Enduring Wisdom (c) for Monday, October 12
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In Association with Amazon.com
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This week I hope you will be amused, informed and delighted by the
writings and quotations of Benjamin Franklin.

Noting that his biography states that he improved postal efficiency
and made the postal service solvent, we can determine immediately
that he was a genius, performing a feat which has not since been
duplicated! (For those from foreign countries, I'll leave you to
deduce from my comments the present state of the U.S. Postal
Service.....)

Enjoy!

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BEN FRANKLIN QUOTATIONS:

We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.

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.

He who falls in love with himself will have no rivals.

Glass, china, and reputation are easily cracked, and never mended well.

When men and woman die, as poets sung, his heart's the last part moves,
her last, the tongue.

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.

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.

Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What's a sundial in the
shade.

Most people return small favors, acknowledge medium ones and repay
greater ones -- with ingratitude.

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Franklin, Benjamin
(1706--90)

"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. 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. In
1732 he began compiling and publishing the annual Poor Richard's
Almanac; with its pithy sayings espousing industry, frugality, and
other homely virtues, it attracted a large readership and made
Franklin's name a household word. Active in the community, 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. Appointed in 1736
as a clerk in the Pennsylvania Assembly, he held a seat from 1751
to 1764. 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.
In the early 1740s he had developed the fuel-efficient Franklin
open stove. Later 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). 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.

Except where noted, data in the BIOGRAPHY(R) Online Database is from the
Reference Database, which incorporates the Cambridge Encyclopedia
Database, Copyright(C) 1997, AND Reference Data Ltd., Oxford, U.K. and
The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, edited by J.S. Bowmen.
Copyright(C) 1995 Cambridge University Press.

http://www.biography.com
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>Quotes< > Poetry < > Philosophy<
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This newsletter is compiled in loving remembrance of
my parents, Mike and HelenThimios, and with deep
gratitude to S.F.A. and Kay Bergquist all of whom have
shared their abundant Enduring-Wisdom with me.

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Copyright (c) 1998, Enduring-Wisdom. All rights reserved.
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