[T]he more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer . . . [taking] away from before their eyes the greatest of all inducements to industry, frugality, and sobriety, by giving them a dependence of somewhat else than a careful accumulation during youth and health for support in age and sickness.
Benjamin Franklin (1835). “The Works of Benjamin Franklin”, p.221
![[T]he more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer . . . [taking] away from before their eyes the greatest of all inducements to industry, frugality,](http://cdn.quoteddaily.com/images/benjamin-franklin/the-more-public-provisions-were-made-for-the-poor-the-less-they-provided-for-themselves-and-of-course-became-poorer.jpg)