Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706 in Boston Massachusetts. He was the eighth child among the ten children of Josiah and Abiah Franklin. His father already had seven children from his first marriage so, Benjamin knew a lot about growing up in a ‘big’ family with nine brothers and seven sisters !
In Puritan times, to be born on a Sunday was considered as a sign of great sin. Puritans believed that children born on the ‘Sabbath Day’ were conceived on this sacred day. As a result Benjamin’s birth on Sunday had the potential to cause the young Franklin ignominious shame for life to remove suspicion and eschew the scandal of having a “Child of the Devil’, Josiah, Benjamin’s father, quickly baptized the baby Franklin on the same day of his birth.
His father worked as a candle and soap maker and made sure that each of his sons learnt a trade. Benjamin’s father had plans for him to enter the clergy, so he sent him to the grammar school. At that time he was only eight. He quickly learned to read and write but he did not do well in arithmetic. Even as a child, he had a predilection for natural phenomena. As he grew elder, he began to experiment and test his own theories, giving rise to his success as an inventor and scientist.
His father changed his mind and took him out of the Grammar School. Benjamin began to work in his father’s candle and soap business, but the young boy was unhappy.
APPRENTICE OF BROTHER
Having already seen one son leave to serve on a ship, his father Josiah sought to discourage Benjamin’s inclination for the sea, getting him apprenticed to his brother instead
Inspired by his namesake uncle Benjamin, young boy composed historical ballads that were printed by his brother James in his fledgling printing shop. The poems sold very well.
He attributed his love of independence to the many years he spent as an apprentice to his autocratic brother James. Franklin wrote that his brother’s “harsh and tyrannical treatment of me might be a means of impressing me with that aversion to arbitrary power that has stuck to me through my whole life.”
‘SILENCE DOGWOOD’
As a young boy, Benjamin wrote his name in a fancy manner. However, once a venerable old man saw the pompous signature and replied, “What fool’s name is this ?” After that incident, he autographed in a plain and efficient style.
Even as a boy, Benjamin loved to read. Once, he read a book about swimming and quickly taught himself the basic swimming strokes. He himself built wooden paddles for his hands and feet to help him swim faster. He also used a kite in the breeze to pull him along, making it easier to swim. Later, he read a book about eating meat and decided to try being a vegetarian. He figured it was healthier, also that he could save money to buy more books.
He also liked to write. However, no one was interested in what a young boy had to say. So he wrote secretly, using the name ‘Silence Dogwood’, and slipped his stories under the door of his brother’s print shop. His brother published the stories in his newspaper and everyone loved to read them. Later, when James found out who ‘Silence Dogwood’ really was, he was angry with Benjamin and their relationship was never the same.
FIRST VOYAGE
When Franklin first arrived in Philadelphia, in 1723, he had nothing but a Dutch shilling and three cents to his name. In many respects, he had severed his ties with his family back in Boston.
While working in a print shop during his voyage to England, Franklin consumed large amounts of water, even though his European counterparts primarily drank beer. Thus, Franklin earned the nickname, “Water American”.
During the American Revolution, Benjamin’s own illegitimate son, William, refused to join the patriotic rebellion against royal authority. The elder Franklin had in fact used his influence to make his son royal governor of New Jersey in 1767. However, William was unwilling to repay his father’s generosity. Benjamin later wrote, “Nothing ever affected me with such keen sensations.”
MARITAL KNOT
Once Franklin’s friend Keimer invited him and two women friends to dine, it brought too soon upon table, he could not resist the temptation, and ate the whole before the guests came. Franklin was courting Miss Deborah Read then. He had a great respect and affection for her, and Read had the same feelings for him.
Franklin was about to take a long voyage and they were both very young, only a little above eighteen. So it was thought most prudent by Read’s mother to prevent their going too far. This affair having turned his thoughts to marriage. A friendly correspondence as neighbors and old acquaintances had continued between Franklin and Read’s family, who all had a regard for him from the time of his first lodging in their house.
He was often invited there and consulted in their affairs. The mutual affection was revived and over all the difficulties, he took her as his wife on September 1, 1730. None of the inconveniences happened that they had apprehended. Read proved a good and faithful helpmate and assisted Franklin in everything he did.
ON THE WAY TO FAME
Franklin and his two close friends, Peter Collinson and Phillip Syng, took great interests in science and immediately began their own studies. His home on Market Street was forever cluttered with apparatus ranging from a salt cellar to the gold on the binding of a book.
