Chapter 115 - A Benjamin Franklin Reader
Today’s Chapter is based on the book “A Benjamin Franklin Reader”, a selection of Benjamin Franklin’s writings by Walter Isaacson. Mainly, I will be focusing on Part 9: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.
Franklin was a polymath and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was a renowned scientist, inventor, writer, and diplomat, known for his contributions to electricity, inventions like bifocals and the lightning rod, and his role in drafting the Declaration of Independence and negotiating the Treaty of Paris. Franklin's diverse achievements spanned science, literature, politics, and diplomacy, cementing his legacy as a pivotal figure in American history.
Previously on Benjamin Franklin:
Read the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin on Project Gutenberg for free here.
Here’s what I have learned:
The Way to Wisdom
“I constantly see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most diligent, but they are learning machines.”
— Charlie Munger
Benjamin Franklin’s life is a perfect example of how self-education and self-improvement can lead to a life full of wisdom. Born into a large family with limited resources, Franklin only had two years of formal schooling. Yet, his thirst for knowledge propelled him on a lifelong quest for learning. He devoured books, engaged in intellectual discussions, and constantly sought opportunities to expand his horizons. As he explained, “From a child I was fond of reading, and all the little money that came into my hands was ever laid out in books.”
This early passion for reading laid the foundation for his future success. He understood that knowledge was not confined to the classroom but could be acquired through various means. He was constantly and actively searching for books to read and even resorted to borrowing and reading through the night to satisfy his hunger for knowledge.
“An acquaintance with the apprentices of booksellers enabled me sometimes to borrow a small one, which I was careful to return soon and clean. Often I sat up in my room reading the greatest part of the night, when the book was borrowed in the evening and to be returned early in the morning, lest it should be missed or wanted.”
— Benjamin Franklin
As a matter of fact, seeing the huge benefit he received by borrowing and reading books from others, Franklin later decided to create the first public subscription library in Philadelphia. Franklin mentioned that “This library afforded me the means of improvement by constant study, for which I set apart an hour or two each day, and thus repaired in some degree the loss of the learned education my father once intended for me.”
Furthermore, what impresses me the most about Franklin is the fact that he wasn’t only promoting self-learning solely in terms of knowledge, but he also viewed life as an opportunity to grow and refine one’s character in order to achieve moral excellence. His dedication to self-betterment is perhaps most evident in his meticulous plan to cultivate virtues and habits that he believed would lead to a fulfilling and virtuous life.
Benjamin Franklin created a framework of thirteen virtues, each accompanied by concise precepts, that he aimed to master systematically. As he explained, "I proposed to myself, for the sake of clearness, to use rather more names, with fewer ideas annexed to each, than a few names with more ideas; and I included under thirteen names of virtues all that at that time occurred to me as necessary or desirable, and annexed to each a short precept, which fully expressed the extent I gave to its meaning."
As we have seen previously, his thirteen virtues were:
Temperance: Eat not 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 employed 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, clothes, or habitation.
Tranquillity: Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
Chastity: Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.
Humility: Imitate Jesus and Socrates.
But more importantly, Franklin’s approach to his self-improvement project is truly remarkable. In fact, with the rigorous of a scientist, he created a small book to track his progress on a daily basis. While he was never able to reach perfection in terms of moral excellence, it brought him happiness to see his faults diminish along the way. As he once said, "Though I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it, yet I was, by the endeavor, a better and a happier man than I otherwise should have been."
"I made a little book, in which I allotted a page for each of the virtues. I ruled each page with red ink, so as to have seven columns, one for each day of the week, marking each column with a letter for the day. I crossed 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, I might mark, by a little black spot, every fault I found upon examination to have been committed respecting that virtue upon that day."
— Benjamin Franklin
The Way to Wealth
“The way to wealth is as plain as the way to market. It depends chiefly on two words, industry and frugality: that is, waste neither time nor money, but make the best use of both. Without industry and frugality nothing will do, and with them everything.”
