To the generous mind the heaviest debt is that of gratitude, when it is not in our power to repay it.
Benjamin FranklinRead
When the well is dry, we know the worth of water.
Interpretation
We often take things for granted until they are no longer available, reminding us of their true value.
Benjamin Franklin's quote emphasizes the importance of appreciating the resources we have before they become scarce. It serves as a reminder that we often only recognize the true value of something, like water, when it is no longer accessible, urging us to cultivate gratitude and mindful living.
In practice
A motivational speech on valuing what we have in life.
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.
...we should all fortify ourselves against the dark hours of depression by cultivating a deep distrust of the certainties of despair. Despair is relentless in the certainties of its pessimism. But we have seen again and again, from our own experience and others', that absolute statements of hopelessness that we make in the dark are notoriously unreliable. Our dark certainties are not sureties.
You're not supposed to give people what they want, you're supposed to give them what they don't know that they want yet.
Nothing can be further apart than true humility and servility.
Appear to know only this--never to fail nor fall.
Discipline enabled Heaven to be filled with light; discipline enabled the angels to be immaculate and holy.
No one would be happier than Luther to be commended by the testimony of the time that he had been neither slack nor deceitful in maintaining the course of truth, but had shown quite enough and even too much vehemence.
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