Dr. Benjamin Franklin Quotes in Marie Antoinette (1938)

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Why, this is barbarous! Must the queen's child be born in public?

Count de Mercey: Dr. Franklin, a French monarch belongs to the public. He must be born, he must live and he must die in public.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Oh Mr. Dickinson, I'm surprised at you. You should know that rebellion is always legal in the first person, such as "our rebellion." It is only in the third person - "their rebellion" - that it is illegal.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Please Mr. Dickinson, but must you start banging? How is a man to sleep?

[laughter from Congress]

John Dickinson: Forgive me, Dr. Franklin, but must YOU start speaking? How is a man to stay awake?

[More laughter]

John Dickinson: We'll promise to be quiet - I'm sure everyone prefers that you remained asleep.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: If I'm to hear myself called an Englishman, sir, I assure you I prefer I'd remained asleep.

John Dickinson: What's so terrible about being called an Englishman? The English don't seem to mind.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Nor would I, were I given the full rights of an Englishman. But to call me one without those rights is like calling an ox a bull. He's thankful for the honor, but he'd much rather have restored what's rightfully his.

[laughter]

John Dickinson: When did you first notice they were missing, sir?

[laughter]

[Jefferson's wife visits, and they retire behind closed doors]

John Adams: Good God, you don't mean... they're not going to...? In the middle of the afternoon?

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Not everybody's from Boston, John!

John Dickinson: Fortunately, the people maintain a higher regard for their mother country.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Higher, certainly, than she feels for them. Never was such a valuable possession so stupidly and recklessly managed, than this entire continent by the British crown. Our industry discouraged, our resouces pillaged... worst of all our very character stifled. We've spawned a new race here, Mr. Dikinson. Rougher, simpler; more violent, more enterprising; less refined. We're a new nationality. We require a new nation.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: [to Dr. Hall] What are you staring at? Haven't you ever seen a great man before?

[as they stand on the sidewalk below Jefferson's apartment]

John Adams: This is positively indecent!

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Oh, John, they're young and they're in love.

John Adams: Not them, Franklin. Us! Standing out here, waiting for them to... I mean, what will people think?

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Don't worry, John. The history books will clean it up.

John Adams: It doesn't matter. I won't be in the history books anyway, only you. Franklin did this and Franklin did that and Franklin did some other damn thing. Franklin smote the ground and out sprang George Washington, fully grown and on his horse. Franklin then electrified him with his miraculous lightning rod and the three of them - Franklin, Washington, and the horse - conducted the entire revolution by themselves.

[pause]

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: I like it.

[Adams and Frankline wait expectantly on the street below Jefferson's apartment]

John Adams: [reading a note tossed down from Jefferson] "Dear Mr. Adams, I am taking my wife back to bed. Kindly go away. Your obedient, T. Jefferson." Incredible!

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: [chuckles] You know, perhaps I should have written the Declaration. At my age there's little doubt that the pen is mightier than the sword.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: If Sam Adams can't put up with you, no one can.

John Adams: You're getting at something.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: How can you tell?

Hopkins: Ah, Ben! I want you to see some cards I'd gone and had printed up. Oughta save everybody here a lot of time and effort, considering the epidemic of bad disposition that's been going on around here lately. "Dear Sir, you are without any doubt, a rogue, a rascal, a villain, a thief, a scoundrel, and a mean, dirty, stinking, sniveling, sneaking, pimping, pocket-picking, thrice double-damned no-good son of a bitch." and you sign your name - what do you think?

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: I'll take a dozen, right now.

Rev. John Witherspoon: Dr. Franklin? I'm afraid I must be the bearer of unhappy tidings. Your son, the royal governor of New Jersey, has been arrested, and has been moved to the colony of Connecticut for safekeeping.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Is he unharmed, sir?

Rev. John Witherspoon: When last I heard, he was.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Well then, why the long face? I hear Connecticut's a excellent location. Tell me... why did they arrest the little bastard?

John Adams: Damn it, Franklin, we're at war.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: To defend ourselves, nothing more. We expressed our displeasure, the English moved against us, and we in turn have resisted. Now our fellow Congressmen want to effect a reconciliation. Before it *becomes* a war.

John Adams: Reconciliation, my ass! The people want independence!

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: The people have read Mr. Paine's "Common Sense". I doubt very much the Congress has.

John Adams: Well, that's true.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: John, why don't you give it up? Nobody listens to you; you're obnoxious and disliked.

[Standing awkwardly nearby as Jefferson and Martha embrace]

John Adams: Jefferson, kindly introduce me to your wife.