Even though the three worked individually, they were always in communication. In 1749, Franklin made for the first time in history, an electrical battery. He continued to experiment and devise electrical devices. It was his experiments with lightening however, that proved to be definitive in his research and studies in electricity.
Afterwards he further experimented with a kite attached with a key and went out into a storm, in order to test his hypothesis that lightening and electricity are manifestations of the same natural force. He was successful. His inventions of the lightening rod as well as his study of weather patterns proved his depth of knowledge and soon led to would acclaim.
HIS BELIEFS
Commerce among nations, as well as between private persons, should be fair and equitable, by equivalent exchanges and mutual supplies. Taking unfair advantages of a neighbor’s necessities tho’ attended with temporary success, always breeds bad blood.
The rapid progress true science now makes occasions my regretting sometimes that I was born so soon. It is impossible to imagine the height to which may be carried, in a thousand years, the power of man over matter. We may perhaps learn to deprive large masses of their gravity, and give them absolute levity, for the sake of easy transport. Agriculture may diminish its labor and double its produce; all diseases may by sure means be prevented or cured, not expecting even that old age, and our lives lengthened even beyond the antediluvian standard.
Righteousness, or justice is, undoubtedly of all the virtues, the surest foundation on which to create and establish a new state. But there are two nobler virtues, industry and frugality, which tend more to increase the wealth, power and grandeur of the Community, than all the others without them.
A HISTORICAL TREATY
At the age of 70, Franklin was the eldest delegate to sign the Declaration of Independence on July 2, 1776.
John Paul Jones, who became the premier American naval hero by raiding British merchant and military ships, named his vessel ‘Bonhamme Richard’, in honor of Franklin’s Doer Richard’s Almanack.
Jean Antonie Houden, the legendary French sculptor, created a bust of Benjamin in 1778. The sculpture was so realistic and won such acclaim that Benjamin invited Houden to come to the United States and execute a similar bust of George Washington.
WITTY & HUMOROUS MOMENTS
Franklin, was hailed as an outstanding contributor in the fields of science, politics, and literature, was also renowned for his witty and humorous perspective on life. Here are some situations portraying the statesman’s wit and humor :
• Once, a neighbor came to Franklin seeking advice. The neighbor wondered how thieves could be prevented from swiping beer contained in a keg he kept in his backyard. The innovative inventor had a simple solution: “Put a cask of Madeira beside it, “was his witty reply.
• Benjamin Franklin’s experiments with electricity brought him fame both in Philadelphia and around the world. A crowd of gawkers once gathered outside his home, hoping to catch a glimpse of the scientist’s miraculous discoveries. The shrewd Philadelphian decided to rid himself of the distraction by sending a jolting, but harmless, electrical charge through the iron-wrought fence surrounding his house. The curiosity seekers vanished quickly, shaking their heads in disbelief.
• In the Pennsylvania Gazzette, a citizen asked editor Franklin the following question: “If A found out that his neighbor B was sleeping with his wife, was he justified in telling B’s wife, and persuading her to seek a little revenge with A?”. The editor’s response: “If A kicks me, should I kick him again?”
• Thomas Coombe, Jr., an old friend of Dr. Franklin, visited the Franklin residence in Philadelphia frequently. Arriving one day, Thomas discovered Benjamin wearing only a single cap, rather than his usual double one that he wore to keep his head warm. When Thomas inquired why, Franklin responded that his “Head grew warm”. In jest, Thomas replied, “Dr. Franklin was never accounted hot-headed. “Franklin, with his sharp wit, insisted on having the last word and said, “Aye but nature seems to think so, for she is taking all the hair off my head.”
• While serving as an American representative in France during the American Revolution, Franklin was told that General Howe, the British commanding officer, had captured Philadelphia. However, Franklin, aware that maintaining control of the city would be a great burden, “I beg your pardon sir, Philadelphia has taken Howe.”
‘FRANKLIN’ TOWN & ‘FIRST’ LIBRARY
In the 1780’s, part of Wrentham, Massachusetts split off from Wrentham. As a tradition this group of rural Massachusetts farmers used their church as the cultural, social, religious and governmental center of the town. Unfortunately, they had no bell in the church. There was no way to summon the farmers for services or for emergencies such as fire. As a result, they came up with a clever plan. They named their new town “Franklin”, and wrote a letter to Benjamin Franklin asking him to donate a bell. However, Dr. Franklin sent the good farmers a crate of books instead, and suggested they start a library. They did. It was the oldest public library in the United States, which is still operating.
