16 quotations linked to The Way to Wealth by or associated with Benjamin Franklin, with source notes, explanations and related topics.
Industry, frugality, expenses, borrowing, debt, saving, purchasing judgment, self-reliance and the relationship between income and outgo.
Use these links when you want to inspect the wording in its wider work or edition.
“Lying rides upon Debt’s back.”
The compact maxim warns that unpaid obligations can create incentives for evasion, delay, or false promises when payment becomes difficult.
Source note: The Way to Wealth, debt-and-credit section; Project Gutenberg #43855. The line immediately reinforces Franklin’s warning about debt and truthfulness.
“At a great pennyworth pause a while.”
An unusually cheap offer deserves scrutiny because apparent savings can still produce a bad purchase when the buyer has no real need for it.
Source note: The Way to Wealth, frugality section; Project Gutenberg #43855. The maxim introduces Franklin’s distinction between apparent cheapness and genuine value.
“He that hath a trade hath an estate.”
A useful skill or trade is treated as a durable asset because it can keep producing value even when stored wealth is limited.
Source note: The Way to Wealth, where Father Abraham repeats maxims associated with Poor Richard.
“Ere fancy you consult, consult your purse.”
Desired appearance should be tested against actual means before spending, placing affordability ahead of fashion or social comparison.
Source note: The Way to Wealth, frugality section; Project Gutenberg #43855. The line appears in a short verse warning against pride-driven spending on dress.
“Many have been ruined by buying good pennyworths.”
A low price does not make a purchase beneficial when the item is unnecessary or when buying it leaves too little for more important needs.
Source note: The Way to Wealth, frugality section; Project Gutenberg #43855. “Pennyworth” refers to an apparent bargain and the warning is about false economy.
“Industry pays debts, while despair increaseth them.”
Franklin contrasts productive effort with passive discouragement, presenting earned income and continued work as practical ways to reduce obligations.
Source note: The Way to Wealth / Poor Richard Improved, industry section; represented by Project Gutenberg #43855. Father Abraham is compiling maxims from Franklin’s earlier Almanacks.
“The second vice is lying, the first is running in debt.”
Franklin links avoidable debt with later pressure to make excuses or break promises, presenting financial obligation as a potential test of honesty.
Source note: The Way to Wealth, debt-and-credit section; Project Gutenberg #43855. This is eighteenth-century moral rhetoric and should not be read as a judgment that indebted people are inherently dishonest.
“Never leave that till tomorrow, which you can do to-day.”
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 note: The Way to Wealth; a Poor Richard maxim on delay and useful employment of time.
“It is foolish to lay out money in a purchase of repentance.”
Money spent on an unnecessary bargain can create regret rather than value, making restraint part of good purchasing judgment.
Source note: The Way to Wealth, frugality section; Project Gutenberg #43855. Father Abraham uses the maxim while warning auction buyers against purchases made only because they seem cheap.
“Beware of little expences; A small leak will sink a great ship.”
Small recurring expenses can become significant when repeated, so minor purchases deserve attention when they steadily erode a limited budget.
Source note: The Way to Wealth, frugality section; Project Gutenberg #43855 preserves the historical spelling “expences.” The ship image is one of the Poor Richard maxims quoted by Father Abraham.
“Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.”
Small recurring costs can matter more than they appear individually, so careful attention to minor spending is part of long-term financial discipline.
Source note: The Way to Wealth; Father Abraham repeats the Poor Richard maxim while warning about small but cumulative expenses.
“If you would be wealthy, think of saving as well as of getting.”
Income alone does not create financial security; keeping part of what is earned is presented as a necessary companion to earning it.
Source note: The Way to Wealth, Franklin’s compilation of Poor Richard maxims.
“A ploughman on his legs is higher than a gentleman on his knees.”
Financial independence earned through ordinary work is valued above status maintained through borrowing, dependence, or costly appearance.
Source note: The Way to Wealth, frugality section; Project Gutenberg #43855. Father Abraham contrasts industrious people with those reduced to borrowing by extravagance.
“If you would know the value of money, go and try to borrow some.”
Borrowing makes the cost and scarcity of money concrete, turning an abstract idea of value into an immediate obligation.
Source note: The Way to Wealth, in Franklin’s discussion of debt and credit.
“Buy what thou hast no need of, and ere long thou shalt sell thy necessaries.”
Unnecessary consumption can eventually threaten necessary resources, making restraint a practical part of financial independence.
Source note: The Way to Wealth, in the section warning against needless expense.
“Always taking out of the meal-tub, and never putting in, soon comes to the bottom.”
Resources decline when withdrawals are not matched by replenishment, turning a household image into a warning about spending down finite savings.
Source note: The Way to Wealth, frugality section; Project Gutenberg #43855. The meal-tub is Franklin’s domestic metaphor for continual consumption without replacement.