Benjamin Franklin: An American Life — Book Review & Quotes

Review

This book exposed me to one of the first great leaders of the American middle-class, a pioneer in self-improvement, the best case study of hobbyist scientist, and the elder statesman of the founding fathers. I’ve had the chance to read several biographies of founding fathers over the last few years, from John Adams to Alexander Hamilton. I didn’t relate most closely to Franklin, but I did see the most practicality from his life that I could apply to mine.

Among the many things that struck me were categorically (1) his approach to self-improvement and hard work, (2) his representativeness of the middle class and the American Dream, and (3) the necessity of compromise in effective democracies and really any organization led by the voice of the people.

Self-Improvement & Hard Work

Franklin had 4 values of being a useful human being; he had 13 virtues to pursue consistent improvement, and he constantly gathered organizations like his Junto and the American Philosophical Society to grow his mind and knowledge base. Having a system of improvement feels like a major portion of the journey to actually becoming better.

As it relates to hard work, there was one insight that I could relate to in a surprising way.

“Franklin became an apostle of being — and, just as important, of appearing to be — industrious. Even after he became successful, he made a show of personally carting the rolls of paper he bought in a wheelbarrow down the street to his shop, rather than having a hired hand do it.”

This doesn’t mean that Franklin would deceive people and convince them he was working hard when he wasn’t. Instead, he recognized the value that came from people knowing how hard you were working, especially as a tradesman who needed to win the hearts and minds of customers. Making sure that your work is high quality, that it is consistent, but also that it is known.

Part of self-improvement is recognizing the contribution of others and the importance of listening:

“Franklin was worried that his fondness for conversation and eagerness to impress made him prone to ‘prattling, punning and joking, which only made me acceptable to trifling company.’ Knowledge, he realized, ‘was obtained rather by the use of the ear than of the tongue.’ So in the Junto, he began to work on his use of silence and gentle dialogue.”

The Junto was a group of fellow thinkers who came together to discuss. Since December 2017, I’ve had the chance to participate in my own version of the Junto with peers all around the country. We’ve had over 40 conversations on topics ranging from artificial intelligence to education to mortality and death to free speech; none of which am I expert in, but I’ve been able to walk away from those conversations with a deeper perspective and more informed view. And I’ve made broader leaps towards self-improvement through the interactions with that group than I ever have on my own.

The Middle Class & The American Dream

I would never have thought, before reading this book, of Franklin as the patron saint of the American Dream-fueled middle class. But one story perfectly summed up the difference between the Old World and the New, and how America had served Franklin so well:

“After a mid afternoon dinner hosted by Vergennes, Franklin had the honor, if not the pleasure, of being allowed to stand next to the queen, the famously haughty Marie-Antoinette, as she played at the gaming tables. Alone among the throng at Versailles, she seemed to have little appreciation for the man who, she had been told, had once been ‘a printer’s foreman.’ As she noted dismissively, a man of that background would never have been able to rise so high in Europe. Franklin would have proudly agreed.” #middleclass #AmericanDream

Compromise

Later in Franklin’s life he was able to be a part of the Constitutional Convention and shined a light on what I think the America of 2019 and beyond has begun to lose sight of. Compromise is necessary to reconcile the beliefs, and opinions, and fears, and foibles, of an entire complex nation. If we are unable to recognize the merit in the opinions of opposing perspectives then we can never understand how best to serve up effective compromise.

“During the Constitutional Convention…he was willing to compromise some of his beliefs to play a critical role in the conciliation that produced a near-perfect document. It could not have been accomplished if the hall had contained only crusaders who stood on unwavering principle. Compromisers may not make great heroes, but they do make great democracies.”

“For him, compromise was not only a practical approach but a moral one. Tolerance, humility, and a respect for others required it. On almost every issue for more than two centuries, this supposed fault has served the Constitution, and the nation it formed, quite well.”

Some Highlighted Quotes From The Book

“And thus the Puritan migration established the foundation fo some characteristics of Benjamin Franklin, and of America itself: a belief that spiritual salvation and secular success need not be at odds, that industriousness is next to godliness, and that free thought and free enterprise are integrally related.”

