The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

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Houghton Mifflin, 1923 - 235 páginas
Industry, honesty, and an eye for the ladies are ever apparent in this candid self-portrait, from his humble birth in 1706 to the beginnings of his greatness in 1757.

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Página 16 - Essays to do Good, which perhaps gave me a turn of thinking that had an influence on some of the principal future events of my life.
Página 130 - Seest thou a man diligent in his calling, he shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men...
Página 134 - It was about this time I conceived the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection. I wished to live without committing any fault at any time; I would conquer all that either natural inclination, custom, or company might lead me into. As I knew, or thought I knew, what was right and wrong, I did not see why I might not always do the one and avoid the other.
Página 135 - In the various enumerations of the moral virtues I had met with in my reading, I found the catalogue more or less numerous, as different writers included more or fewer ideas under the »/ * same name.
Página 130 - It was lucky for me that I had one as much dispos'd to industry and frugality as myself. She assisted me cheerfully in my business, folding and stitching pamphlets, tending shop, purchasing old linen rags for the paper-makers, etc., etc. We kept no idle servants, our table was plain and simple, our furniture of the cheapest. For instance, my breakfast was a long time bread and milk (no tea), and I ate it out of a twopenny earthen porringer, with a pewter spoon. But mark how luxury will enter families,...
Página 140 - I determined to give a week's strict attention to each of the virtues successively. Thus, in the first week, my great guard was to avoid every the least offence against Temperance, leaving the other virtues to their ordinary chance, only marking every evening the faults of the day. Thus, if in the first week I could keep my first line, marked T...
Página 140 - Here will I hold. If there's a power above us (And that there is, all Nature cries aloud Through all her works), he must delight in virtue ; And that which he delights in must be happy.
Página 177 - His delivery of the latter was so improved by frequent repetition, that every accent, every emphasis, every modulation of voice, was so perfectly well turned and well placed, that, without being interested in the subject, one could not help being pleased with the discourse ; a pleasure of much the same kind with that received from an excellent piece of music.
Página 22 - I could not, as it seemed to me, afford time to practise it. When about 16 years of age I happened to meet with a book, written by one Tryon, recommending a vegetable diet. I determined to go into it. My brother, being...
Página 38 - I sat down among them, and, after looking round awhile and hearing nothing said, being very drowsy through labor and want of rest the preceding night, I fell fast asleep, and continued so till the meeting broke up, when one was kind enough to rouse me. This was, therefore, the first house I was in, or slept in, in Philadelphia.

Acerca del autor (1923)

One of 17 children, Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston on January 17, 1706. He ended his formal education at the age of 10 and began working as an apprentice at a newspaper. Running away to Philadelphia at 17, he worked for a printer, later opening his own print shop. Franklin was a man of many talents and interests. As a writer, he published a colonial newspaper and the well-known Poor Richard's Almanack, which contains his famous maxims. He authored many political and economic works, such as The Way To Wealth and Journal of the Negotiations for Peace. He is responsible for many inventions, including the Franklin stove and bifocal eyeglasses. He conducted scientific experiments, proving in one of his most famous ones that lightning and electricity were the same. As a politically active citizen, he helped draft the Declaration of Independence and lobbied for the adoption of the U.S. Constitution. He also served as ambassador to France. He died in April of 1790 at the age of 84.

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