The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin - ***

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

"I scarce ever heard or saw the introductory words, "Without vanity I may say," &c., but some vain thing immediately followed."

"There was a salt-marsh that bounded part of the mill-pond, on the edge of which, at high water, we used to stand to fish for minnows. By much trampling, we had made it a mere quagmire. My proposal was to build a wharff there fit for us to stand upon, and I showed my comrades a large heap of stones, which were intended for a new house near the marsh, and which would very well suit our purpose. Accordingly, in the evening, when the workmen were gone, I assembled a number of my play-fellows, and working with them diligently like so many emmets, sometimes two or three to a stone, we brought them all away and built our little wharff. The next morning the workmen were surprised at missing the stones, which were found in our wharff. Inquiry was made after the removers; we were discovered and complained of; several of us were corrected by our fathers; and though I pleaded the usefulness of the work, mine convinced me that nothing was useful which was not honest."
-- this is awesome humor

Ben Franklin was a vegetarian

"the chief ends of conversation are to inform or to be informed, to please or to persuade"
Acting like you know everything makes people want to contradict you

Ben Franklin smuggled himself to New York by pretending he'd gotten a girl pregnant and was running away to avoid a shotgun wedding

A man is sometimes more generous when he has but a little money than when he has plenty, perhaps thro' fear of being thought to have but little.

"His drinking continu'd, about which we sometimes quarrell'd;, for, when a little intoxicated, he was very fractious. Once, in a boat on the Delaware with some other young men, he refused to row in his turn. "I will be row'd home," says he. "We will not row you," says I. "You must, or stay all night on the water," says he, "just as you please." The others said, "Let us row; what signifies it?" But, my mind being soured with his other conduct, I continu'd to refuse. So he swore he would make me row, or throw me overboard; and coming along, stepping on the thwarts, toward me, when he came up and struck at me, I clapped my hand under his crutch, and, rising, pitched him head-foremost into the river. I knew he was a good swimmer, and so was under little concern about him; but before he could get round to lay hold of the boat, we had with a few strokes pull'd her out of his reach; and ever when he drew near the boat, we ask'd if he would row, striking a few strokes to slide her away from him. He was ready to die with vexation, and obstinately would not promise to row. However, seeing him at last beginning to tire, we lifted him in and brought him home dripping wet in the evening."
-- hahaha

He let me into Keith's character; told me there was not the least probability that he had written any letters for me; that no one, who knew him, had the smallest dependence on him; and he laught at the notion of the governor's giving me a letter of credit, having, as he said, no credit to give. . . He wish'd to please everybody; and, having little to give, he gave expectations.

When Ben Franklin loaned people money, he usually got shortchanged. When he fronted money to people, the same happened.

"On occasion, I carried up and down stairs a large form of types in each hand, when others carried but one in both hands. They wondered to see, from this and several instances, that the Water-American, as they called me, was stronger than themselves, who drank strong beer! . . . I thought it a detestable custom; but it was necessary, he suppos'd, to drink strong beer, that he might be strong to labor. I endeavored to convince him that the bodily strength afforded by beer could only be in proportion to the grain or flour of the barley dissolved in the water of which it was made; that there was more flour in a pennyworth of bread; and therefore, if he would eat that with a pint of water, it would give him more strength than a quart of beer."
-- Ben Franklin knew nutrition

-- he talks about the "folly of being on ill terms with those one is to live with continually"

"I should have mentioned before, that, in the autumn of the preceding year, I had form'd most of my ingenious acquaintance into a club of mutual improvement, which we called the JUNTO; we met on Friday evenings."
-- nice

Franklin may have started the first library in North America

From a letter to a friend who urged Franklin to continue work on his autobiography:
"School and other education constantly proceed upon false principles, and show a clumsy apparatus pointed at a false mark; but your apparatus is simple, and the mark a true one; and while parents and young persons are left destitute of other just means of estimating and becoming prepared for a reasonable course in life, your discovery that the thing is in many a man's private power, will be invaluable!"

-- he talks about "the impropriety of presenting one's self as the proposer of any useful project, that might be suppos'd to raise one's reputation in the smallest degree above that of one's neighbors, when one has need of their assistance to accomplish that project", and suggests that status-raising projects should be suggested by others

"Reading was the only amusement I allow'd myself. I spent no time in taverns, games, or frolicks of any kind"
-- later, he was tempted into playing chess by a buddy, but when he saw it was taking up too much of his time he promised to do something productive for every game he lost - he wound up learning Italian because of this

"We have an English proverb that says, "He that would thrive, must ask his wife." It was lucky for me that I had one as much dispos'd to industry and frugality as myself."

I conceiv'd the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection. I wish'd to live without committing any fault at any time; I would conquer all that either natural inclination, custom, or company might lead me into. As I knew, or thought I knew, what was right and wrong, I did not see why I might not always do the one and avoid the other. But I soon found I had undertaken a task of more difficulty than I bad imagined. While my care was employ'd in guarding against one fault, I was often surprised by another; habit took the advantage of inattention; inclination was sometimes too strong for reason. I concluded, at length, that the mere speculative conviction that it was our interest to be completely virtuous, was not sufficient to prevent our slipping; and that the contrary habits must be broken, and good ones acquired and established, before we can have any dependence on a steady, uniform rectitude of conduct.
-- I'm beginning to see that myself.

