy freedom thou dost sell.
He that pursues two hares at once, does not catch one and lets the other go.
Don’t go to the doctor with every distemper, nor to the lawyer with every quarrel, nor to the pot with every thirst.
The rotten apple spoils his companion.
I saw few die of hunger; of eating – 100,000.
Friendship increases by visiting friends, but by visiting seldom.
If your riches are yours, why don’t you take them with you to t’other world?
‘Tis great confidence in a friend to tell him your faults, greater to tell him his.
‘Tis easier to prevent bad habits than to break them.
Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors,
and let every New Year find you a better man.
Old boys have their playthings as well as young ones;
the difference is only in the price.
He that would travel much should eat little.
You may give the man an office, but you cannot give him discretion.
Willows are weak but they bind the faggot.
He is a governor that governs his passions,
and he is a servant that serves them.
Virtue may not always make a face handsome,
but vice will certainly make it ugly.
It’s common for men to give 6 pretended reasons instead of one real one.
Where carcasses are, eagles will gather, And where good laws are, much people flock thither.
Fools multiply folly.
Beauty & folly are old companions.
Hope of gain Lessens pain.
All things are easy to Industry,
All things difficult to Sloth.
Neither a Fortress nor a Maidenhead will hold out long after they begin to parly.
A good Man is seldom uneasy, an ill one never easy.
An innocent Plowman is more worthy than a vicious Prince.
Drink Water, Put the Money in your Pocket, and leave the Dry- bellyache in the Punchbowl.
He that is rich need not live sparingly, and he that can live sparingly need not be rich.
If you would be revenged of your enemy, govern yourself.
As sore places meet most rubs, proud folks meet most affronts.
He that for sake of Drink neglects his Trade,
And spends each Night in Taverns till ‘tis late,
And rises when the Sun is four hours high,
And ne’er regards his starving Family;
God in his Mercy may do much to save him.
But, woe to the poor Wife, whose Lot it is to have him.
Look before, or you’ll find yourself behind.
By diligence and patience, the mouse bit in two the cable.
Full of courtesy, full of craft.
The Family of Fools is ancient.
If Pride leads the Van, Beggary brings up the Rear.
Pain wastes the Body, Pleasures the Understanding.
Of learned Fools I have seen ten times ten,
Of unlearned wise men I have seen a hundred.
A man is never so ridiculous by those Qualities that are his own as by those that he affects to have.
Deny Self for Self’s sake.
Ever since Follies have pleas’d, Fools have been able to divert.
If you know how to spend less than you get, you have the Philosophers-Stone.
Keep flax from fire, youth from gaming.
There’s none deceived but he that trusts.
If you desire many things, many things will seem but a few.
Tis better leave for an enemy at one’s death, than beg of a friend in one’s life.
In success be moderate.
If thou hast wit & learning, add to it Wisdom and Modesty.
I have never seen the Philosopher’s Stone that turns lead into Gold, but I have known the pursuit of it turn a Man’s Gold into Lead.
Reading makes a full Man, Meditation a profound Man, discourse a clear Man.
Historians relate, not so much what is done, as what they would have believed.
He that falls in love with himself, will have no Rivals.
Rather go to bed supperless, than run in debt for a Breakfast.
Let thy Discontents be Secrets.
A Man of Knowledge like a rich Soil, feeds
If not a world of Corn,
a world of Weeds.
No Resolution of Repenting hereafter can be sincere.
Honour thy Father and Mother, i.e. Live so as to be an Honour to them tho’ they are dead.
If thou injurest Conscience, it will have its Revenge on thee.
Beware of him that is slow to anger: He is angry for something,
and will not be pleased for nothing.
No longer virtuous no longer free; is a Maxim as true with regard to a private Person as a Common-wealth.
Let our Fathers and Grandfathers be valued for their Goodness,
ourselves for our own.
Industry need not wish.
Sin is not hurtful because it is forbidden but it is forbidden because it’s hurtful. Nor is a Duty beneficial because it is commanded, but it is commanded, because it’s beneficial.
