Printers are educated in the Belief, that when Men differ in Opinion, both sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Public; and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter: Hence [printers] cheerfully serve all contending Writers that pay them well, without regarding on which side they are of the Question in Dispute.
Tag: Benjamin Franklin
(1706–1790) One of the Founding Fathers of the United States, a leading author and printer, satirist, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat.
God or tyrants
Man will ultimately be governed by God or by tyrants.
Preserve your virtue and liberty
Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, nor Liberty to purchase power.
Danger: Government at work
No man’s life, liberty, or fortune is safe while our legislature is in session.
Get informed
A nation of well-informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins.
A life worth living
If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth the writing.
Debt ends liberty
When you run in debt; you give to another power over your liberty.
Descent into monarchy
There is scarce a king in a hundred who would not, if he could, follow the example of Pharaoh – get first all the people’s money, then all their lands, and then make them and their children servants forever. … There is a natural inclination in mankind to kingly government. … I am apprehensive … that the government of the states may, in future times, end in a monarchy.
Virtue and freedom
Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.
Declaration of independence
Philadelphia, July 3 [1776]: Yesterday the Continental Congress declared the United Colonies free and independent states.