The 13 Virtues of Benjamin Franklin...



Benjamin Franklin

 Good Morning, Afternoon or Good Evening wherever you may

be. Thank You for stopping by our site today. I hope this finds

you in good spirits. I wanted to share with you today my findings

upon reading the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. There

are many highlights within the book that I may write more about

in the future, but, todays post will be on what he would have

published "The Art of Virtue".

     Benjamin Franklin conceived a bold and arduous

project of arriving at moral perfection. His intention being to

acquire the habitude of all these virtues. His thought process was

of widdling down these to 13 Virtues with very short precepts

attached to them. Here I will list all of them.

1. TEMPERANCE.- Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.

2. SILENCE.- Speak not but what may benefit others or

                        yourself; avoid trifling conversation.

3. ORDER.- Let all your things have their places;

                     Let each part of your buisness have it's time.

4. RESOLUTION.- Resolve to perform what you ought;

                                Perform without fail what you resolve.

5. FRUGALITY.- Make no expense but to do good to others or

                              yourself; that is, waste nothing.

6. INDUSTRY.- Lose no time; be always employed in something

                           useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.

7. SINCERITY.- Use no hurtful deciet; Think innocently and

                            justly; and, if you speak, speak accordingly.

8. JUSTICE.- Wrong none by doing injuries; or omitting the

                       benefits that are your duty.

9. MODERATION.- Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries;

                                  So much as you think they deserve.

10. CLEANLINESS.- Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes

                                    or habitation.

11. TRANQUILITY.- Be not disturbed at trifles or at accidents

                                    common or unavoidable.

12. CHASITY............

13. HUMILITY.- Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

      He knew that giving all of these his attention at once to be

a distraction. So to make it a habit to master each one he made

a little book allotting a page for each virtue. Ruled each page

with red ink, so as to have seven colums, one for each day of

the week, marking each column with a letter for the day. Then

crossed these columns with tirteen red lines. Marking the begininng of each line with the first letter of the virtues. With black ink marking a spot upon examination any faults in regards

to the virtue of the week. Each week by order of virtues it would

be the goal by the end of the thirteen weeks to not have any

black spots.

     I thought this was a very lofty and ambitious goal to undertake, as did he. But in the pursuit of them is where you find out more of yourself and that of others. I want to attempt

this for myself and give this exercise a worthwhile try for the

thirteen weeks it prescribes.

     The book written by him was fascinating and left me wanting to find out more about him at much grearter lengths. You can find this Autobiography for free in Google Books, definetely

worth the read.

     I want to Thank You again for stopping by today to read

our new post. I hope it has helped you in some way on your

own journey. Always remember to keep....

Living out Louder

D.V