In This World Nothing Can Be

Franklin wrote this line in a letter to French scientist Jean-Baptiste Le Roy on November 13, 1789, just months after the United States Constitution had been ratified. He was 83 years old and in poor health when he penned it, reflecting wryly on life's certainties. The observation was not entirely original — similar formulations appeared in earlier English literature — but Franklin's phrasing became the definitive version and is inseparable from his legacy.