To the generous mind the heaviest debt is that of gratitude, when it is not in our power to repay it.
Benjamin FranklinRead
Love your Neighbour; yet don't pull down your Hedge.
Interpretation
Care for those around you, but maintain your own boundaries.
This quote emphasizes the importance of being kind and compassionate to your neighbors while also recognizing the need for personal boundaries. It highlights the balance between fostering good relationships and protecting one's own space and interests.
In practice
In a community meeting when discussing cooperation between neighbors.
To the generous mind the heaviest debt is that of gratitude, when it is not in our power to repay it.
He'll cheat without scruple, who can without fear.
[E]very Man who comes among us, and takes up a piece of Land, becomes a Citizen, and by our Constitution has a Voice in Elections, and a share in the Government of the Country.
Our Constitution is in actual operation; everything appears to promise that it will last; but in this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.
Let honesty and industry be thy constant companions, and spend one penny less than thy clear gains; then shall thy pocket begin to thrive; creditors will not insult, nor want oppress, nor hungerness bite, nor nakedness freeze thee
I think that a young state, like a young virgin, should modestly stay at home, and wait the application of suitors for an alliance with her; and not run about offering her amity to all the world; and hazarding their refusal. Our virgin is a jolly one; and tho at present not very rich, will in time be a great fortune, and where she has a favorable predisposition, it seems to me well worth cultivating.
It's funny about men and women. Men pay in cash to get them and pay in cash to get rid of them. Women pay emotionally coming and going. Neither has it easy.
A marriage...makes of two fractional lives a whole; it gives to two purposeless lives a work, and doubles the strength of each to perform it; it gives to two questioning natures a reason for living, and something to live for; it will give a new gladness to the sunshine, a new fragrance to the flowers, a new beauty to the earth, and a new mystery to life.
Like a bicycle, like a wheel that, once rolling, is stable only so long as it keeps moving but falls when its momentum stops, so the game between a man and woman, once begun, can exist only so long as it progresses. If the forward movement today is no more than it was yesterday, the game is over.
Etiquette requires the presumption of good until the contrary is proved.
Most marriages don't add two people together. They subtract one from the other.
If you're going to be a Christian, you're going to change. You're going to lose some old friends, not because you want to, but because you need to.
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