The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin |
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Page 8
... friends as hearty and affectionate as ever , with whom my house was filled for many days to congratulate me on my return . I had been chosen yearly during my absence to represent the city of Phila- delphia in our Provincial Assembly ...
... friends as hearty and affectionate as ever , with whom my house was filled for many days to congratulate me on my return . I had been chosen yearly during my absence to represent the city of Phila- delphia in our Provincial Assembly ...
Page 10
... friends , who filled our sails with their good wishes , and I arrived in thirty days at London . ” Instead of giving his efforts to the proposed change of govern- ment Franklin found greater duties . The debt which England had incurred ...
... friends , who filled our sails with their good wishes , and I arrived in thirty days at London . ” Instead of giving his efforts to the proposed change of govern- ment Franklin found greater duties . The debt which England had incurred ...
Page 12
... friend in London : " You are a member of Parliament , and one of that majority which has doomed my country to de ... friends ; you are now my enemy , and I am yours . " After the Declaration of Independence and the establishment of ...
... friend in London : " You are a member of Parliament , and one of that majority which has doomed my country to de ... friends ; you are now my enemy , and I am yours . " After the Declaration of Independence and the establishment of ...
Page 15
... friend . DE Dittle anecdotes of my ancestors . 2 Franklin's only living son , William , who in 1762 had been made royal governor of New Jersey , with the hope of detaching Franklin from the cause of the colonists . 15 ity may like to ...
... friend . DE Dittle anecdotes of my ancestors . 2 Franklin's only living son , William , who in 1762 had been made royal governor of New Jersey , with the hope of detaching Franklin from the cause of the colonists . 15 ity may like to ...
Page 18
... friends and relations , of which the follow- ing , sent to me , is a specimen.5 He had formed a shorthand of his own , which he taught me , but , never practicing it , I have now 1 A title given in England in Franklin's time to the ...
... friends and relations , of which the follow- ing , sent to me , is a specimen.5 He had formed a shorthand of his own , which he taught me , but , never practicing it , I have now 1 A title given in England in Franklin's time to the ...
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Common terms and phrases
accordingly acquaintance affairs afterward American appeared arrived Art of Virtue Assembly attend began BENJAMIN FRANKLIN Boston Brander Matthews bred brother brought called captain character colonies conduct continued conversation debt defense desired dispute Ecton employed endeavor England father Fort Duquesne Franklin friends gave give governor hands heard horses industry inhabitants instructions Keimer length letter Little Britain lived lodging London Lord Loudoun Madeira wine Magic squares means never obtained occasion opinion paid paper Pennsylvania perhaps persons Philadelphia pieces pleasure Poor Richard says POOR RICHARD'S ALMANAC pounds sterling printer printing house procure proposed proprietaries province Quakers Ralph received sailed sect seemed sent shillings ship sometimes soon Street thee things thought thousand pounds tion told took unani virtue wagons writing wrote young
Popular passages
Page 29 - By comparing my work afterwards with the original, I discovered many faults and amended them ; but I sometimes had the pleasure of fancying that, in certain particulars of small import, I had been lucky enough to improve the method or the language, and this encouraged me to think I might possibly in time come to be a tolerable English writer, of which I was extreamly ambitious.
Page 109 - I therefore filled all the little spaces that occurred between the remarkable days in the calendar with proverbial sentences, chiefly such as inculcated industry and frugality as the means of procuring wealth, and thereby securing virtue, it being more difficult for a man in want to act always honestly ; as. to use here one of those proverbs, ' It is hard for an empty sack to stand upright.
Page 200 - Industry all easy, as Poor Richard says; and He that riseth late must trot all Day, and shall scarce overtake his Business at Night; while Laziness travels so slowly, that Poverty soon overtakes him...
Page 12 - MR. STRAHAN, You are a member of parliament, and one of that majority which has doomed my country to destruction. — You have begun to burn our towns, and murder our people. — Look upon your hands! — They are stained with the blood of your relations ! — You and I were long friends: — You are now my enemy, — and I am • Yours, B. FRANKLIN.
Page 201 - The cat in gloves catches no mice! as Poor Richard says. 'Tis true there is much to be done, and perhaps you are weak-handed; but stick to it steadily, and you will see great effects; for Constant dropping wears away stones; and By diligence and patience the mouse ate in two the cable; and Little strokes fell great oaks...
Page 13 - THE BODY of BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Printer, (like the cover of an old book, its contents torn out, and stript of its lettering and gilding) lies here food for worms ; yet the work itself shall not be lost, for it will (as he believed) appear once more in a new and more beautiful edition, corrected and amended by THE AUTHOR.
Page 28 - I thought the writing excellent, and wished if possible to imitate it. With this view I took some of the papers, and making short hints of the sentiments in each sentence, laid them by a few days, and then, without looking at the book, tried to complete the papers again, by expressing each hinted sentiment at length, and as fully as it had been expressed before, in any suitable words that should come to hand. Then I compared my Spectator...
Page 201 - But with our Industry, we must likewise be steady, settled and careful, and oversee our own Affairs with our own Eyes, and not trust too much to others; for, as Poor Richard says I never saw an oft-removed Tree, Nor yet an oft-removed Family, That throve so well as those that settled be.
Page 85 - ... to show that I was not above my business, I sometimes brought home the paper I purchased at the stores thro' the streets on a wheelbarrow.
Page 98 - I cross'd these columns with thirteen red lines, marking the beginning of each line with the first letter of one of the virtues, on which line, and in its proper column...