Notes from — The Way to Wealth: Benjamin Franklin

Naveen Kumar
Sep 4, 2018 · 3 min read

Benjamin Franklin was considered as one of the Founding fathers of United states. He was a polymath with several areas of interest right from politics, science and philosophy. Below are notes i have captured from his book The way to wealth. This book is formed through a collection of his famous essays he wrote throughout his life. I’ve highlighted the sentences which are super famous as Franklin’s aphorisms.

  1. We are taxed twice as much by our idleness, three times as much by our pride, and four times as much by our folly;
  2. The sleeping fox catches no poultry, and that There will be sleeping enough in the grave, How much more than is necessary do we spend in sleep, forgetting that The sleeping fox catches no poultry, and that There will be sleeping enough in the grave
  3. He that lives upon hopes will die fasting. There are no gains without pains.
  4. Plough deep while sluggards sleep, and you shall have corn to sell and to keep.
  5. If you were a servant, would you not be ashamed that a good master should catch you idle? Are you then your own master? Be ashamed to catch yourself idle, when there is so much to be done for yourself, your family, your country, and your king. Handle your tools without mittens; remember, The cat in gloves catches no mice, as Poor Richard says.
  6. It is true there is much to be done, and perhaps you are weak-handed; but stick to it steadily, and you will see great effects; for Constant dropping wears away stones; and Little strokes fell great oaks.
  7. To oversee workmen, is to leave them your purse open. Trusting too much to others’ care is the ruin of many; for In the affairs of this world men are saved, not by faith, but by the want of it; but a man’s own care is profitable; for, If you would have a faithful servant, and one that you like, serve yourself.
  8. With your expensive follies, and you will not then have so much cause to complain of hard times, heavy taxes, and chargeable families; for Women and wine, game and deceit, Make the wealth small and the want great.
  9. Many a little makes a mickle. Beware of little expenses; A small leak will sink a great ship, as Poor Richard says; and again, Who dainties love, shall beggars prove; and moreover, Fools make feasts, and wise men eat them.
  10. What use is this pride of appearance, for which so much is risked, so much is suffered? It cannot promote health, nor ease pain; it makes no increase of merit in the person; it creates envy; it hastens misfortune.
  11. Think what you do when you run in debt: you give another power over your liberty. If you cannot pay at the time, you will be ashamed to see your creditor; you will be in fear when you speak to him; you will make poor, sneaking excuses, and by degrees come to lose your honesty and sink into base lying.Rather go to bed supper-less, than in debt.
  12. Poor Richard says, Creditors have better memories than debtors; and Creditors are a superstitious sect, great observers of set days and times. The day comes round before you are aware, and the demand is made before you are prepared to satisfy it; or, if you bear your debt in mind, the term, which at first seemed so long, will, as it lessens, appear extremely short.
  13. He that kills a breeding sow destroys all her offspring to the thousandth generation.
  14. The sound of your hammer at five in the morning or nine at night, heard by a creditor, makes him easy six months longer. But if he sees you at a billiard table or hears your voice in a tavern when you should be at work, he sends for his money the next day.
  15. Gain may be temporary and uncertain, but ever, while you live, expense is constant and certain; and It is easier to build two chimneys, than to keep one in fuel, as Poor Richard says;

Naveen Kumar

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Another Atom, in the universe of atoms :)

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