THE NATION MOURNS
In his old age, Benjamin retired from business and public service and wanted to spend his time reading and studying.
After the death of his wife Deborah, Franklin lived with his daughter Sarah’s family. He died peacefully in his sleep on April 17, 1790 at the age of 84.
His funeral in Philadelphia attracted the largest crowd of mourners ever known. An estimated 20,000 people crowded around the Christ Church Burial Ground. He was buried there beside his wife Deborah Read Rogers Franklin, who had died sixteen years before him. With his death, America lost one of its most loyal citizens.
Jan. 17, 1706 He was born in Boston, U.S.A. His father was Josiah Franklin, a candle-maker, and mother Abiah.
1714
He joined the Grammar School.
1716 He became his father’s assistant in the tallow-chandlery business.
1718 He worked as an apprentice in his brother James printing business.
1721 He started writing ballads and peddled them to ‘New England Courant’ and temporarily edited that paper.
1723 He broke his indenture and moved to Philadelphia obtaining employment in Keimer’s printing office.
1724 He was persuaded by Governor Keith to establish himself independently.
He went to London to buy types, and started at his trade there, and published "Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain."
1726
He returned to Philadelphia. After serving as a clerk in a dry goods store, he became a manager of Keimer’s printing – house.
1727 He founded the Junto, or "Leather Apron" club.
1728 With Hugh Meredith, he opened a printing office.
1729 He became proprietor and editor of the "Pennsylvania Gazette" and published anonymously, "Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency".
SEPT. 1, 1730
He married Deborah Read.
1731 He founded the Philadelphia Library.
1732 He published the first number of "Poor Richard’s Almanac" under the pseudonym continuously maintained "Richard Saunders". The Almanac, to contain his witty and worldly-wise sayings for twenty-five years.
1735 He began to learn French, Italian, Spanish, and Latin languages.
1736 He was selected as a clerk of the General Assembly. He formed the Union Fire Company of Philadelphia.
1737 He was elected to the Assembly and appointed as the Deputy Post-master General.
1742 He invented the open stove which is known as "Franklin" Stove.
1743 He proposed a plan for an Academy.
1744 He established the American Philosophical Society.
1746 He published a pamphlet, "Plain Truth", on the necessity of disciplined defense. He formed a military company and also started working on electrical experiments.
1748 He sold his printing business. He was appointed on the Commission of the Peace. He was chosen to the Common Council, and to the Assembly.
1749 Earlier proposed plan for an Academy was adopted by the University of Pennsylvania. He was appointed as a Commissioner to trade with the Indians.
1751 He helped in founding a hospital.
1752 He conducted experiments with a kite and discovered that lightening is an electrical discharge.
1753 He was awarded the Copley Medal for the 1752 discovery. He was elected a Member of the Royal Society. He received the degree of M.A. from Yale and Harvard Universities. He was appointed as a Joint Postmaster General.
1754 He was appointed one of the Commissioners from Pennsylvania to the Colonial Congress at Albany and proposed a plan for the union of the colonies.
1755 He pledged his personal property in order that supplies may be raised for Braddock’s army, obtained a grant from the Assembly in aid of the Crown point expedition. He was appointed a Colonel, and was actively involved.
1757 He introduced a bill in the Assembly for paving the streets of Philadelphia. He published his famous " Way to Wealth". He went to England to plead the cause of the Assembly against the Proprietors. He remained an agent for Pennsylvania and enjoyed the friendship of the scientific and literary men of the kingdom.
1760 By a compromise and a decision of the Privy Council, he secured to contribute to public revenue by obligation of proprietary estates.
1762 He received the degree of LL.D. from Oxford and Edinburgh Universities. He returned to America.
1763 He made a five months tour of the northern colonies for purpose of inspecting the post-offices.
1764 After defeating the Penn faction in the re-election to the Assembly, he was sent to England as an agent of Pennsylvania.
1765 He endeavored to prevent the passage of the Stamp Act.
1766 He was examined before the House of Commons related to the passage of the Stamp Act.
He was appointed as an agent of Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Georgia. He visited Gottingen University.