[pause]

John Adams: She is your wife, isn't she?

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Of course she is. Look at the way they fit.

John Dickinson: Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Lee, Mr. Hopkins, Dr. Franklin, why have you joined this... incendiary little man, this BOSTON radical? This demagogue, this MADMAN?

John Adams: Are you calling me a madman, you, you... you FRIBBLE!

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Easy John.

John Adams: You cool, considerate men. You hang to the rear on every issue so that if we should go under, you'll still remain afloat!

John Dickinson: Are you calling me a coward?

John Adams: Yes... coward!

John Dickinson: Madman!

John Adams: Landlord!

John Dickinson: LAWYER!

[a brawl breaks out]

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: John, really. You talk as if independence were the rule. It's never been done before. No colony has ever broken from the parent stem in the history of the world.

John Adams: Damn it, Franklin! You make us sound treasonous.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Do I? Treason, eh?

[thoughtfully]

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Treason is a charge invented by winners as an excuse for hanging the losers.

John Adams: [scoffs] I have more to do than stand here listening to you quote yourself.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: No, that was a new one.

[John Adams volunteers to visit New Brunswick after a report is given of Washington's soldiers being afflicted with venereal disease and alcoholism]

John Adams: Wake up, Franklin, you're going to New Brunswick!

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: [Half asleep] Like hell I am. What for?

Hopkins: The whoring and the drinking!

[Franklin gets up and marches off right behind Adams]

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Tell me, Mr. Wilson, when you were a judge, how in hell did you ever make a decision?

James Wilson: The decisions I made were based on legality and precedent. But there is no legality here, and certainly no precedent.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: [losing his temper] Because, it's a new idea, you CLOD! We'll be making our own precedent!

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: As you know, the cause that we support has come to a complete standstill. Now, why do you suppose that is?

Richard Henry Lee: Simple! Johnny here is obnoxious and disliked!

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: [to John Dickinson] Be careful, Mr. Dickinson. Those who would give up some of their liberty in order to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

[debating on America's national bird]

John Adams: The eagle.

Thomas Jefferson: The dove.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: The turkey.

John Adams: The eagle.

Thomas Jefferson: The dove.

John Adams: The eagle!

Thomas Jefferson: [considers] The eagle.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: The turkey.

John Adams: The eagle is a majestic bird!

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: The eagle is a scavenger, a thief and coward. A symbol of over ten centuries of European mischief.

John Adams: [confused] The turkey?

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: A truly noble bird. Native American, a source of sustenance to our original settlers, and an incredibly brave fellow who wouldn't flinch from attacking a whole regiment of Englishmen single-handedly! Therefore, the national bird of America is going to be...

John Adams: [insistently] The eagle!

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: The eagle.

[Adams, Franklin, and Jefferson wait outside the Chamber, while Thomson is reading the Declaration to Congress]

John Adams: There's nothing to fear; it's a masterpiece. I'm to be congratulated.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: [surprised] You?

John Adams: [waving at Jefferson] For making him write it.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: If we do not hang together, we shall most assuredly hang separately!

Edward Rutledge: [In the final vote for Independence, Rutledge wants the slavery clause removed from the Declaration, or else he will vote against independence] Well, Mr. Adams?

John Adams: Well, Mr. Rutledge.

Edward Rutledge: [stands] Mr. Adams, you must believe that I *will* do what I promised to do.

John Adams: [stands and approaches him] What is it you want, Rutledge?

Edward Rutledge: Remove the offending passage from your Declaration.

John Adams: If we did that, we would be guilty of what we ourselves are rebelling against.

Edward Rutledge: Nevertheless... remove it, or South Carolina will bury, now and forever, your dream of independence.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: John? I beg you consider what you're doing.

John Adams: Mark me, Franklin... if we give in on this issue, posterity will never forgive us.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: That's probably true, but we won't hear a thing, we'll be long gone. Besides, what would posterity think we were? Demi-gods? We're men, no more no less, trying to get a nation started against greater odds than a more generous God would have allowed. First things first, John. Independence; America. If we don't secure that, what difference will the rest make?

John Adams: [long pause] Jefferson, say something.

Thomas Jefferson: What else is there to do?

John Adams: Well, man, you're the one that wrote it.

Thomas Jefferson: I *wrote* ALL of it, Mr. Adams.

[stands and goes to the Declaration, crosses out the clause]

John Adams: [snatches the paper from Jefferson and takes it to Rutledge] There you are, Rutlege, you have your slavery; little good may it do you, now VOTE, damn you!