The 13 Virtues of Benjamin Franklin

1. TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
2. SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
3. ORDER. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
4. RESOLUTION. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
5. FRUGALITY. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
6. INDUSTRY. Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
7. SINCERITY. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
8. JUSTICE. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
9. MODERATION. Avoid extreams; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
10. CLEANLINESS. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.
11. TRANQUILLITY. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
12. CHASTITY. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dulness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.
13. HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

He concentrated specifically on one virtue a week and repeated this cycle continuously, keeping a notebook in which he'd record each day's faults. The notebook also contained the day's schedule.

"I enter'd upon the execution of this plan for self-examination, and continu'd it with occasional intermissions for some time. I was surpris'd to find myself so much fuller of faults than I had imagined; but I had the satisfaction of seeing them diminish."

The story of the speckled axe:
A man brings an axe to a smith, wanting to have its entire surface as bright as its edge. The smith humors him, telling him he'll grind the axe bright if the man will turn the grindwheel; the man huffs and puffs, checking on his work from time to time to time, then finally says he'll take his axe the way it is. "No," said the smith, "keep going, we'll have it bright soon; as yet, it is only speckled."
"Yes," said the man, "but I think I like a speckled axe best."
-- self-improvement is hard, cognitive dissonance easy

"On the whole, tho' I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it, I was, by the endeavour, a better and a happier man than I otherwise should have been if I had not attempted it"

"I purposed writing a little comment on each virtue, in which I would have shown the advantages of possessing it, and the mischiefs attending its opposite vice; and I should have called my book THE ART OF VIRTUE, because it would have shown the means and manner of obtaining virtue, which would have distinguished it from the mere exhortation to be good, that does not instruct and indicate the means, but is like the apostle's man of verbal charity, who only without showing to the naked and hungry how or where they might get clothes or victuals, exhorted them to be fed and clothed.

But it so happened that my intention of writing and publishing this comment was never fulfilled."
-- a shame, but thankfully, the reason it was never fulfilled was because he was too busy living his values to put them down on paper

-- he talks about how once a party attains the purpose it was formed for, each member starts to pursue his own interests

-- "the united party of virtue", a body of virtuous and good men of all nations meant to be governed by virtuous and wise rules. Admission was to start with young single men, who'd keep the existence of the society secret and practice the 13-week virtue cycle. These people would recommend friends for inclusion in the society, which centers around helping its members through advice, assistance, and support in promoting one another's interests, business, and advancement in life.
-- unbelievable

"I was not discourag'd by the seeming magnitude of the undertaking, as I have always thought that one man of tolerable abilities may work great changes, and accomplish great affairs among mankind, if he first forms a good plan, and, cutting off all amusements or other employments that would divert his attention, makes the execution of that same plan his sole study and business."

-- he recommends women take up accounting instead of music or dancing, for sound reasons: not only would a widower not be taken advantage of, but she could also manage her late husband's business

"He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another, than he whom you yourself have obliged."
-- holy shit, I've seen that - the underlying theory is probably a dominance thing

-- he advises to keep your invoices straight

-- a mention of Ben Franklin's inventing the fire department, which was awesome: additionally, they were a social club, meeting once a month to discuss new ways of firefighting

A preacher wanted to build a house for orphans in Georgia. Franklin comments as follows:
"I did not disapprove of the design, but, as Georgia was then destitute of materials and workmen, and it was proposed to send them from Philadelphia at a great expense, I thought it would have been better to have built the house here, and brought the children to it. This I advis'd; but he was resolute in his first project, rejected my counsel, and I therefore refus'd to contribute."
The preacher, however, was a master orator - Franklin was later shamed into contributing far more than the original nothing. A friend had emptied his pockets prior to attending the speech, suspecting a collection was coming: when he heard this oratory he felt such a desire to give that he asked the man next to him if he could borrow some money. Unfortunately, the man was perhaps the only man in the company with the firmness not to be affected; he replied, "At any other time, Friend Hopkinson, I would lend to thee freely; but not now, for thee seems to be out of thy right senses."

"Partnerships often finish in quarrels; but I was happy in this, that mine were all carried on and ended amicably, owing, I think, a good deal to the precaution of having very explicitly settled, in our articles, every thing to be done by or expected from each partner, so that there was nothing to dispute."
-- he recommends that anyone intending to enter a partnership take this precaution

Ben Franklin's strategy for borrowing: go to dinner with the guy and get him drunk
Ben Franklin's strategy for voting: show up on time

-- he talks some shit about how the Quakers couldn't stand firm on their commitment not to support war, and how they gave up their power to effect change in exchange for keeping their principles intact

He invented the four-panel lantern

"after supper, he told us, jokingly, that he much admir'd the idea of Sancho Panza, who, when it was proposed to give him a government, requested it might be a government of blacks, as then, if he could not agree with his people, he might sell them."
-- oh man

General Braddock's last words: "We shall better know how to deal with them another time."

When no one would attend a priest's sermons, Franklin suggested that the sermons be directly before rum giveaways and performed on location.

Franklin matter-of-factly states that his ship was chased by privateers, and comments on how shipbuilding suffers because hullbuilding, rigging, and sailing are all functions performed by different people who don't communicate with each other.