— Benjamin Franklin
Another key lesson that we can from Franklin’s life is the importance of frugality and industry in the path to reach wealth. Franklin’s upbringing instilled in him a deep respect for hard work and thriftiness, values that shaped his success and remained central to his philosophy throughout his life. As a matter of fact, Franklin explains that his habits of frugality came from his father who often repeated to him this proverb of Solomon, “Seest thou a man diligent in his calling, he shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men.”
As such, when he first started his career as a printer, his frugal approach was already evident. As Franklin once wrote, "I dressed plainly; I was seen at no places of idle diversion. I never went out a fishing or shooting; a book, indeed, sometimes debauched me from my work, but that was seldom, snug, and gave no scandal; and, 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."
Similarly, Franklin was also frugal in the way he managed his household. He explained, "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."
“In order to secure my credit and character as a tradesman, I took care not only to be in reality industrious and frugal, but to avoid all appearances to the contrary.”
— Benjamin Franklin
Furthermore, his frugality even influenced Benjamin Franklin’s eating habit. As a matter of fact, in order to save money, when he was 16, Franklin started following a vegetable diet as he could end up saving half of what his brother paid him to board himself. This would not only allow himself more money to spend on books but more time to read.
As Franklin mentioned, “I made myself acquainted with Tryon’s manner of preparing some of his dishes, such as boiling potatoes or rice, making hasty pudding, and a few others, and then proposed to my brother, that if he would give me, weekly, half the money he paid for my board, I would board myself. He instantly agreed to it, and I presently found that I could save half what he paid me. This was an additional fund for buying books. But I had another advantage in it. My brother and the rest going from the printing-house to their meals, I remained there alone, and, dispatching presently my light repast, which often was no more than a biscuit or a slice of bread, a handful of raisins or a tart from the pastry-cook’s, and a glass of water, had the rest of the time till their return for study, in which I made the greater progress, from that greater clearness of head and quicker apprehension which usually attend temperance in eating and drinking.”
Finally, Franklin’s importance put on industry and frugality also led him to understand the power of compounding. As he once said, "My newspaper having become very profitable, as being for a time almost the only one in this and the neighboring provinces, I experienced, too, the truth of the observation, 'that after getting the first hundred pound, it is more easy to get the second,' money itself being of a prolific nature."
This reminds me of what we have learned from Edward Thorp who once said, “Over a sufficiently long time, compound growth at a small rate will vastly exceed any rate of arithmetic growth, no matter how large!” In fact, according to Warren Buffett, the understanding of compounding interest is the first and most important mathematical concept to learn. Not only is it important in investing, but it is also useful in terms of seeking wisdom and obtaining good habits. As a matter of fact, a one percent improvement every day leads to 37x improvement in a year. Similarly, it is very possible to become wealthy even if our investments grow at a small rate as long as it happens on a long period of time:
The rules of compounding are very simple once you get the concept: start early and do not ever interrupt it. As Charlie Munger famously said, “The first rule of compounding: Never interrupt it unnecessarily.” Thorp understood the importance of compounding beyond the stock market. As a matter of fact, it is this principle that encouraged him to lead a healthier lifestyle. For every hour he spent on fitness was one less day he would spend in a hospital:
“If you are like me and want better health, you can invest time and money on medical care, diagnostic and preventive measures, and exercise and fitness. For decades I have spent six to eight hours a week running, hiking, walking, playing tennis, and working out in a gym. I think of each hour spent on fitness as one day less that I’ll spend in a hospital. Or you can trade money for time by working less and buying goods and services that save time. Hire household help, a personal assistant, and pay other people to do things you don’t want to do.”
— Edward Thorp
The Way to Give
“The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced.”
— Andrew Carnegie
Another key lesson we can learn from Benjamin Franklin’s life is the profound impact of engaging with one’s community. His belief in civic responsibility and public service is evident in his numerous projects aimed at improving the quality of life in Philadelphia and beyond. From founding institutions to promoting public safety, Franklin’s actions reflects a deep commitment to the common good.