Edward Rutledge: [takes the paper] Mr. President, the fair colony of South Carolina...

[looks at Adams]

Edward Rutledge: ... says yea.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: [referring to Martha Jefferson] No wonder the man couldn't write! Who could think of independence being married to her?

[Jefferson is arguing about being appointed to the declaration committee]

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Don't worry, Tom. Oh, let me handle it. I'll get Adams to write it.

Thomas Jefferson: I don't know. He had a funny look on his face.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: He always does.

[Adams and Franklin arrive at Jefferson's apartment to check the status of the Declaration, and hear him playing his violin instead]

John Adams: What is that racket?

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: It's the latest thing from Europe, John. It's called music.

John Adams: I came here expecting to hear a pen scratching, not a bow.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Oh John, you can dance!

John Adams: We still do a few things in Boston, Franklin.

John Adams: Well, Franklin, where's that idiot Lee? Is he back yet? I don't see him.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Softly, John, your voice is hurting my foot.

John Adams: One more day, Franklin. Then I shall propose to Congress. That strutting popinjay was so damn sure of himself. He's had time to come back with a dozen proposals by now!

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Congratulations, John. You just made your greatest contribution to Independence: you kept your flap shut.

John Adams: Franklin, where in God's name have you been?

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Right here, John, being preserved for posterity. Do you like it?

[John walks around to look at the painting]

John Adams: It stinks.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: As ever, the soul of tact.

John Adams: Well, the man's no Botticelli.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: And the subject's no Venus.

John Adams: Franklin, where were you when I needed you? You should have heard what I suffered in there.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Oh, I heard, all right. Along with the rest of Philadelphia. Lord, your voice is piercing, John.

John Adams: Well, I just wish to Heaven my arguments were.

John Adams: Now, will you be a lover or a patriot?

Thomas Jefferson: A lover.

John Adams: No!

Thomas Jefferson: But I burn, Mr. A.

John Adams: [emphasized] So do I, Mr. J!

Thomas Jefferson: [astonished] You?

Roger Sherman: [astonished] You do?

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: [astonished] John!

Robert Livingston: [Pondering] Who'd have thought it?

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: We've no choice, John. The slavery clause has got to go.

John Adams: [stunned] Franklin, what are you saying?

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: It's a luxury we can't afford.

John Adams: [pause, then] 'Luxury?' A half million souls in chains... and Dr. Franklin calls it a 'luxury!' Maybe you should have walked out with the South!

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: [dangerous] You forget yourself sir. I founded the FIRST anti-slavery society on this continent.

John Adams: Oh, don't wave your credentials at me! Maybe it's time you had them renewed!

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: [angrily] The issue here is independence! Maybe you have forgotten that fact, but I have not! How DARE you jeopardize our cause, when we've come so far? These men, no matter how much we may disagree with them, are not ribbon clerks to be ordered about - they are proud, accomplished men, the cream of their colonies. And whether you like them or not, they and the people they represent will be part of this new nation that YOU hope to create. Now, either learn how to live with them, or pack up and go home!

[pause, then]

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: In any case, stop acting like a Boston fishwife.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: What do you think, Doctor? Democracy. What Plato called "A charming form of government, full of variety and disorder. I never knew Plato had been to Philadelphia.

John Adams: Mr. Jefferson? It so happens that the word is UN-alienable, not IN-alienable.

Thomas Jefferson: I'm sorry, Mr. Adams, but "Inalienable" is correct.

John Adams: I happen to be a Harvard graduate, Mr. Jefferson.

Thomas Jefferson: Well, I attended William & Mary.

Hancock: Mr. Jefferson, will you concede to Mr. Adams' request?

Thomas Jefferson: No, sir, I will not.

[grins]

John Adams: Oh, very well, I withdraw it!

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Oh, good for you, John!

John Adams: I'll speak to the printer about it later.

John Adams: God help us.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Oh, he will, John. He will.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Revolutions, Mr. Dickinson, come into this world like bastard children - half improvised and half compromised.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Don't worry, John, the history books will clean it up.

John Adams: Hmm... Well, I'll never appear in the history books anyway. Only you. Franklin did this, and Franklin did that, and Franklin did some other damn thing. Franklin smote the ground and out sprang George Washington - fully grown and on his horse. Franklin then electrified him with his miraculous lightning rod and the three of them, Franklin, Washington and the horse, conducted the entire revolution all by themselves.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: [pondering] I like it.

