Year read: 2014
How strongly I recommend it: 10/10
(See my list of books I've read, for more.)Go to the Amazon page for details and reviews.
One thing to implement in my life:
Discipline. Ben Franklin was mostly a self-taught man. What I mean by self-taught is that he sought out individuals and resources to learn himself. He took his education into his own hands. He learned to write effectively by taking pieces of writing that he admired and attempting to rewrite them. He would deconstruct the article trying to understand why the author wrote it this way, used the words they used, and how he can do this in his own writings.
He practiced diligently through discipline. You have probably seen an image of his daily schedule (posted below) in many blog posts about routines.
Ben Franklin’s schedule
He created 13 virtues that he used to structure his life:
- Temperance
- Silence
- Order
- Resolution
- Frugality
- Industry
- Sincerity
- Justice
- Moderation
- Cleanliness
- Tranquility
- Chasity
- Humility
Quotes
- “From a child, I was fond of reading, and all the little money that came into my hands was ever laid out in books.”
- “The modest way in which I proposed my opinions procured them a reader reception and less contradiction.”
- “…it is hard for an empty sack to stand upright.”
An old maximum (borrowing a wealthy man’s most sacred book):
“He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another, than he whom you yourself have obliged.”
Go to the Amazon page for details and reviews.