105 Lessons Learned from Benjamin Franklin
1. Gratify you own vanity.
2. Belief in God and His role in your happiness induce hope.
3. Nothing that is not honest is useful. “…and though I pleaded the usefulness of the work, mine convinced me that nothing was useful which was no honest.”
4. In a table, having a conversation, always care to start some ingenious or useful topic for discourse, which might tend to improve the mind of others. Talk about what is good, just, and prudent in the conduct of life.
5. Invest in books!
6. If you want to make stronger relationships; don’t debate, dialogue! Don’t spoil a conversation.
7. Imitate excellence.
8. Discover your faults and amend them. You can do this by comparing your works with others you consider more excellent.
9. You can try being a vegetarian and you’ll probably save some money, but you might end up quitting it nonetheless.
10. Study to progress. Take advantage of your time.
11. Question dogmas and what don’t fit your thinking.
12. Have intellectual humility; always try to learn from others.
13. “If you wish information and improvement from the knowledge of others, and yet at the same time express yourself 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 by such a manner, you can seldom hope to recommend yourself in pleasing your hearers, or to persuade those whose concurrence you desire. Pope says judiciously: “Men should be taught as if you taught them not, And things unknown propos’d as things forgot;” farther recommending to us “To speak, tho’ sure, with seeming diffidence.””
14. Reject arbitrary power.
15. Maintain life-long relationships.
16. “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.”
17. Trust, but don’t allow others to take advantage of your innocence or your being naive.
18. Avoid lampooning and libeling.
19. Get far from bad women.
20. Balance youth, experience, and knowledge.
21. Not everything is about appearance, in fact, almost nothing is appearance at the end of the day.
22. Have a balance between principle and inclination.
23. “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 to do.”
24. Don’t use in excess the “Socratic method”.
25. Walk, read, and talk.
26. Face obstacles as opportunities.
27. Always try to improve yourself.
28. Don’t waste time.
29. Keep promises.
30. Learn how to build relationships; aim to be a cared friend.
31. Don’t petty others when there’s no need. Realize you can live with a very limited income.
32. Attend business diligently, learn new related things, and become an expert in what you are doing.
33. Don’t be idle, thoughtless, or imprudent. Be lively, witty, good-natur’d, and a pleasant companion.
34. Be a good economist; keep your balance clean.
35. “I grew convin’d that truth, sincerity and integrity in dealings between man and man were of the utmost importance to the felicity of life.”
36. Form written resolutions; keep a journal book.
37. Have a tolerable and proper character and aim to preserve it.
38. Be an entrepreneur.
39. Be in a group that creates value to you. Talk about philosophy, morality, and politics, as many other topics as you like.
40. Have rubrics!
41. Work hard, really hard! “When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breath, then you’ll be successful.” Hard work is a virtue.
42. Be honest.
43. Never forget the kindness of others, especially of your friends.
44. Support the ones you care when needed; someday, they might return you the favor.
45. Prepare others for the change.
46. Write about the things that interest you.
47. Be in reality industrious and frugal, and avoid all appearances to the contrary.
48. Life is uncertain; learn to live with it.
49. Teach by example.
50. There is little necessary all origin to happiness, virtue, or greatness.
51. “The means are as simple as wisdom could make them; that is, depending upon nature, virtue, thought, and habit.”
52. Arrange your conduct so as to suit the whole of a life.
53. Live with content and enjoyment instead of being tormented with foolish impatience or regrets.
54. Regulate your mind.
55. “If it encourages more writings of the same kind with your own, and induces more men to spend lives fit to be written, it will be worth all Plutarch’s Lives put together.”
56. “Shew (show) yourself good as you are good; temperate as you are temperate; and above all things, prove yourself as one, who from your infancy have loved justice, liberty and concord, in a way that has made it natural and consistent for you to have acted, as we have seen you act in the last seventeen years of your life.”
57. “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.”
58. “He that would thrive, must ask his wife.”
59. Do good to man. Crime will be punished, and virtue rewarded.
60. Aim to arrive at moral perfection. Although you don’t reach this perfection, you’ll be a better and happier person.
61. Acquire and establish good habits, and broke contrary ones.
62. Apply, when appropriate, Benjamin’s 13 virtues (Temperance, Silence, Order, Resolution, Frugality, Industry, Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Tranquility, Chastity, Humility)
63. Propose your opinions in a modest way for a readier reception and less contradiction.
64. Forbear all direct contradiction to the sentiments of others, and all positive assertion of your own.
65. Don’t mortify yourself if you are wrong, others may join you more easily if they are wrong too.
66. Be proud of your humility.
67. Free from the dominion of vice.
68. Make a plan! “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.”
69. If you can, instruct people to do good.
70. If you want to learn Latin or some other ancient language, it would be easier to learn the derivates (modern) languages first and then the ancient.
71. Search for the kindness of others. “”He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to 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.”