John Dickinson: [James Wilson is about to vote for independence in defiance of John Dickinson] And is that how new nations are formed? By a nonentity seeking to preserve the anonymity he so richly deserves?

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Revolutions, Mr. Dickinson, come into this world like bastard children... half improvised and half compromised. Our side has provided the compromise. Judge Wilson is now supplying the rest.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: [watching Martha, mesmerized] Oh, John, look at her. Just look at her.

John Adams: Oh, I am.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: She's even more magnificent than I remember. Of course, we didn't see much of her front last night.

Hopkins: [Franklin's gout is acting up] Been living too high again, eh, pappy?

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Oh, Stephen, I only wish King George felt like my big toe, all over.

John Adams: Mark me, Franklin, if we give in on this issue, posterity will never forgive us.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: That's probably true, but we won't hear a thing, we'll be long gone. Besides, what will posterity think we were, demigods? We're men, no more, no less, trying to get a nation started against greater odds than a more generous god would have allowed. First things first, John, Independence. America. If we don't secure that, what difference will the rest make?

John Adams: Franklin, do something, think!

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: I'm thinking, but nothing's coming.

John Dickinson: Fortunately, the people of these colonies maintain a higher regard for their mother country.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Higher, certainly, than she feels for them.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: [Franklin stands up] Never was such a valuable possession so stupidly and recklessly managed, than this entire continent by the British crown. Our industry discouraged, our resouces pillaged, worst of all: our very character stifled. We've spawned a new race here, Mr. Dickinson; rougher, simpler, more violent, more enterprising, less refined. We're a new nationality; we require a new nation.

John Dickinson: Well... that may be... your opinion, Dr. Franklin, but... as I said, the... people feel quite differently.

John Adams: Now, what do you know about the people, Dickinson? You don't speak for the people, you represent only yourself. And that precious status quo you keep imploring the people to preserve for their own good, is nothing more than the eternal preservation of your own property.

John Dickinson: Mr. Adams, you have an annoying talent for making such delightful words as "property" sound quite distasteful. In heaven's name, what's wrong with property? Perhaps you've forgotten that many of us first came to these shores in order to secure rights to property, and that we hold these rights no less dear than than the rights you speak of.

John Adams: Yes; so safe, so fat, so comfortable in Pennsylvania.

John Dickinson: And what is this independence of yours, except the private grievance of Massachusetts? Why is it always Boston that always breaks the king's peace?

John Dickinson: [Adams tries to speak, but is interrupted by Dickinson] My dear Congress, you must not adopt this evil measure! It is the work of the Devil! Leave it where it belongs: in New England!

Roger Sherman: [Sherman stands up] Brother Dickinson, New England has been fighting the Devil for more than 100 years.

John Dickinson: And as of now, *Brother Sherman*, the Devil has been winning hands down.

John Dickinson: [the delegates murmur] Why, at this very moment, he's sitting right here in this Congress. Don't let him deceive you, this proposal is entirely his doing! Oh, it may bear Virginia's name, but it reeks of Adams, Adams, and more Adams. Look at him: ready to lead this continent down the fiery path of total destruction!

John Adams: [Adams stands up] Oh, good God! Why can't you acknowledge what already exists! It has been more than a year since Concord and Lexington! Damn it man, we're at war! Right now!

John Dickinson: *You* may be at war - you, Boston and John Adams, but you will never speak for Pennsylvania!

Richard Henry Lee: [Richard Lee comes riding into the courtyard] You sent for me, Benjamin?

John Adams: Never.

Richard Henry Lee: Helloooo, Johnny!

[Lee stops his horse and dismounts]

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Richard, uh... Johnny and I need some advice.

Richard Henry Lee: If it's mine to give, it's yours, you know that!

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Thank you, Richard, thank you. You know, the cause that we support has come to a complete standstill. Now why do you suppose that is?

Richard Henry Lee: Simple: Johnny here's obnoxious and disliked.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: That's true. Now what's the solution, I wonder?

Richard Henry Lee: Get somebody else in Congress to propose!

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Oh, Richard, that's brilliant! Wasn't that brilliant, John?

John Adams: Brilliant.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Yes, now, the question remains: who can it be? The man we need must belong to a delegation publicly committed to support independence. At the present time, only Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Delaware declared our way.

Richard Henry Lee: Virginia. Don't forget Virginia, Benjy.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Oh Richard, I haven't. How could I? But strictly speaking, Virginia's views on independence are well-known. Your legislature in Williamsburg has never formally authorized its delegation here in Congress to support the cause. Now, if we could think of a Virginian with enough influence to go down there and persuade the House of Burgesses...

