The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Benjamin Franklin is a great book that I enjoyed very much this first semester. I think it is a book that all MPCers should read, since it has many things that can contribute and have contributed to our culture. I believe that Franklin stood for many of the things that the MPC is trying to achieve and be. But even more than reading it for the MPC, I think Benjamin Franklin should be an example for people in general. A world full of Benjamin Franklins would be great.
His values are an example of how people should be. I have always been very fond of personal values and of being a virtuous person. I believe that values are essential to what a person is. I love the way Franklin sets his values and tries to follow them all throughout his life. I believe that his values became a part of what he is. I think his values are what made him be such a great person and achieve many things. I find it very interesting and useful that he wrote them down with an explanation of what they meant to him. It kind of represents a rubric that he created for himself so that he could follow them easier. He is also an example of what an MPC student should be. He was an auto-didact and a life long learner. Even though he did not go to school for very long, he took his education in his hands and learned a lot, even new languages. This is an essential part of the book, since being an auto-didact is one of the goals for MPC students. For me Benjamin Franklin is an example of what a person should be like. His integrity, his wits, his values, how he tried to help other people, how he tried to help his country and just himself in general is something we should look up to. |
His virtues and explanations:
TEMPERANCE: eat no t to dullness; drink not to elevation.
SILENCE: speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
ORDER: let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
RESOLUTION: resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
FRUGALITY: make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
INDUSTRY: lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
SINCERITY: use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
JUSTICE: wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
MODERATION: avoid extremes, forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
CLEANLINESS: tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.
TRANQUILITY: be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
CHASTITY: rarely use venery but for the health or offspring, never to dulness, weakness or the injury of your own or another's peace or
reputation.
HUMILITY: imitate Jesus and Socrates
TEMPERANCE: eat no t to dullness; drink not to elevation.
SILENCE: speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
ORDER: let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
RESOLUTION: resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
FRUGALITY: make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
INDUSTRY: lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
SINCERITY: use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
JUSTICE: wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
MODERATION: avoid extremes, forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
CLEANLINESS: tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.
TRANQUILITY: be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
CHASTITY: rarely use venery but for the health or offspring, never to dulness, weakness or the injury of your own or another's peace or
reputation.
HUMILITY: imitate Jesus and Socrates
"So convenient a thing is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do."
"I grew convin'd that truth, sincerity and integrity in dealings between man and man were of the most importance to the felicity of life."
"Our debates were to be under the direction of a president, and to be conducted in the sincere spirit of inquiry after truth, without fondness for dispute, or desire for victory..."
"I grew convin'd that truth, sincerity and integrity in dealings between man and man were of the most importance to the felicity of life."
"Our debates were to be under the direction of a president, and to be conducted in the sincere spirit of inquiry after truth, without fondness for dispute, or desire for victory..."