Love, and be lov’d.
O Lazy-Bones! Dost thou think God would have given thee Arms and Legs, if he had not design’d thou should’st use them.
No wonder Tom grows fat, th’ unwieldy sinner,
Makes his whole life but one continual dinner.
None are deceived but they that confide.
A wolf eats sheep but now and then,
Ten thousands are devour’d by men.
To all apparent beauties blind
Each blemish strikes an envious mind.
Thou hadst better eat salt with the Philosophers of Greece,
than sugar with the Courtiers of Italy.
He makes a Foe who makes a jest.
Who knows a fool, must know his brother;
For one will recommend another.
Avoid dishonest Gain: No price Can recompense the Pangs of Vice.
When befriended, remember it:
When you befriend, forget it.
Great souls with generous pity melt;
Which coward tyrants never felt.
Employ thy time well, if thou meanest to gain leisure.
Learn of the skilful: He that teaches himself, hath a fool for his master.
Best is the Tongue that feels the rein;
He that talks much, must talk in vain;
We from the wordy Torrent fly:
Who listens to the chattering Pye?
No Wood without Bark.
Monkeys warm with envious spite,
Their most obliging FRIENDS will bite;
And, fond to copy human Ways,
Practise new Mischiefs all their days.
Let thy discontents be thy Secrets; if the world knows them,
‘twill despise thee and increase them.
E’er you remark another’s Sin,
Bid your own Conscience look within.
At 20 years of age the Will reigns;
at 30 the Wit;
at 40 the Judgment.
Lying rides upon Debt’s back.
Clearly spoken, Mr. Fog! You explain English by Greek.
There are no fools so troublesome as those that have wit.
Let no Pleasure tempt thee, no Profit allure thee, no Ambition corrupt thee, no Example sway thee, no Persuasion move thee, to do any thing which thou knowest to be Evil; So shalt thou always live jollily: for a good Conscience is a continual Christmas.
He that speaks ill of the Mare, will buy her.
Against Diseases here, the strongest Fence, Is the defensive Virtue, Abstinence.
If thou dost ill, the joy fades, not the pains;
If well, the pain doth fade, the joy remains.
Wouldst thou enjoy a long Life, a healthy Body, and a vigorous Mind, and be acquainted also with the wonderful Works of God?
Labour in the first place to bring thy Appetite into Subjection to Reason.
In prosperous fortunes be modest and wise,
The greatest may fall, and the lowest may rise:
But insolent People that fall in disgrace,
Are wretched and no-body pities their Case.
Content and Riches seldom meet together,
Riches take thou, contentment I had rather.
Speak with contempt of none, from slave to king,
The meanest Bee hath, and will use, a sting.
Tis easy to frame a good bold resolution; but hard is the Task that concerns execution.
Make haste slowly.
Keep thou from the Opportunity, and God will keep thee from the Sin.
If you’d be belov’d, make yourself amiable.
A true Friend is the best Possession.
Fear God, and your Enemies will fear you.
Wars bring scars.
A light purse is a heavy Curse.
He who buys had need have 100 Eyes, but one’s enough for him that sells the Stuff.
To God we owe fear and love; to our neighbours justice and charity; to our selves prudence and sobriety.
Vice knows she’s ugly, so puts on her Mask.
It’s the easiest Thing in the World for a Man to deceive himself.
Good Sense is a Thing all need, few have, and none think they lack.
The Tongue is ever turning to the aching Tooth.
Want of Care does us more Damage than Want of Knowledge.
Take Courage, Mortal; Death can’t banish thee out of the Universe.
Tis a strange Forest that has no rotten Wood in it. And a strange Kindred that all are good in it.
Courage would fight, but Discretion won’t let him.
Pride and the Gout, are seldom cur’d throughout.
Despair ruins some, Presumption many.
A quiet Conscience sleeps in Thunder, but Rest and Guilt live far asunder.
Write Injuries in Dust, Benefits in Marble.
What is Serving God? ‘Tis doing Good to Man.
Many have been ruin’d by buying good pennyworths.