1767 He traveled to France and was presented in court.
1769 Franklin procured a telescope for Harvard College.
1772 He was elected as Associate Estranger of the French Academy.
1774 He was dismissed from the office of Postmaster–General. He influenced Thomas Paine to immigrate to America.
1775 He returned to America. He was selected as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress and, placed on the committee of secret correspondence. He was appointed as one of the commissioners to secure the cooperation of Canada.
1776 He was placed on the committee to draft a ‘Declaration of Independence’. He was selected as a president of the Constitutional Committee of Pennsylvania, and sent to France as an agent of the colonies.
1778 He concluded treaties of defensive alliance, and of amity and commerce, which were approved by court.
1779 He was appointed as a Minister, the Plenipotentiary to France.
1780 He appointed Paul Jones as a commander of the ‘Alliance’.
1782 He signed preliminary articles of peace.
1783 He signed the definite treaty of peace.
1785 Returned to America, and was selected as the president of Pennsylvania.
1786 He was re-elected for the same post.
1787 He was sent as a delegate to the convention for framing the Federal Constitution.
1788 He withdrew himself from public life.
APRIL 17, 1790 He died and was buried in the churchyard at fifth Arch Streets, Philadelphia.
Benjamin Franklin’s work in the discovery and applications of electricity has proved instrumental to both technology and civilization. Throughout his life, the friendships he made and the knowledge he sought utilized his own imagination, practicality, and experimentation. His enthusiasm and bold curiosity produced remarkable results, has placed him first among the scientific achievers of eighteenth-century America.
HIS INVENTIONS & DISCOVERIES
BIFOCALS
Franklin proved the old adage "Necessity is the Mother of Invention" with his creation of the bifocal lens. Unfortunate enough to be both myopic (near-sighted) and hyper optic (far-sighted), Franklin was frustrated that he had to constantly switch his pairs of glasses, depending on what he was trying to focus on. He longed for the ability to see both near and far away things with a single frame. In order to accomplish this, Benjamin had the lenses of two pairs of spectacles cut in half and put half of each lens in one frame. Today, millions of individuals take advantage of Franklin's bifocals, giving people a convenient way in which to correct their vision for both distance and reading.
FRANKLIN STOVE
During Franklin's times in colonial America, the severe winters would make it extremely cold in people's houses. Not only was this a result of poor insulation, but homes back then were built purely of wood. Many colonists counteracted this problem of cold spells by building open fires inside. Indeed, this was tremendously dangerous and harmful to the welfare of both families and their dwellings. Franklin rectified this unsafe method of heating by inventing the iron furnace stove, also know as the Franklin Stove. The appliance allowed people to warm their homes, it was safe and it consumed lesser fuel.
CATHETER
A catheter is a thin and flexible tube inserted into a bodily passage or cavity in order to allow fluids to pass into or out of it, to distend (expand) it, or to convey diagnostic or other instruments through it. Of course, Franklin's invention of the device in December, 1752, was a much cruder version of today's device. In fact, his work was actually a modification on the work of a European catheter. Nevertheless, it remains the first one of its type created in America. The mechanism was constructed by the scientist for his brother John, who was extremely ill at the time.
ARMONICA
From 1757 to 1766, Benjamin Franklin served as a delegate for colonial America. Consequently, he spent a great deal of time travelling in both London and Paris, European centers of political activity. During this period, it was quite popular and entertaining for amateur musicians to perform on sets of singing glasses. Franklin attended one of these concerts held by Richard Puckridge, an amateur, and was immediately bedazzled by the utopian and ethereal beauty of the sound. Immediately, he went to work on refining the instrument and he soon conceived a way of bringing it to professional fame.
Franklin used wine glasses of varying sizes to create his Armonica. First, he removed the stems and drilled through the bottoms of the glasses. After corking the holes he had made, he mounted the glasses (in order of increasing size) onto a horizontal spindle. The spindle was rotated over a foot treadle at a rapid speed. Musicians played the instrument by touching moistened fingers to the edges of the rotating glasses. High-pitched sounds that emanated were due to the vibrations from within the air column of the glasses.
ODOMETER
Believe it or not, the odometer dates all the way back to Franklin's times, for he was keen enough to foresee its usefulness in daily life. As postmaster, Benjamin was assigned the task of mapping mail routes for the local towns. He went out riding on this carriage to measure the routes and soon realized how important it was to keep track of the distances. Consequently, he invented a simple odometer attached to his carriage. The instrument was designed to measure distances by counting the rotations of the axles of the wagon. Interestingly, the device was calibrated to trigger a bell every twenty rods (1 rod =25.5 yards).
