- Benjamin Franklin's Thirteen Virtues
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- 1. TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
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- 2. SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or
yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
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- 3. ORDER. Let all your things have their places; let
each part of your business have its time.
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- 4. RESOLUTION. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform
without fail what you resolve.
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- 5. FRUGALITY. Make no expense but to do good to others
or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
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- 6. INDUSTRY. Lose no time; be always employ'd in something
useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
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- 7. SINCERITY. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently
and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
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- 8. JUSTICE. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting
the benefits that are your duty.
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- 9. MODERATION. Avoid extreams; forbear resenting injuries
so much as you think they deserve.
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- 10. CLEANLINESS. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths,
or habitation.
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- 11.TRANQUILLITY. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents
common or unavoidable.
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- 12. CHASTITY. Rarely use venery (sexual intercourse)
but for health or offspring, never to dulness, weakness, or the injury
of your own or another's peace or reputation.
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- 13. HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.
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- It may be well my posterity should be informed that to
this little artifice, with the blessing of God, their ancestor ow'd the
constant felicity of his life, down to his 79th year, in which this is
written.
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- What reverses may attend the remainder is in the hand
of Providence; but, if they arrive, the reflection on past happiness enjoy'd
ought to help his bearing them with more resignation.
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- To Temperance he ascribes his long-continued health,
and what is still left to him of a good constitution; to Industry and Frugality,
the early easiness of his circumstances and acquisition of his fortune,
with all that knowledge that enabled him to be a useful citizen, and obtained
for him some degree of reputation among the learned; to Sincerity and Justice,
the confidence of his country, and the honorable employs it conferred upon
him; and to the joint influence of the whole mass of the virtues, even
in the imperfect state he was able to acquire them, all that evenness of
temper, and that cheerfulness in conversation, which makes his company
still sought for, and agreeable even to his younger acquaintance. I hope,
therefore, that some of my descendants may follow the example and reap
the benefit.
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- In this piece it was my design to have endeavored to
convince young persons that no qualities were so likely to make a poor
man's fortune as those of probity and integrity.
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- My list of virtues contain'd at first but twelve; but
a Quaker friend having kindly informed me that I was generally thought
proud; that my pride show'd itself frequently in conversation; that I was
not content with being in the right when discussing any point, but was
overbearing, and rather insolent, of which he convinc'd me by mentioning
several instances; I determined endeavouring to cure myself, if I could,
of this vice or folly among the rest, and I added Humility to my list).
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- In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural
passions so hard to subdue as pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat
it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive,
and will every now and then peep out and show itself; you will see it,
perhaps, often in this history; for, even if I could conceive that I had
compleatly overcome it, I should probably be proud of my humility. [written
at Passy, 1741]
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- _____
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- Benjamin Franklin 1706--1790
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- Printer, writer, scientist, statesman; born in Boston,
Mass. The 15th child in his family, he went to work at age ten in his father's
chandlery, then in a brother's printing house.
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- Discovered electricity, invented the fuel-efficient Franklin
Stove, and authored the still popular Poor Richard's Almanac with sayings
espousing industry, frugality, and other homely virtues. For excerpts from
the Almanac. The Almanac attracted a large readership and made Franklin's
name a household word. He also offered wise leadership as a member of the
continental Congress and ambassador to France during a young land's tumultuous
drive toward freedom.
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- Ambitious and intent on self-improvement, he became a
skilled printer while reading widely and developing a writing style. In
1723, at age 17, he left for Philadelphia; starting with no capital, he
advanced rapidly and, after a brief stint as a printer in London, had by
1730 become sole owner of a business that included the Pennsylvania Gazette.
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- He founded a discussion group called the Junta (1727)
that evolved into the American Philosophical Association and helped establish
the first U.S. lending library (1731), as well as an academy (1751) that
evolved into the University of Pennsylvania.
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- He served as a city deputy postmaster (1737--53); subsequently,
as joint deputy postmaster for the colonies (1753--74), he improved postal
efficiency and made the postal service solvent. In 1748, his business having
expanded and flourished, Franklin retired, turning it over to his foreman
in return for a regular stipend, thus gaining more time for scientific
pursuits.
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- He conducted a series of experiments, described in his
Experiments and Observations on Electricity (1751--53), which brought him
international recognition as a scientist. In 1752 he conducted his famous
kite experiment, demonstrating that lightning is an electrical discharge,
and he announced his invention of the lightning rod. A later invention
for which Franklin is well-known was the bifocal lens (1760).
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- Later in 1754, Franklin represented Pennsylvania at the
Albany Congress, called in response to the French and Indian Wars. From
1757 to 1762 and from 1764 to 1775, he pursued diplomatic activities in
England, obtaining permission for Pennsylvania to tax the estates of its
proprietors, securing repeal of the Stamp Act, and representing the interests
of several colonies. He associated with eminent Britons and wrote political
satires and pamphlets on public affairs. In 1776 he went to France to help
negotiate treaties of commerce and alliance, signed in 1778. Lionized there,
he remained as plenipotentiary, won financial aid for the American Revolution,
and then helped negotiate a peace treaty with Great Britain, signed in
Paris in 1783. Returning to the U.S.A. in 1785, he was a conciliating presence
at the Constitutional Convention (1787). In his last years he corresponded
widely, received many visitors, and invented a device for lifting books
from high shelves. His posthumously published Autobiography, written for
his son William Franklin, became a classic and reprints are available.
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- "I haven't failed, I've found 10,000 ways that don't
work." -- Ben Franklin
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