Franklin on Character

You and I come by road or rail, but economists travel on infrastructure. — Margaret Thatcher (Public Domain)  Every time I listen to a “brilliant economist” on the business networks, I try and...

The tendency to go to excess seems to stem from something inherent in human nature, as does the remarkable failure to draw lessons from past experience. — Robert Rubin (Image licensed by Penn...

The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them. — Ernest Hemingway (1939, writing “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” photo by Lloyd Arnold; Public Domain) 

Love work.  Turn a deaf ear to slander.  Be considerate in correcting others.  Do not be taken up by trifles. Do not resent plain speaking.  Meet offenders half-way.  Be thorough in thought.  Have...

When you’re testing to see how deep the water is, never use two feet. — Benjamin Franklin (1778, by Joseph Duplessis; Public Domain) 

I got lost but look what I found. — Irving Berlin (Image licensed by Penn Wealth Pub.)  Sometimes we need to give ourselves permission to deviate from our planned path. We exert so much energy...

Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It’s not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it’s a day you’ve had everything to do and you’ve done it. — Margaret Thatcher...

Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience. — George Washington (Image Licensed by Penn Wealth Pub.) 

A rusty nail placed near a faithful compass will sway it from the truth and wreck the argosy. — Walter Scott (1830, by Sir John Watson Gordon; Public Domain) 

Be friendly with everybody. When you have friends, you will know there is somebody who will stand by you. You know the old saying, that if you have a single enemy you will find him everywhere. It...

The law of work does seem utterly unfair—but there it is, and nothing can change it; the higher the pay in enjoyment one gets out of it, the higher shall be their pay in money also. — Mark Twain...

Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion. — Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1831, by Jakob Schlesinger; Public Domain) 

He who leaves nothing to chance will do few things poorly, but he will do few things. — Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax (Image licensed by Penn Wealth Pub.) 

When we have practiced good actions awhile, they become easy; when they are easy, we take pleasure in them; when they please us, we do them frequently; and then, by frequency of act, they grow...

…if you find you are wrongly placed, don’t hesitate to change, but don’t change because troubles come up and difficulties arise. You must meet and overcome and conquer them. And in meeting and...

Nurture your minds with great thoughts. To believe in the heroic makes heroes. — Benjamin Disraeli, British PM (1878, by Cornelius Jabez Hughes; Public Domain)