72. Always render accounts, and make remittances, with great clearness and punctuality. “The character of observing such a conduct is the most powerful of all recommendations to new employments and increase of business.”
73. Money itself has a prolific nature. “After getting the first hundred pound, it is more easy to get the second.”
74. If you are making a partnership, have very explicit settled, in your articles, every thing to be done by or expected from each partner, so that there is nothing to dispute.
75. Never ask, never refuse, nor ever resign an office.
76. Chose to quit your power than your principle.
77. Share your inventions. “That, as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by an invention of ours; and this we should do freely and generously.”
78. Prepare the minds of people if you are going to make a solicitude of something.
79. Enjoy the moments; live in the present! “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.”
80. Don’t try to fix what is not broken. “History is full of the errors of states and princes.”
81. “Look round the habitable world, how few know their own good, or, knowing it, pursue!
82. Don’t be afraid to execute new plans, innovate!
83. Don’t let professional rivalry affect your personal relationship.
84. Don’t be too much self-confident or have a too high opinion of your resources; you never know when you’ll face a problem bigger than what you expect. There’s no little enemy.
85. Have well founded ideas.
86. Get together with people you can share ideas with and can improve you as a person.
87. Keep your men constantly at work. When men are employ’d, they are best content’d, but if there were idle days, they would be mutinous and quarrelsome.
88. Know your resources and measure your capacity to face adversities.
89. Find and apply the incentives of people in order to accomplish your goals together with them.
90. Voluntary is better than obliged.
91. Know the etiquette for the different occasions.
92. Don’t blame ignorance.
93. Professional/technical abilities are not the most important part of doing a job.
94. Practice, practice, practice. This way you can master what you do.
95. Don’t let others’ opinions dictate in what you are good, be real and genuine with yourself to know your limits.
96. Evaluate your opportunity cost of disputing with someone.
97. Accept the honors that other give you.
98. The use of the decanter of Madeira is proportional to the promises and solicitations.
99. If something is good for the people, no one should espouse and forward them more zealously than yourself.
100. Don’t apparent, but act. “He is like St. George on the signs, always on horseback, and never rides on!”
101. Sometimes, being sensible and sagacious in oneself, attentive to good advice from others, capable of forming judicious plans, and quick and active in carrying them into execution; is more important than being s bred soldier.
102. Sometimes, “a low seat is the easiest.”
103. Have friends of liberty.
104. Reduce to a certainty, what in conversation you may deliver viva voce, by writing.
105. Be wise.
2. Belief in God and His role in your happiness induce hope.
3. Nothing that is not honest is useful. “…and though I pleaded the usefulness of the work, mine convinced me that nothing was useful which was no honest.”
4. In a table, having a conversation, always care to start some ingenious or useful topic for discourse, which might tend to improve the mind of others. Talk about what is good, just, and prudent in the conduct of life.
5. Invest in books!
6. If you want to make stronger relationships; don’t debate, dialogue! Don’t spoil a conversation.
7. Imitate excellence.
8. Discover your faults and amend them. You can do this by comparing your works with others you consider more excellent.
9. You can try being a vegetarian and you’ll probably save some money, but you might end up quitting it nonetheless.
10. Study to progress. Take advantage of your time.
11. Question dogmas and what don’t fit your thinking.
12. Have intellectual humility; always try to learn from others.
13. “If you wish information and improvement from the knowledge of others, and yet at the same time express yourself 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 by such a manner, you can seldom hope to recommend yourself in pleasing your hearers, or to persuade those whose concurrence you desire. Pope says judiciously: “Men should be taught as if you taught them not, And things unknown propos’d as things forgot;” farther recommending to us “To speak, tho’ sure, with seeming diffidence.””
14. Reject arbitrary power.
15. Maintain life-long relationships.
16. “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.”
17. Trust, but don’t allow others to take advantage of your innocence or your being naive.
18. Avoid lampooning and libeling.
19. Get far from bad women.
20. Balance youth, experience, and knowledge.
21. Not everything is about appearance, in fact, almost nothing is appearance at the end of the day.
22. Have a balance between principle and inclination.
23. “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 to do.”
24. Don’t use in excess the “Socratic method”.
25. Walk, read, and talk.
26. Face obstacles as opportunities.
27. Always try to improve yourself.
28. Don’t waste time.
29. Keep promises.
30. Learn how to build relationships; aim to be a cared friend.
31. Don’t petty others when there’s no need. Realize you can live with a very limited income.
32. Attend business diligently, learn new related things, and become an expert in what you are doing.
33. Don’t be idle, thoughtless, or imprudent. Be lively, witty, good-natur’d, and a pleasant companion.
34. Be a good economist; keep your balance clean.
35. “I grew convin’d that truth, sincerity and integrity in dealings between man and man were of the utmost importance to the felicity of life.”
36. Form written resolutions; keep a journal book.
37. Have a tolerable and proper character and aim to preserve it.
38. Be an entrepreneur.
39. Be in a group that creates value to you. Talk about philosophy, morality, and politics, as many other topics as you like.
40. Have rubrics!
41. Work hard, really hard! “When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breath, then you’ll be successful.” Hard work is a virtue.
42. Be honest.
43. Never forget the kindness of others, especially of your friends.
44. Support the ones you care when needed; someday, they might return you the favor.
45. Prepare others for the change.
46. Write about the things that interest you.
47. Be in reality industrious and frugal, and avoid all appearances to the contrary.
48. Life is uncertain; learn to live with it.
49. Teach by example.
50. There is little necessary all origin to happiness, virtue, or greatness.
51. “The means are as simple as wisdom could make them; that is, depending upon nature, virtue, thought, and habit.”
52. Arrange your conduct so as to suit the whole of a life.
53. Live with content and enjoyment instead of being tormented with foolish impatience or regrets.
54. Regulate your mind.
55. “If it encourages more writings of the same kind with your own, and induces more men to spend lives fit to be written, it will be worth all Plutarch’s Lives put together.”
56. “Shew (show) yourself good as you are good; temperate as you are temperate; and above all things, prove yourself as one, who from your infancy have loved justice, liberty and concord, in a way that has made it natural and consistent for you to have acted, as we have seen you act in the last seventeen years of your life.”
57. “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.”
58. “He that would thrive, must ask his wife.”
59. Do good to man. Crime will be punished, and virtue rewarded.
60. Aim to arrive at moral perfection. Although you don’t reach this perfection, you’ll be a better and happier person.
61. Acquire and establish good habits, and broke contrary ones.
62. Apply, when appropriate, Benjamin’s 13 virtues (Temperance, Silence, Order, Resolution, Frugality, Industry, Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Tranquility, Chastity, Humility)
63. Propose your opinions in a modest way for a readier reception and less contradiction.
64. Forbear all direct contradiction to the sentiments of others, and all positive assertion of your own.
65. Don’t mortify yourself if you are wrong, others may join you more easily if they are wrong too.
66. Be proud of your humility.
67. Free from the dominion of vice.
68. Make a plan! “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.”
69. If you can, instruct people to do good.
70. If you want to learn Latin or some other ancient language, it would be easier to learn the derivates (modern) languages first and then the ancient.
71. Search for the kindness of others. “”He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to 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.”
72. Always render accounts, and make remittances, with great clearness and punctuality. “The character of observing such a conduct is the most powerful of all recommendations to new employments and increase of business.”
73. Money itself has a prolific nature. “After getting the first hundred pound, it is more easy to get the second.”
74. If you are making a partnership, have very explicit settled, in your articles, every thing to be done by or expected from each partner, so that there is nothing to dispute.
75. Never ask, never refuse, nor ever resign an office.
76. Chose to quit your power than your principle.
77. Share your inventions. “That, as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by an invention of ours; and this we should do freely and generously.”
78. Prepare the minds of people if you are going to make a solicitude of something.
79. Enjoy the moments; live in the present! “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.”
80. Don’t try to fix what is not broken. “History is full of the errors of states and princes.”
81. “Look round the habitable world, how few know their own good, or, knowing it, pursue!
82. Don’t be afraid to execute new plans, innovate!
83. Don’t let professional rivalry affect your personal relationship.
84. Don’t be too much self-confident or have a too high opinion of your resources; you never know when you’ll face a problem bigger than what you expect. There’s no little enemy.
85. Have well founded ideas.
86. Get together with people you can share ideas with and can improve you as a person.
87. Keep your men constantly at work. When men are employ’d, they are best content’d, but if there were idle days, they would be mutinous and quarrelsome.
88. Know your resources and measure your capacity to face adversities.
89. Find and apply the incentives of people in order to accomplish your goals together with them.
90. Voluntary is better than obliged.
91. Know the etiquette for the different occasions.
92. Don’t blame ignorance.
93. Professional/technical abilities are not the most important part of doing a job.
94. Practice, practice, practice. This way you can master what you do.
95. Don’t let others’ opinions dictate in what you are good, be real and genuine with yourself to know your limits.
96. Evaluate your opportunity cost of disputing with someone.
97. Accept the honors that other give you.
98. The use of the decanter of Madeira is proportional to the promises and solicitations.
99. If something is good for the people, no one should espouse and forward them more zealously than yourself.
100. Don’t apparent, but act. “He is like St. George on the signs, always on horseback, and never rides on!”
101. Sometimes, being sensible and sagacious in oneself, attentive to good advice from others, capable of forming judicious plans, and quick and active in carrying them into execution; is more important than being s bred soldier.
102. Sometimes, “a low seat is the easiest.”
103. Have friends of liberty.
104. Reduce to a certainty, what in conversation you may deliver viva voce, by writing.
105. Be wise.