In Long Island, NY, historians speculate that Franklin used his odometer to establish mile markers along his postal route.
LIGHTNING ROD
Benjamin Franklin's work in the field of electricity has proven vital to both society and the sciences. In his discoveries of electricity and lightning, the scientist at once realized the awesome power and current contained in each lightning bolt. In order to protect buildings and homes, he invented a lightning rod, comprised of iron, which would be mounted at the top of the edifice. Subsequently, it would attract the lightning current and immediately channel it to the ground, thereby rendering it harmless. Scientists during Franklin's time praised the invention for its practicality and dramatic purpose.
• Daylight Savings Time : While in Paris, Franklin was the first to propose the idea of Daylight Savings Time. By increasing the available amount of daylight during the summer and decreasing it during the winter season, Franklin hoped to provide the world with a greater opportunity of doing productive work during the summer months, as opposed to the cold and dreary days of winter.
•Electricity
•Fire Department : In 1736, Benjamin Franklin started the first fire department ever located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, it was called the Union Fire Company.
•Fire Insurance Company : In 1752, Franklin was responsible for setting up America's first fire insurance company.
•Gulf Stream : Franklin was one of the first people to chart the Gulf Stream. Since he spent so much time sailing back and forth from America to Europe as a diplomat, he was able to measure different temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean and chart the Stream in detail.
•Vitamin C : Before this nutrient had even been discovered, Franklin encouraged the eating of citrus fruits, including oranges, limes, and grapefruits. Recognizing the healthy advantages of fruit, wise Benjamin coined the phrase "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." He touted the advantages of fruit in helping to maintain the gums and skin. Only in 1795, years after Franklin's recommendations, did the British navy mandate a lime in the daily diet of British seamen. Interestingly, at that point, "limey" became a popular term for an Englishman. The decision to use the lime was instrumental in reducing instances of scurvy among naval crews and illustrates Franklin's foresight.
• Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.
• God helps those who help themselves.
• Little strokes fell great oaks.
• Write your injuries in dust, your benefits in marble.
• An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
• God grant that not only the love of liberty but a thorough knowledge of the rights of man may pervade all the nations of the earth, so that a philosopher may set his foot anywhere on its surface and say : This is my country !
• The things which hurt, instruct.
• Employ thy time well, if thou meanest to gain leisure.
• Lying rides upon debt's back.
• He that falls in love with himself will have no rivals.
• An undutiful daughter will prove an unmanageable wife.
• When men and women die, as poets sung, his heart's the last part moves, her last, the tongue.
• The use of money is all the advantage there is in having money.
• Necessity never made a good bargain.
• Plough deep while sluggards sleep.
• There never was a good war nor a bad peace.
• He's the best physician that knows the worthlessness of the most medicines.
• Many a man thinks he is buying pleasure, when he is really selling himself to it.
• Work as if you were to live a hundred years. Pray as if you were to die tomorrow.
• Idleness and pride tax with a heavier hand than kings and governments.
• Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.
• Glass, china, and reputation are easily cracked, and never mended well.
• He that's secure is not safe.
• He who falls in love with himself will have no rivals.
• I am about courting a girl I have had but little acquaintance with. How shall I come to a knowledge of her faults, and whether she has the virtues I imagine she has ? Answer. Commend her among her female acquaintances.
• We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.
• A spoonful of honey will catch more flies than a gallon of vinegar.
• Human felicity is produced not as much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen as by little advantages that occur every day.
• If time be of all things the most precious, wasting time must be the greatest prodigality.
• Most people dislike vanity in others, whatever share they have of it themselves; but I give it fair quarter, wherever I meet with it, being persuaded that it is often productive of good to the possessor, and to others who are within his sphere of action : and therefore, in many cases, it would not be altogether absurd if a man were to thank God for his vanity among the other comforts of life.
• Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of filling a vacuum, it makes one.
• He does not possess wealth that allows it to possess him.
• The doors of wisdom are never shut.
• Never take a wife till thou hast a house (and a fire) to put her in.
• The only thing more expensive than education is ignorance.
• Life’s Tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.
• Be in general virtuous, and you will be happy.
• Here you would know and enjoy what posterity will say of Washington. For a thousand leagues have nearly the same effect with a thousand years.
• I cannot conceive otherwise than that He, the Infinite Father, expects or requires no worship or praise from us, but that he is even infinitely above it.