Richard Henry Lee: Damn me if I haven't thought of someone!

John Adams, Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Who?

Richard Henry Lee: Me.

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Oh, why didn't I think of that?

Richard Henry Lee: [Lee mounts his horse] I'll leave tonight. Why hell, I'll leave right now, if you like! I'll just stop off in Stratford long enough to refresh the missus, and then straight to the matter! Yes sir, I really have to complement you on your judgment, Johnny. Whoa boy, steady! You've come to the one colony that can get the job done: Virginia!

Richard Henry Lee: [a drumroll and pause is heard before George Washington's name is mentioned] The land that gave us our glorious commander-in-chief... George Washington, will now give the continent its proposal on independence! And when Virginia proposes, the South is bound to follow! And where the South goes, the middle colonies go! Gentlemen, a salute to Virginia, the mother of American independence!

John Adams: Franklin, you've got to do something, think!

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: I'm thinking, but nothing's coming.

Charles Thomson: All those in favor of the resolution on independence as proposed by the colony of Virginia, signify by saying...

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: [Franklin interrupts] Mr. Secretary? Would you please read the resolution again?

South Carolina Delegate: What?

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: I've forgotten it.

[the Congress groans and starts to have a discussion]

Charles Thomson: [Hancock hits the desk with his gavel] A resolve: that these united colonies are, and have a right ought to be, free and independent.

Richard Henry Lee: [starts singing "The Lees of Old Virginia"] My name is Richard Henry Lee, Virginia is my home, My name is Richard Henry Lee, Virginia is my ho-ome, / And may my horses turn to glue, if I can't deliver up to you, the resolution on indepdendency! / For I am F.F.V., the First Family, in the sovereign colony of Virginia, / Yes the F.F.V., the oldest family, in the oldest colony in America, / And may the British burn my land, if I can't deliver to your hand, the resolution on independency! / You see, it's here a Lee, there a Lee, and everywhere a Lee, a Lee,

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Social...

Richard Henry Lee: Lee,

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Political...

Richard Henry Lee: Lee,

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Financial...

Richard Henry Lee: Lee,

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Natural...

Richard Henry Lee: Lee,

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Internal...

Richard Henry Lee: Lee,

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: External...

Richard Henry Lee: Lee,

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Fraternal...

Richard Henry Lee: Lee,

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Eternal...

Richard Henry Lee: Lee!

Richard Henry Lee, Dr. Benjamin Franklin: The F.F.V., the first family, in the sovereign colony of Virginia, /

Richard Henry Lee: And may my wife refuse the bed, if I can't deliver as I said, the resolution on independency!

John Adams: Spoken modest-Lee, God help us!

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Oh, He will, John, He will.

Richard Henry Lee: [continues singing "The Lees of Old Virginia"] They say that God in Heaven is everybody's God,

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Amen!

Richard Henry Lee: [sung] I'll admit that God in Heaven is everybody's God, / But I tell you John, with pride, God leans a little on the side, of the Lees, the Lees of old Virginia! / You see, it's here a Lee, there a Lee, and everywhere a Lee, a Lee, / Here a Lee, there a Lee, and everywhere a Lee - Look out!

Richard Henry Lee: There's Papa Lee, Mama Lee, General Lighthorse Harry Lee, Willie Lee, Jesse Lee,

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: And Richard H.

Richard Henry Lee: That's me!

Richard Henry Lee: [sung] And may my blood stop running blue, if I can't deliver up to you, the resolution on independency! / Yes sir, by God, it's here a Lee, there a Lee, come on boys, join in with me!

Richard Henry Lee, Dr. Benjamin Franklin, John Adams: Here a Lee, there a Lee...

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: When do you leave?

Richard Henry Lee: Immediate-Lee!

Richard Henry Lee, Dr. Benjamin Franklin, John Adams: Here a Lee, there a Lee...

Dr. Benjamin Franklin: When will you return?

Richard Henry Lee: Short-Lee!

Richard Henry Lee, Dr. Benjamin Franklin, John Adams: Here a Lee, there a Lee...

Richard Henry Lee: And I'll come back triumphant-Lee!

Richard Henry Lee, Dr. Benjamin Franklin, John Adams: [Lee backs up near the fountain, then walks away and gets on his horse] Here a Lee, there a Lee, everywhere a Lee, a Lee...

Richard Henry Lee: Forward... hooo!

[Lee rides away on his horse as the song ends]