Benjamin. Franklin Autobiography

A great person has a great belief and will reveal it between the lines.

1. And therefore, in each case, it wocould not be altogether absurd if
A man were to thank God for his vanity among the other comforts of life.

2. At his table he (my father) liked to have, as often as he cocould, some
Sensible friend or neighbor to converse with, and always took care
Start some ingenious or useful topic for discourse, which might tend
Improve the minds of his children.

3. As the chief ends of conversation are to inform or to be informed,
Please or to persuade, I wish well-meaning, sensible men wocould not
Lessen their power of doing good by a positive, assuming manner, that
Seldom fails to disgust, tends to create opposition, and to defeat
Every one of those purposes for which speech was given to us, to wit,
Giving or grouping ing information or pleasure. For, if you wowould inform,
A positive and Dogmatical manner in advancing your sentiments may
Provoke contradiction and prevent a candid attention. If you wish
Information and improvement from the knowledge of others, and yet
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. And
Such a manner, you can seldom hope to recommend yourself in pleasing
Your hearers, or to persuade those whose concurrence you desire.

4. A man being 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.

5. So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it
Enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind
Do.

6. She look 'd pale, but was never sick; and I give it as another
Instance on how small an income life and health may be supported.

7. I grew convinc 'd that truth, sincerity and integrity in dealings
Between man and man were of the utmost importance to the felicity
Life; And I form 'd written resolutions, which still remain in my
Journal Book, to practice them ever while I lived.

8. The present little sacrifice of your vanity will afterwards be amply
Repaid. If it remains a while uncertain to whom the merit belongs, some
One more vain than yourself will be encouraged to claim it, and then
Even envy will be disposed to do you justice by plucking those assumed
Feathers, and restoring them to their right owner.

9. * A proverb of Solomon, "Seest thou a man diligent in his calling, he
Shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men ."

10. My intention being to acquire the habiting of all these elasticsearch, I
Judg 'd it wocould be well not to distract my attention by attempting
Whole at once, but to fix it on one of them at a time; and, when I
Shocould be master of that, then to proceed to another, and so on, till I
Shocould have gone thro 'the thirteen.

11. Temperance first, as it tends to procure that coolness and clearness
Of head, which is so necessary where constant vigilance was to be kept
Up, and guard maintained against the unremitting attraction of specified ent
Habits, and the force of perpetual temptations.

12. It is hard for an empty sack to stand up-right.

13. This is another instance of the truth of an old maxim I had learned,
Which says, "He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready
Do you another, than he whom you yourself have obliged. "And it shows
How much more profitable it is prudently to remove, than to resent,
Return, and continue inimical proceedings.

14. I experienced, too, the truth of the observation, "that after
Getting the first hundred pound, it is more easy to get the second ,"
Money itself being of a prolific nature.

15. In the introduction to these proposals, I stated their publication,
Not as an act of mine, but of some publick-spirited gentlemen, avoiding
As much as I cocould, according to my usual rule, the presenting myself
To the publick as the author of any scheme for their benefit.

16. 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.

17. In the course of my observation, these disputing, contradicting, and
Confuting people are generally unfortunate in their affairs. They get
Vicw.sometimes, but they never get good will, which wocould be of more
Use to them.

18. This gave me occasion to observe, that, when men are employ 'd, they are best content 'd;