• I think vital religion has always suffered when orthodoxy is more regarded than virtue. The scriptures assure me that at the last day we shall not be examined on what we thought but what we did.
• I wish it (Christianity) were more productive of good works ... I mean real good works ... not holy-day keeping, sermon-hearing ... or making long prayers, filled with flatteries and compliments despised by wise men, and much less capable of pleasing the Deity.
• I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country; he is a bird of bad moral character; like those among men who live by sharking and robbing, he is generally poor, and often very lousy. The turkey is a much more respectable bird, and a true original native of America.
• Idleness and pride tax with a heavier hand than kings and parliaments. If we can get rid of the former, we may easily bear the latter.
• Like a man travelling in foggy weather, those at some distance before him on the road he sees wrapped up in the fog, as well as those behind him, and also the people in the fields on each side, but near him all appears clear, though in truth he is as much in the fog as any of them.
• Never contradict anybody.
• No nation was ever ruined by trade.
• Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.
• Remember, that time is money.
• The great secret of succeeding in conversation is to admire little, to hear much; always to distrust our own reason, and sometimes that of our friends; never to pretend to wit, but to make that of others appear as much as possibly we can; to hearken to what is said and to answer to the purpose.
• They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
• We must indeed all hang together, or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.
• You and I were long friends : you are now my enemy, and I am yours.
• A countryman between two lawyers is like a fish between two cats.
• A little neglect may breed mischief, ...for want of a nail, the shoe was lost; for want of a
shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the rider was lost.
• A man may, if he knows not how to save as he gets, keep his nose to the grindstone.
• A penny saved is a penny earned.
• Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do.
• At twenty years of age, the will reigns; at thirty, the wife; and at forty, the judgment.
• Diligence is the Mother of good luck.
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Dost thou love life ? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of.
• Early morning hath gold in its mouth.
• Energy and persistence conquer all things.
• Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other.
• Fish and visitors smell in three days.
• Genius without education is like silver in the mine.
• Haste makes waste.
• Having been poor is no shame, but being ashamed of it, is.
• He that blows the coals in quarrels that he has nothing to do with, has no right to complain if
the sparks fly in his face.
• He that goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing.
• He that lives upon hope will die fasting.
• He who multiplies riches multiplies cares.
• Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What's a sundial in the shade.
• If Jack's in love, he's no judge of Jill's beauty.
• If you would persuade, you must appeal to interest rather than intellect.
• It is hard for an empty bag to stand upright.
• Kill no more pigeons than you can eat.
• Little strokes fell great oaks.
• Many have been ruined by buying good pennyworths.
• Necessity never made a good bargain.
• Never confuse motion with action.
• Never leave that till to-morrow which you can do to-day.
• Read much, but not many books.
• Some are weather-wise, some are otherwise.
• The sleeping fox catches no poultry.
• They that will not be counseled, cannot be helped. If you do not hear reason she will rap you on
the knuckles.
• There is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more easily and frequently fall
than that of defrauding the government.
• Think of these things, whence you came, where you are going, and to whom you must account.
• Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.
• To find out a girl's faults, praise her to her girl friends.
• To lengthen thy life, lessen thy meals.
• Vessels large may venture more, but little boats should keep near shore.
• Well done is better than well said.
• Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame.
• Where sense is wanting, everything is wanting.
• Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools, that don't have brains enough to be honest.
• What has become clear to you since we last met ?
• I have met the enemy, and it is the eyes of other people.
• Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship.
• The way to see by Faith is to shut the Eye of Reason.
• He that raises a large family does, indeed, while he lives to observe them, stand a broader mark
for sorrow; but then he stands a broader mark for pleasure too.
• He that waits upon fortune, is never sure of a dinner.
• Most people return small favors, acknowledge medium ones and repay greater ones – with ingratitude.
• Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones.
• There are two ways of being happy: We must either diminish our wants or augment our means – either may do – the result is the same and it is for each man to decide for himself and to do that which happens to be easier.
• The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of a wise man is in his heart.
• Trouble springs from idleness, and grievous toil from needless ease.
• Being ignorant is not so much a shame as being unwilling to learn.
• Up, sluggard, and waste not life; in the grave will be sleeping enough.
• We must all hang together or most assuredly we will all hang separately.
• Old boys have their playthings as well as young ones, the difference is only in the price.
• Believe none of what you hear and half of what you see.
