Benjamin Franklin — "Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today."
Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.
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More from Benjamin Franklin
"In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."
"By diligence and patience, the mouse ate through the cable."
"Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn."
"He who endeavors to drink salt needs fear no thirst."
"What maintains one vice would bring up two children."
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
A direct call against procrastination: if a task is within your power to complete right now, complete it. Delaying breeds accumulation—small deferred duties compound into overwhelming burdens over time. The logic is purely practical: tomorrow already carries its own demands, so offloading today's unfinished work onto it is self-defeating. Time is a finite resource that rewards disciplined management, not indefinite postponement.
Relevance to Benjamin Franklin
Franklin first printed this in Poor Richard's Almanack, which he authored and published for 26 consecutive years starting in 1732. His schedule was relentlessly packed: printer, postmaster, inventor, civic organizer, diplomat, and Founding Father. His autobiography details 13 virtues he tracked daily in a personal ledger, with Industry—'lose no time; be always employed in something useful'—sitting at the core of his self-improvement system.
The era
Colonial America in the 1730s ran on agriculture and trade where delays had direct material consequences—a missed planting window or deferred repair cost a family real income. The Protestant work ethic equated idleness with moral failure. Almanacs like Poor Richard's were among the most widely read publications in the colonies, reaching tens of thousands of households annually, making this advice a cultural touchstone during an era of nation-building scarcity.
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