As we have mentioned previously, Franklin pushed for the establishment of a subscription library by combining books from his friends in the Junto. Franklin explained, “And now I set on foot my first project of a public nature, that for a subscription library. I drew up the proposals, got them put into form by our great scrivener, Brockden, and, by the help of my friends in the Junto, procured fifty subscribers of forty shillings each to begin with, and ten shillings a year for fifty years, the term our company was to continue. We afterwards obtained a charter, the company being increased to one hundred: this was the mother of all the North American subscription libraries, now so numerous. It is become a great thing itself, and continually increasing.”
It is fair to say that with Franklin’s push to make books more accessible to the public, people in Philadelphia and beyond became more engaged in learning and in becoming more educated.
"Reading became fashionable; and our people, having no public amusements to divert their attention from study, became better acquainted with books, and in a few years were observed by strangers to be better instructed and more intelligent than people of the same rank generally are in other countries."
— Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin’s commitment to help out the community also extended to practical concerns such as public safety. As a matter of fact, it is a belief that Benjamin Franklin was the founder of the first volunteer fire company in Philadelphia due to the surge of fires in his city. He mentioned that "This was much spoken of as a useful piece, and gave rise to a project, which soon followed it, of forming a company for the more ready extinguishing of fires, and mutual assistance in removing and securing the goods when in danger."
This certainly helped Philadelphia to become much more resilient to fire incidents. As a matter of fact, after the formation of the Union Fire Company, Franklin explained that "Since these institutions, the city has never lost by fire more than one or two houses at a time, and the flames have often been extinguished before the house in which they began has been half consumed."
Furthermore, Franklin’s way of giving back can also be extended to his inventions. In fact, despite having created the Franklin stove, he declined a patent for it. He explained that “As we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours; and this we should do freely and generously.” This selfless act amplified the stove’s impact and cemented his reputation as a public servant.
This concept of giving back reminds me of Andrew Carnegie’s “The Gospel of Wealth” which is now considered a fundamental document in the field of philanthropy. It is said that Carnegie’s methodical approach to philanthropy inspired John D. Rockefeller to do the same.
For Andrew Carnegie, it was the duty of the man of wealth to maintain a thrifty lifestyle and “to consider all surplus revenues which come to him simply as trust funds, which he is called upon to administer in the manner which, in his judgment, is best calculated to produce the most beneficial results for the community.”
As a matter of fact, Carnegie was deeply influenced by Peter Cooper, the founder of Cooper Union who once said:
“I cannot shut my eyes to the fact that the production of wealth is not the work of any one man and the acquisition of great fortunes is not possible without the cooperation of multitudes of men; and that therefore the individuals to whose lot these fortunes fall . . . should never lose sight of the fact that they hold them by the will of society expressed in statute law, so they should administer them as trustees for the benefit of society as inculcated by the moral law.”
— Peter Cooper
In the case of Carnegie, he was a big promoter of providing opportunities for self-improvement through education, skill training, and easy access to knowledge. This is exemplified by the fact that Carnegie funded over 2,500 public libraries around the world. Carnegie believed that libraries gave everyone access to knowledge, the very thing that allowed him to elevate himself out of poverty. In the end, Andrew Carnegie donated over $350 million towards causes like education, scientific research, and peace.
Furthermore, Carnegie truly believed that the accumulation of wealth was not an end in itself, but rather a means to a greater purpose — the betterment of humankind. Hence, the reason why he believes that a rich man has the duty to give back to the community and to not be obsessed the concept of acquiring wealth. As he once said, “Man must have an idol—The amassing of wealth is one of the worst species of idolitary. No idol more debasing than the worship of money. Whatever I engage in I must push inordinately therefore should I be careful to choose that life which will be the most elevating in its character. “
Beyond the Book
Read "Ben Franklin: The Thirteen Necessary Virtues" by Farnam Street
Read "Compounding Knowledge" by Farnam Street
Read "Tiny Gains. Massive Results." by Farnam Street
Read "The Gospel of Wealth" by Andrew Carnegie
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