Benjamin Franklin — "Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days."
Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.
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More from Benjamin Franklin
"Energy and persistence conquer all things."
"In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is strength, in water there is bacteria."
"Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn."
"To be content, look backward on those who possess less than yourself, not forward on those who possess more. If this does not make you content, you don't deserve to be happy."
"Pardoning the Bad, is injuring the Good."
About Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
Polymath Founding Father, diplomat, and Poor Richard's Almanack author who helped draft the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Closely associated with John Adams (fellow Founder, Massachusetts statesman) and Thomas Jefferson (fellow Declaration drafter). For an intellectual contrast, see Thomas Hutchinson, last royal governor of colonial Massachusetts — Franklin leaked Hutchinson's loyalist correspondence to Boston in 1772 to inflame revolutionary sentiment — Hutchinson represented the colonial-aristocrat crown-loyalty that Franklin's revolution was organized to dismantle.
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Understanding this quote
What it means
The comparison is blunt and funny: house guests, like fish left out too long, start to become a nuisance once they overstay their welcome. After three days, the novelty of company fades, the host's patience wears thin, and the relationship sours. It's a practical observation about the limits of hospitality — framed memorably so no one has to say it awkwardly face to face.
Relevance to Benjamin Franklin
Franklin published aphorisms like this in Poor Richard's Almanack, which he wrote for 26 years under the pen name Richard Saunders. He also lived as a long-term guest himself — spending years in London and Paris as a colonial and American diplomat — giving him firsthand experience of overstaying welcomes. His genius was wrapping social truths in vivid, funny images that stuck, making him the colonies' most quoted wit.
The era
In colonial America, travel was slow and inns were rare, so guests routinely stayed for weeks. Hosting someone carried real costs — food, bedding, and entertainment — and social norms made it nearly impossible to ask someone to leave. Franklin's era prized plain-spoken practical wisdom, and Poor Richard's Almanack was among the most widely read publications in the colonies, making proverbs like this one a primary vehicle for voicing social truths everyone felt but rarely spoke aloud.
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