Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
by Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin is one of remarkable individuals that ever existed. He was not only part of the founding fathers of the United States but also the founder of the University of Pennsylvania, a great businessman and even a diplomat who was sent to England as a representative from Pennsylvania. As a man, he had such a diverse skill set during his lifetime ranging from science, literary aptitude to musical performance. He also wrote an almanac that became popular under the pseudonym Richard Saunders. It was called “ Poor Richard’s Almanac” where it contains some of the common sayings that we know of today. All of these information can be found inside his own autobiography.
Drive thy Business, let not that drive thee; and Early to Bed, and early to rise, makes a Man healthy, wealthy, and wise.
With all of his remarkable achievements, through his own autobiography he lays out his childhood to his prime days. One thing that I personally notice is that Benjamin Franklin values time. It is expressed not only in this Poor Richard’s Almanac that I read previously but also very well stated in his autobiography. In his autobiography he takes you traveling through time and inside this biography, you can find his thirst for knowledge and fondness for reading.
From a child I was fond of reading, and all the little money that came into my hands was ever laid out in books.
Benjamin had a supportive father who eventually sent him to grammar school because he would make a good scholar. His “bookish” inclination made him a printer and eventually work for his brother James in Boston. Sometime later, he started living in Pennsylvania and as a book lover, he noticed that there was no good book shop so he decided to establish a public subscription library. He started by making some agreement with the promising subscribers and eventually opened the library. With this library in town, he managed to afford constant study and he mentioned that “reading was the only amusement I allowed myself” whereas he mentioned that people his age were going to clubs, games and other forms of entertainment.
Young Benjamin also established 13 virtues in his life that he attempted in doing daily. Some of the virtues include “Temperance’” where he mentioned to eat moderately and “drink not to elevation.” And as I previously mentioned about his seemingly obsession with time, in his virtue, he said
6. Industry Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions
He was trying to do all of that and eventually to accomplish his virtues, he made a schedule which is quite famous among self-improvement and productivity niche today. Benjamin Franklin’s schedule basically starts from 5 AM to 10 PM where he in his book lays out what he did during the 24 hours. He was, according to his schedule, sleeping 6 hours/day.
In the end, in his autobiography, he was also including some letters that he wrote to his acquaintances and that ended the book, from this remarkable man.
I stumbled upon his book many years ago but only about last week, I started reading Poor Richard's Almanac with the selected version of it. That eventually made me curious about Benjamin Franklin and from Project Gutenberg, I found this autobiography. I personally think that his wisdom is quite timeless and still relevant till today. If you’re looking for bite sized reading, the almanac has a lot of wisdom that you can apply into your life or learn from it.
What is quite striking to me is that he created 13 virtues and it inspired me to rethink something similar that would be the guide of my mission and goals in life. Those 13 virtues was the anchor’s from Benjamin’s life and schedule and as you know, he accomplished quite a lot in this lifetime. That being said, almost all of his sayings are my favorite quotes but most importantly, this one sticks with me like a glue
Buy what thou hast no Need of, and ere long thou shalt sell thy Necessaries.
I certainly recommend this book for anyone to read. It’s also friendly to all ages and I have to say, the younger they get to be introduced to this book, the better it will be. That being said, see you in my next book review!
Latest Book Pick
Anthem (1938) Ayn Rand Review
One of the gateways to understanding Ayn Rand and her philosophy is through reading the short novel " Anthem" a dystopian novel that serves as cautionary tale to excessive collectivism. Published back in 1938, it is quite earlier than the famous dystopian novel by Orwell 1984 which was published in 1949. Today, I believe it is necessary for anyone to reflect upon the state of excessive collectivism in which I think, the world is starting to strip individual thoughts, innovations and there's barely room for any "ego" to thrive. The word "ego" and "egoist" , even "individual" or "individualist" , is often associated with being in the "bad" moral spectrum and is frowned upon. I certainly beg to differ, especially because having ego and being an individual can be a good thing. Anthem is certainly the book to understand, reflect , even scrutinize the idea of Ego and collectivism.
Thumbnail created with canva book cover screenshot from Project Gutenberg library
 | 𝘔𝘢𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢 & 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘳 . 𝘈 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨, 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯! 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘈 𝘳𝘦-𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰. |
I've been in search for inspirational books, not just ones that appear objective but from a personal point of view, where their actual thoughts and experiences are shared. I'll certainly check this out. Not sure if it's available in soft copy. Benjamin Franklin sounds like such an impactful person.
Benjamin Franklin is also a polymath and his routine and life is quite fascinating. He really values time too and he wasn't from a well-off family as well. You should check out this book.
I would definitely do that. Thank you for sharing it with us.🌺
Years ago I read a biography of Benjamin Franklin, by then I was studying at the university and I read it in a hurry, but I remember that he asked those who he did a favor to pay him back by doing a favor to another, it seemed to me a very interesting form of solidarity and from time to time I apply that philosophy of life.
He has a lot of good wisdom and some of them I resonate with too, like eating in moderation. I am trying to read it again sometime this week because the lessons are quite timeless too.
That book was greatly enjoyed by one of the Argentinian presidents of 19th century, Sarmiento, whom had also lived for some time in US and was a selfeducated man (he did go to primary school but paid no much heed to it and would later learn what he wanted or needed of his own accord)
Have you read the book? I mean it's pretty interesting and if you haven't, I would suggest you to check it out.
I've not read it yet, but I will in the future
I have heard about this book, but now I got interest to read this book 😊Such an inspirational book.