“Never ruin an apology with an excuse.”
More from Ben Franklin on Wisdom
“...as I am not fond of giving advice,having seldom seen it taken”
“Never confuse Motion with Action.”
“Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools that don't have brains enough to be honest.”
“Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.”
“A learned blockhead is a greater blockhead than an ignorant one.”
“Fools make feasts and wise men eat them.”
“If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed.”
“Great beauty, great strength, and great riches are really and truly of no great use; a right heart exceeds all”
“If you will not hear reason, she'll rap your knuckles.”
“He who can have patience can have what he will.”
Others on Wisdom
Sun Tzu
30 quotes“A clever general, therefore, avoids an army when its spirit is keen, but attacks it when it is sluggish and inclined to...”
Dalai Lama
22 quotes“A disciplined mind leads to happiness, and an undisciplined mind leads to suffering.”
Cervantes
20 quotes“Honesty's the best policy.”
Aesop
19 quotes“Do not waste your pity on a scamp.”
Confucius
19 quotes“If a man take no thought about what is distant he will find sorrow near at hand.”
Napoleon
16 quotes“One must change one's tactics every ten years if one wishes to maintain one's superiority.”
Cicero
15 quotes“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.”
George R.R. Martin
14 quotes“A good act does not wash out the bad, nor a bad act the good. Each should have its own reward.”
Rudyard Kipling
14 quotes“One paid for one's knowledge with one's skin.”
William Penn
14 quotes“Speak properly, and in as few words as you can, but always plainly; for the end of speech is not ostentation, but to be...”
George Washington
14 quotes“I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy.”
Sir Winston Churchill
14 quotes“...anger is a waste of energy. Steam which is used to blow off a safety valve would be better used to drive an engine.”