As we get ready to celebrate our nation’s birthday, Independence Day, let’s turn our focus, briefly to one of the men who made it possible, Benjamin Franklin.
By , of Noet:
Of all the influential figures in Colonial America, Benjamin Franklin is perhaps the most memorable. Politician, author, scientist, postmaster, diplomat, inventor—he was the quintessential Renaissance man. He was born to humble origins and worked his way towards becoming one of the most influential men in America—if not the world.
Franklin credits his rise to prominence to a good work ethic and his constant endeavor to improve himself. At the age of 20, realizing that he was becoming trapped by poor decisions, he set out to unlearn his bad habits, replacing them with good ones. He identified 13 virtues and even kept a journal recording his progress. (Curious about what these 13 virtues entailed? Download today’s free book from Noet.com!)
In his Autobiography, Benjamin Franklin admits that he fell short of his virtuous ideals on multiple occasions. However, he writes that his lifelong pursuit of virtue did make him a better, happier, and more successful person.
Throughout his Autobiography, Franklin shares nuggets of wisdom learned through his many successes and failures. These timeless insights remain relevant today.
5 Pieces of Advice from Benjamin Franklin, Renaissance Man
About opportunity: “Human felicity is produc’d not so much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen, as by little advantages that occur every day.”
About personal relationships: “I grew convinc’d that truth, sincerity, and integrity in dealings between man and man were of the utmost importance to the felicity of life.”
About besetting sins: “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 completely overcome it, I should probably be proud of my humility.”
About self-improvement: “If you wish information and improvement from the knowledge of others, and yet at the same time express yourself as firmly fix’d in your present opinions, modest, sensible men, who do not love disputation, will probably leave you undisturbed in the possession of your error.”
Nothing is below his notice! “[I]f you teach a poor young man to shave himself, and keep his razor in order, you may contribute more to the happiness of his life than in giving him a thousand guineas.”
Today only, pick up Harvard Classics, vol. 1: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, The Journal of John Woolman, and the Fruits of Solitude by William Penn (4 authors, published by P. F. Collier & Son, 1909) for free, from Noet.com! Just use coupon code AMERICA at checkout, and spend your 4th of July with some of the people who shaped life in early America. Be sure to hurry—this deal ends tonight at midnight, that’s in just a few hours…
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- Benjamin Franklin, His Autobiography
- The Journal of John Woolman
- Some Fruits of Solitude, in Reflections and Maxims Part I, by William Penn
- More Fruits of Solitude, being the Second Part of Reflections and Maxims, by William Penn
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