The Devil sweetens Poison with Honey.
Knaves & Nettles are akin; stroak ‘em kindly, yet they’ll sting.
Suspicion may be no Fault, but shewing it may be a great one.
He that’s secure is not safe.
If Jack’s in love, he’s no judge of Jill’s Beauty.
The end of Passion is the beginning of Repentance.
Neither trust, nor contend, nor lay wagers, nor lend; And you’ll have peace to your Lives end.
It was wise counsel given to a young man: Pitch upon that course of life which is most excellent, and CUSTOM will make it the most delightful. But many pitch on no course of life at all, nor form any scheme of living, by which to attain any valuable end; but wander perpetually from one thing to another.
HOW TO GET RICHES.
The Art of getting Riches consists very much in THRIFT. All Men are not equally qualified for getting Money, but it is in the Power of everyone alike to practise this Virtue.
He that would be beforehand in the World, must be beforehand with his Business: It is not only ill Management, but discovers a slothful Disposition, to do that in the Afternoon, which should have been done in the Morning.
Useful Attainments in your Minority will procure Riches in Maturity, of which Writing and Accounts are not the meanest.
Learning, whether Speculative or Practical, is, in Popular or Mixt Governments, the Natural Source of Wealth and Honour.
PRECEPT I. In Things of moment, on thy self depend, Nor trust too far thy Servant or thy Friend: With private Views, thy Friend may promise fair, And Servants very seldom prove sincere.
PRECEPT II. What can be done, with Care perform today, Dangers unthought-of will attend delay; Your distant Prospects all precarious are, And Fortune is as fickle as she’s fair.
PRECEPT III. Nor trivial Loss, nor trivial Gain despise; Molehills, if often heap’d, to Mountains rise: Weigh every small Expence, and nothing waste, Farthings long sav’d, amount to Pounds at last.
He that spills the Rum, loses that only; He that drinks it, often loses both that and himself.
Genius without Education is like Silver in the Mine.
Fond Pride of Dress is sure an empty Curse;
E’re Fancy you consult, consult your Purse.
The too obliging temper is evermore disobliging itself.
Hold your council before dinner; the full belly hates Thinking as well as Acting.
The Brave and the Wise can both pity and excuse when Cowards and Fools show no Mercy.
Children and princes will quarrel for trifles.
‘Tis against some mens Principle to pay Interest, and seems against others Interest to pay the Principal.
Philosophy as well as foppery often changes fashion.
A Pair of good ears will drain dry an hundred tongues.
If you’d know the value of money, go and borrow some.
Learning to the Studious; Riches to the Careful; Power to the Bold; Heaven to the Virtuous.
Speak little, do much.
If you would be loved, love and be loveable.
Who is wise? He that learns from everyone.
Who is powerful? He that governs his passions.
Who is rich? He that is content.
Who is that? Nobody.
Diligence overcomes difficulties, Sloth makes them.
Neglect mending a small fault, and ‘twill soon be a great one.
He that has a trade, has an Office of Profit and Honour.
Laws too gentle are seldom obeyed; too severe, seldom executed.
Tomorrow, every fault is to be amended; but that tomorrow never comes.
When a friend deals with a friend Let the bargain be clear and well penn’d,
That they may continue friends to the end.
Many a man’s own tongue gives evidence against his Understanding.
Tis easier to build two chimneys, than maintain one in fuel.
He that would catch fish, must venture his bait.
Men take more pains to mask than mend.
In studying Law or Physick, or any other Art or Science, by which you propose to get your Livelihood, though you find it at first hard, difficult and unpleasing, use Diligence, Patience and Perseverance; the Irksomness of your Task will thus diminish daily, and your Labour shall finally be crowned with Success. You shall go beyond all your Competitors who are careless, idle or superficial in their Acquisitions, and be at the Head of your Profession. Ability will command Business, Business Wealth; and Wealth an easy and honourable Retirement when Age shall require it.
Great modesty often hides great merit.
Content is the philosopher’s stone, that turns all it touches into gold.
Half the truth is often a great lie.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac
