Benjamin
Franklin ( Benjamin Franklin was the son of a tallow chandler and soapmaker, Franklin left school at 10 years of age to help his father. He later (1723) went to Philadelphia to work as a printer. His industry knowledge and thrift qualities helped him to better himself. His common sense philosophy and his neatly turned phrases won public attention in the Gazette, in the later General Magazine, and especially in his Poor Richards Almanack, which he published from 1732 to 1757. Many sayings of Poor Richard, praising prudence, common sense, and honesty, became standard American proverbs.
Franklin had steadily extended his own knowledge by
study of foreign languages, philosophy, and science. He repeated the
experiments of other scientists and showed his usual practical bent
by inventing such diverse things as the Franklin stove, bifocal
eyeglasses, and a glass harmonica. The phenomenon of
electricity interested him deeply, and in 1748 he turned his
printing business over to his foreman, intending to devote his life
to science. His spectacular experiment of flying a kite in a
thunderstorm, which proved that lightning is an electrical
discharge, and his invention of the lightning rod were among a
series of investigations that won him recognition from the leading
scientists in England and on the Continent.
Franklin held local public offices and served as
deputy postmaster general of the colonies. As such he reorganized
the postal system, making it both efficient and profitable. His
status as a public figure grew steadily. He worked for the
British cause in the French and Indian War. Franklins deep love for his native land and his
devotion to individual freedom. In 1776, he was appointed to
the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence, which he
signed. In 1785 Benjamin Franklin was made president of the
Pennsylvania executive council. The last great service rendered to
his country by this wisest American, as he is sometimes
called, was his part in the Federal Constitutional Convention of
1787. Although his proposal of a single-chamber congress was
rejected, he helped to direct the compromise that brought the
Constitution of the United States into being. Though not completely
satisfied with the finished product, he worked earnestly for its
ratification. "Think of these
things, whence you came, where you are going, and to whom you must
account."
"Never confuse motion with
action." "I wish it (Christianity)
were more productive of good works ... I mean real good works ... hot
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." "If you would persuade, you
must appeal to interest rather than intellect."
"Any fool can criticize,
condemn and complain and most fools do."
"Hide not your talents.
They for use were made. What's a sundial in the shade."
"Well done is better than
well said."
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