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Never leave that till tomorrow, which you can do to-day.
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“Never leave that till tomorrow, which you can do to-day.”

Benjamin Franklin

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Source
The Way to Wealth
Date
1758
Local voice
Authorial persona / framed maxim · Poor Richard maxim, repeated through Father Abraham
Meaning

Meaning of “Never leave that till tomorrow, which you can…”

The maxim turns prompt action into a habit: work that can reasonably be completed now should not be needlessly transferred to an uncertain tomorrow.

Source context

Where does it come from?

The Way to Wealth; a Poor Richard maxim on delay and useful employment of time.

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Speaker context

Why the local voice matters

The Way to Wealth is framed as Father Abraham’s address compiling maxims Franklin had published through the Poor Richard / Richard Saunders persona. This record therefore preserves the framed authorial-persona layer instead of treating the maxim as unmediated Franklin narration.

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Themes

Ideas connected with this quotation

BusinessCalmConsistencyDiscipline Quotes About Habits, Practice & ConsistencyEffortHabitsHard WorkInspirational Quotes About Hope, Courage & PossibilityLife Is ShortMindfulnessMotivational Quotes for Action, Effort & PersistencePatiencePeacePresent MomentProductivityResponsibilitySelf-Control Quotes About Restraint & JudgmentShortSuccessTimeActionMotivation For WorkProcrastination
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Continue through nearby ideas

Source identified
Employ thy time well, if thou meanest to gain leisure.
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“Employ thy time well, if thou meanest to gain leisure.”

Benjamin Franklin · Poor Richard’s Almanack · 18th century
Meaning & context

Leisure is easier to protect when working time is used deliberately, linking time management with freedom rather than treating organization as an end in itself.

Source details

Poor Richard’s Almanack; the maxim connects disciplined use of working time with the ability to gain leisure.

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Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
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“Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.”

Benjamin Franklin · Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin · 1791
Meaning & context

Resolution becomes useful only when followed by execution; the maxim links deliberate standards with the habit of carrying them through.

Source details

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Part II, thirteen-virtue table: Resolution. Project Gutenberg #148 (Charles W. Eliot / Harvard Classics, 1909) preserves the represented wording; the reviewed direct locator is Wikisource Section Thirty Six.

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The master-word is Work
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“The master-word is Work”

William Osler · The Master-Word in Medicine · 1903
Meaning & context

Osler makes sustained work the organizing principle of his address to medical students, emphasizing disciplined practice over brilliance without application.

Source details

The Master-Word in Medicine, address delivered October 1, 1903 at the opening of the new buildings of the University of Toronto Medical Faculty; reviewed against the represented 1903 John Murphy pamphlet, Internet Archive identifier b28060805. ‘The master-word is Work’ is Osler’s organizing refrain and is followed by his appeal to write the word on the heart and forehead. This remains historical professional rhetoric rather than an endorsement of unsafe working hours or workaholism.

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If you would make anything a habit, do it.
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“If you would make anything a habit, do it.”

Epictetus · Discourses of Epictetus · c. 125
Meaning & context

Habit formation is reduced to repeated action: the behavior itself is what trains the pattern.

Source details

Discourses of Epictetus, Book II, Chapter XVIII, “How we should struggle against appearances,” George Long translation; 1877 George Bell & Sons witness on Wikisource, cross-checked against Project Gutenberg #10661. This short catalog record is an excerpt of Long’s longer clause “Generally then if you would make any thing a habit, do it”; this collection lightly normalizes “any thing” to “anything.”

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