Skip to content
Shawords

Quote#Hope

I think opinions should be judged of by their influences and effects;…

Quote byBenjamin Franklin · 1706–1790

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Epistles, Letter to his father, 13 April 1738, printed in Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin (Philadelphia, 1834), volume 1, p. 233; also quoted in Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (2003) by Walter Isaacson.

English (original)

I think opinions should be judged of by their influences and effects; and if a man holds none that tend to make him less virtuous or more vicious, it may be concluded that he holds none that are dangerous, which I hope is the case with me.

— Benjamin Franklin

More from Benjamin Franklin