Benjamin Franklin — "Never spare the parson's wine, nor the baker's pudding."
Never spare the parson's wine, nor the baker's pudding.
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More from Benjamin Franklin
"The noblest question in the world is, What good may I do in it?"
"A false friend and a shadow attend only while the sun shines."
"He that can have patience can have what he will."
"What's a sundial in the shade?"
"In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride."
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
Don't hold back when enjoying what's freely offered by those who have plenty. The parson has wine from church provisions; the baker has pudding from professional surplus. Indulge without guilt when the host can truly afford it. It's a cheerful rejection of false modesty — a practical reminder that restraint is virtuous when resources are scarce, but unnecessary when abundance is genuinely on offer from someone well-supplied.
Relevance to Benjamin Franklin
Franklin published hundreds of such witty proverbs in Poor Richard's Almanack (1732–1758), his bestselling annual that shaped colonial American values. Personally, Franklin loved good food, wine, and convivial company — especially during his long diplomatic tenure in France, where he became famous for dinner-table charm. This saying mirrors his philosophy: hard work earns pleasure, and social enjoyment is part of a well-lived life, not a moral failing.
The era
In colonial America and Georgian Britain, parsons received tithes and donations, bakers earned steady income from an essential trade — both were relatively prosperous community figures. Puritan-influenced culture encouraged guests to display restraint at others' tables, even when abundance was present. Franklin's era also faced genuine scarcity, making this saying a calibrated point: frugality matters when resources are tight, but performative abstinence at a well-stocked table is mere affectation.
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