Look before, or you'll find yourself behind. — Benjamin Franklin · Smartyfair

Look before, or you'll find yourself behind.

Benjamin Franklin1706–1790 · inventor · 1700s AmericaBenjamin Franklin was an inventor, writer, and one of America's founding fathers who helped draft the Declaration of Independence — and was the only Founding Father to sign all four key documents of independence: the Declaration, the Treaty of Alliance with France, the Treaty of Paris, and the Constitution.34 quotes

Source foundWisdom1700s

In plain words

Think ahead before you act. If you never look where you are going, you end up trailing the people who did.

Look up a word

Where these words come from

How sure this is: 85% sureThese words were traced back to where they first appeared. That source is listed below.
What turned up: Poor Richard's Almanack, Franklin's own annual; the text was read as entry 331 in the Almanack selections scanned at the Internet Archive. Year 1735 per the year-organised listing, not yet confirmed against a 1735 printing.
Work: Poor Richard's Almanack
Occasion: 1735
Sources checked: archive.orgChecked using claude-fable-5, 25 August 2026Read directly: entry 331, printed between 'Little strokes fell great oaks' (330) and 'Lost time is never found again' (332).
en.wikiquote.orgChecked using claude-fable-5, 25 August 2026Year-organised listing places the line in the 1735 almanack; that section carries no citation of its own.

Nothing made from these words yet — Storyfaire is where they get made.

More from Benjamin Franklin

Human felicity is produced not so much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen, as by little advantages that occur every day.

Benjamin Franklin Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.

Benjamin Franklin Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.

Benjamin Franklin Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.

Benjamin Franklin Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.

Benjamin Franklin Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.

Benjamin Franklin

More on wisdom

In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.

Sun Tzu The wound is the place where the light enters you.

Rumi You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.

Marcus Aurelius Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.

Marcus Aurelius An unexamined life is not worth living.

Socrates Wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder.