35+ Benjamin Franklin Quotes About Freedom and Politics

Table of Contents

Benjamin Franklin wasn’t just a founding father. He was a master of clever one-liners, sharp insights, and practical wisdom that still holds up today.

Contrary to what some people think, Franklin was much more than the guy on the $100 bill or the one who flew a kite in a storm. He was a scientist, printer, satirist, and political thinker who wasn’t afraid to call things as he saw them.

I put this collection together to show all sides of him. This isn’t just a list of clever sayings. It’s a look at how one man used words to challenge, provoke, and occasionally make people laugh.

On Liberty, Rights, and Rebellion

“Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.” – Benjamin Franklin

“God grant that not only the love of liberty but a thorough knowledge of the rights of man may pervade all the nations of the earth, so that a philosopher may set his foot anywhere on its surface and say: This is my country.” – Benjamin Franklin

“Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature.” – Benjamin Franklin

“Our cause is the cause of all mankind…we are fighting for their liberty in defending our own.” – Benjamin Franklin

“From a persuasion that equal liberty was originally the portion, it is still the birthright of all men.” – Benjamin Franklin

“Sell not…liberty to purchase power.” – Benjamin Franklin

“Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” – Benjamin Franklin

“Where liberty dwells, there is my country.” – Benjamin Franklin

“Every man…is, of common right, and by the laws of God, a freeman, and entitled to the free enjoyment of liberty.” – Benjamin Franklin

“No nation was ever ruined by trade.” – Benjamin Franklin

“It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.” – Benjamin Franklin

On Free Speech and the Foundation of a Republic

“Without freedom of thought there can be no such thing as wisdom; and no such thing as public liberty, without freedom of speech.” – Benjamin Franklin

“Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government; when this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins. Republics…derive their strength and vigor from a popular examination into the action of the magistrates.” – Benjamin Franklin

“In those wretched countries where a man cannot call his tongue his own, he can scarce call anything his own. Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech; a thing terrible to publick traytors.” – Benjamin Franklin

“When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.” – Benjamin Franklin

“That it is better one hundred guilty persons should escape than that one innocent person should suffer is a maxim that has been long and generally approved.” – Benjamin Franklin

On Virtue, Morality, and the Character of a Nation

“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.” – Benjamin Franklin

“I have heard of some great man, whose rule it was, with regard to offices, never to ask for them, and never to refuse them; to which I have always added, in my own practice, never to resign them.” – Benjamin Franklin

“Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.” – Benjamin Franklin

“Make yourself sheep and the wolves will eat you.” – Benjamin Franklin

“He that lies down with dogs, shall rise up with fleas.” – Benjamin Franklin

“Poverty often deprives a man of all spirit and virtue; it is hard for an empty bag to stand upright.” – Benjamin Franklin

On Government, Law, and Public Affairs

“Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes!” – Benjamin Franklin

“It would be thought a hard government that should tax its people one tenth part.” – Benjamin Franklin

“The more the people are discontented with the oppression of taxes, the greater the need the prince has of money to distribute among his partisans and pay the troops that are to suppress all resistance and enable him to plunder at pleasure.” – Benjamin Franklin

“A great empire, like a great cake, is most easily diminished at the edges.” – Benjamin Franklin

“The first mistake in public business is the going into it.” – Benjamin Franklin

War, Peace, and Global Perspective

“We are now friends with England and with all mankind. May we never see another war! for in my opinion there never was a good war, or a bad peace.” – Benjamin Franklin

“All wars are follies, very expensive and very mischievous ones.” – Benjamin Franklin

Wit, Satire, and Observations on Society

“A countryman between two lawyers is like a fish between two cats.” – Benjamin Franklin

“A learned blockhead is a greater blockhead than an ignorant one.” – Benjamin Franklin

“The learned fool writes his nonsense in better language than the unlearned, but it is still nonsense.” – Benjamin Franklin

“The ancients tell us what is best; but we must learn of the moderns what is fittest.” – Benjamin Franklin

“The U.S. Constitution doesn’t guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself.” – Benjamin Franklin

“I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country; he is a bird of bad moral character; like those among men who live by sharping and robbing, he is generally poor, and often very lousy. The turkey is a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America.” – Benjamin Franklin