Benjamin Franklin — "He that can have patience can have what he will."
He that can have patience can have what he will.
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More from Benjamin Franklin
"In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride."
"If you would be revenged of your enemy, govern yourself."
"He that has a Trade, has an Estate."
"Vessels large may venture more, but little boats should keep near shore."
"I shall rise to apologize for not getting up."
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
Patience is the master key to achievement. If you can train yourself to wait, plan carefully, and persist through setbacks without rushing or forcing outcomes, you will eventually reach your goals. Impatience makes people give up too soon, take shortcuts that backfire, or make poor decisions under pressure. The quote argues that self-control over time is the one skill that unlocks everything else a person might want.
Relevance to Benjamin Franklin
Franklin spent decades patiently building his printing empire before retiring at 42 to pursue science and public service. His electricity experiments required methodical repetition over years, not flashes of genius. As a diplomat in France, he waited through years of negotiation to secure the alliance that won American independence. He published Poor Richard's Almanack for 26 consecutive years, embodying the sustained patience he preached.
The era
Colonial America demanded patience as a survival skill: farming cycles, slow trans-Atlantic trade, and years-long apprenticeships rewarded those who could delay gratification. The Protestant work ethic, dominant in Franklin's society, treated patient diligence as a moral virtue. Communication moved at horse-and-ship speed, so any significant goal — a business deal, a legal case, a political alliance — required months or years of composed, steady effort.
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