• Those disputing, contradicting, and confuting people are generally unfortunate in their affairs. They get victory, sometimes, but they never get good will, which would be of more use to them.
• There seem to be but three ways for a nation to acquire wealth. The first is by war, as the Romans did, in plundering their conquered neighbors. This is robbery. The second by commerce, which is generally cheating. The third by agriculture, the only honest way, wherein man receives a real increase of the seed thrown into the ground, in a kind of continual miracle, wrought by the hand of God in his favor, as a reward for his innocent life and his virtuous industry.
• Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.
• Be studious in your profession, and you will be learned. Be industrious and frugal, and you will be rich. Be sober and temperate, and you will be healthy. Be in general virtuous, and you will be happy. At least you will, by such conduct, stand the best chance for such consequences.
• Furnished as all Europe now is with Academies of Science, with nice instruments and the spirit of experiment, the progress of human knowledge will be rapid and discoveries made of which we have at present no conception. I begin to be almost sorry I was born so soon, since I cannot have the happiness of knowing what will be known a hundred years hence.
• We are more thoroughly an enlightened people, with respect to our political interests, than perhaps any other under heaven. Every man among us reads, and is so easy in his circumstances as to have leisure for conversations of improvement and for acquiring information.
• That which resembles most living one's life over again, seems to be to recall all the circumstances of it; and, to render this remembrance more durable, to record them in writing.
• If 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. This sum may be soon spent, the regret only remaining of having foolishly consumed it; but in the other case, he escapes the frequent vexation of waiting for barbers, and of their sometimes dirty fingers, offensive breaths, and dull razors.
• 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, make the execution of that same plan his sole study and business.
• What vast additions to the conveniences and comforts of living might mankind have acquired, if the money spent in wars had been employed in works of public utility; what an extension of agriculture even to the tops of our mountains; what rivers rendered navigable, or joined by canals; what bridges, aqueducts, new roads, and other public works, edifices, and improvements . . . might not have been obtained by spending those millions in doing good, which in the last war have been spent in doing mischief.
• Lost time is never found again; and what we call time enough, always proves little enough.
• Diligence overcomes difficulties, sloth makes them.
• The busy man has few idle visitors, to the boiling pot, the flies come out.
• Laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes him.
• Mad kings and mad bulls are not to be held by treaties and packthread.
Benjamin Franklin was the founder of the first university of Pennsylvania and the first city hospital of America.
He also founded the first subscription library in Philadelphia, in 1931. It was the first circulatory library in U.S.A.
He founded the “Leather Apron” Club at Philadelphia in 1727.
He was elected to the Assembly in 1737.
He founded the ‘Union Fire Company of Philadelphia’ in 1736.
He invented ‘Franklin’ stove in 1742. He also discovered bifocal eyeglasses.
He established ‘American Philosophical Society, which was founded in 1744.
Appointed as a commissioner to trade with the Indians in 1749.
He discovered the lightning rod in 1752 and was awarded the ‘Copley Medal’ for this discovery, next year.
Elected as the Member of Royal Society in 1753.
He received an honorary degree of M.A. from Yale and Harvard Universities in 1753.
Appointed as the Commissioner from Pennsylvania to the Colonial Congress at Albany, in 1754.
He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Oxford and Edinburgh Universities, in 1762.
He was elected as Associate Estranger of the French Academy in 1772.
Appointed as the Minister Plenipotentiary to France, in 1779.
He was elected twice as the President of Pennsylvania, in 1785 and 1786.
He developed a flexible urinary catheter.
He figured out a way to make ships work better and more safely by inventing watertight bulkheads.
He also established the first fire company in 1736 and the first five insurance companies in 1752.
He invented a simple odometer.
He was first to propose the idea of Daylight Saving Time.
He was the first credited with creating the first political cartoon, titled ‘Join or Die’.
Before the nutrient ‘Vitamin C’ had even been discovered, Franklin encouraged the eating of fruits. After his recommendations the British navy mandate a time in the daily diet of British seamen, in 1795.
He invented the most celebrated musical instrument of the eighteenth century, the Glass Armonica, in 1761.
Franklin was honored by Congress in 1976, by dedicating ‘The Benjamin Franklin National Memorial’. It is located in the rotunda of ‘The Franklin Institute Science Museum’ in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Memorial Hall features a 20 feet high marble statue of Franklin, which was sculptured by James Earle Fraser, the statue weighs 30 tons and sits on a 92 – ton pedestal of white seravezza marble.
