Top Ten Quotes
- "The U.S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself."
My Interpretation: You cannot expect happiness to be handed to you by anything or anyone else, it must be found by yourself if you wish to enjoy it to its fullest.
- "Some people die at 25 and aren't buried until 75."
My Interpretation: Some people mentally, emotionally, or spiritually die young, giving up their dreams and hopes, but do not physically, or literally die until they reach an old age.
- "If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write something worth reading or do things worth writing."
My Interpretation: To be remembered in the world after you have passed, you must leave some sort of mark; a mark that lasts, like an interesting tale or a marvelous adventure that no one will be able to forget.
- "A life of leisure and a life of laziness are two things. There will be enough sleeping in the grave."
My Interpretation: You can choose which path you would like to take with your life: an easy life built on a foundation hard work, or a careless life created from never doing anything. The leisurely life is the better choice, since you will not have a chance to do life over once you are dead.
- "Content makes poor men rich; discontent makes rich men poor."
My Interpretation: A poor man being satisfied with his life as it is makes him rich in ways other than money, but a rich man who is not happy will spend all his money trying to be happy, and thus become poor.
- "When you're finished changing, you're finished."
My Interpretation: That which has stopped changing and growing is done living; if you stop changing and growing as a person, nothing will ever happen differently, and your life will become virtually pointless.
- "Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What's a sundial in the shade?"
My Interpretation: If you don't put your talents to use, they will never have a purpose and will become useless. Franklin is also saying that you should never be ashamed of the skills you were given.
- "He that won't be counseled can't be helped."
My Interpretation: Someone who does not allow themselves to be helped will never be able to improve whatever they need help with.
- "The discontented man finds no easy chair."
My Interpretation: Someone who finds an issue with everything will never be at ease.
- "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
My Interpretation: Someone willing to give up their freedom for ensure safety is not deserving of freedom or safety at all.
[I selected these ten quotes because they are all connected, carrying the same general idea that you are the navigator of your own life. These quotes were very eye-opening.]