Letter to Jean-Baptiste Le Roy (13 November 1789)
First published in The Private Correspondence of Benjamin Franklin (1817) p.266 https://books.google.de/books?id=jY8EAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA266&dq=constitution
The Yale Book of Quotations quotes “‘Tis impossible to be sure of any thing but Death and Taxes,” from Christopher Bullock, The Cobler of Preston (1716). The YBQ also quotes “Death and Taxes, they are certain,” from Edward Ward, The Dancing Devils (1724).
Epistles
“But in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. ”
“Nothing in life is sure, my son. Except the promise of death.”
Source: Drenai series, The King Beyond the Gate, Ch. 4
“In a way it made no difference, since nothing is permanent except our illusions.”
Source: Mindswap (1966), Chapter 33 (pp. 156-157)
“Our leaders invent nothing but new taxes, and conquer nothing but the pockets of their subjects.”
Source: The Natural and Artificial Right of Property Contrasted (1832), p. 14
Source: The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (1967), Chapter V, TRANSFORMATION, p. 218.
“Nothing is permanent in this wicked world, not even our troubles.”
“Women can do nothing that has permanence.”
The Miracles of Anti-Christ (1899)
Between Hell and Reason (1945)
Context: Even before the bomb, one did not breathe too easily in this tortured world. Now we are given a new source of anguish; it has all the promise of being our greatest anguish ever. There can be no doubt that humanity is being offered its last chance. Perhaps this is an occasion for the newspapers to print a special edition. More likely, it should be cause for a certain amount of reflection and a great deal of silence.