“What would have happened if Franklin had, in fact, received a formal academic education and gone to Harvard? Some historians such as Arthur Tourtellot argue that he would have been stripped of his ‘spontaneity,’ ‘intuitive’ literary style, ‘zest,’ ‘freshness,’ and the ‘unclutteredness’ of his mind. And indeed, Harvard has been known to do that and worse to some of its charges.”

“The print trade was a natural calling for Franklin. ‘From a child I was fond of reading,’ he recalled, ‘and all the little money that came into my hands was ever laid out in books.’”

“Being ‘disputatious,’ he concluded, was ‘a very bad habit’ because contradicting people produced ‘disgusts and perhaps enmities.’ Later in his life he would wryly say of disputing: ‘Persons of good sense, I have observed, seldom fall into it, except lawyers, university men, and men of all sorts that have been bred at Edinburgh.’” — Listen to understand; speak to be understood.

“As part of his self-improvement course, Franklin read the essays, took brief notes, and laid them aside for a few days. Then he tried to recreate the essay in his own words, after which he compared his composition to the original. Sometimes he would jumble up the notes he took, so that he would have to figure out on his own the best order to build the essay’s argument.” — How Franklin became a better writer

His rules of living as a rational creature:

1. It is necessary for me to be extremely frugal for some time, till I have paid what I owe.
2. To endeavor to speak truth in every instance; to give nobody expectations that are not likely to be answered, but aim at sincerity in every word and action — the most amiable excellence in a rational being
3. To apply myself industriously to whatever business I take in hand, and not divert my mind from my business by any foolish project of suddenly growing rich; for industry and patience are the surest means of plenty
4. I resolve to speak ill of no man whatever

“Franklin became an apostle of being — and, just as important, of appearing to be — industrious. Even after he became successful, he made a show of personally carting the rolls of paper he bought in a wheelbarrow down the street to his shop, rather than having a hired hand do it.”

In Franklin’s Junto — “There they discussed issues of the day, debated philosophical topics, devised schemes for self-improvement, and formed a network for the furtherance of their own careers.”

“Franklin was worried that his fondness for conversation and eagerness to impress made him prone to ‘prattling, punning and joking, which only made me acceptable to trifling company.’ Knowledge, he realized, ‘was obtained rather by the use of the ear than of the tongue.’ So in the Junto, he began to work on his use of silence and gentle dialogue.”

Topics of discussion in the Junto:

1. Have you met with any thing in the author you last read, remarkable, or suitable to be communicated to the Junto? Particularly in history, morality, poetry, physics, travels, mechanic arts, or other parts of knowledge?
2. What new story have you lately heard agreeable for telling in conversation?
3. Has any citizen in your knowledge failed in his business lately, and what have you heard of the cause?
4. Have you lately heard of any citizen’s thriving well, and by what means?
5. Have you lately heard how any present rich man, here or elsewhere, got his estate?
6. Do you know of any fellow citizen, who has lately done a worthy action, deserving praise and imitation? Or who has committed an error proper for us to be warned against and avoid?
7. What unhappy effects of intemperance have you lately observed or heard? Of imprudence? Of passion? Or of any other vice or folly?
8. What happy effects of temperance? Of prudence? Of moderation? Or of any other virtue?
9. Have you or any of your acquaintance been lately sick or wounded? If so, what remedies were used, and what were their effects?
10. Who do you know that are shortly going [on] voyages or journeys, if one should have occasion to send by them?
11. Do you think of any thing at present, in which the Junto may be serviceable to mankind? To their country, to their friends, or to themselves?
12. Hath any deserving stranger arrived in town since last meeting, that you heard of? And what have you heard or observed of his character or merits? and whether think you, it lies in the power of the Junto to oblige him, or encourage him as he deserves?
13. Do you know of any deserving young beginner lately set up, whom it lies in the power of the Junto any way to encourage?
14. Have you lately observed any defect in the laws, of which it would be proper to move the legislature an amendment? Or do you know of any beneficial law that is wanting?
15. Have you lately observed any encroachment on the just liberties of the people?
16. Hath any body attacked your reputation lately? And what can the Junto do towards securing it?
17. Is there any man whose friendship you want, and which the Junto, or any of them, can procure for you?
18. Have you lately heard any member’s character attacked, and how have you defended it?
19. Hath any man injured you, from whom it is in the power of the Junto to procure redress?
20. In what manner can the Junto, or any of them, assist you in any of your honourable designs?
21. Have you any weighty affair in hand, in which you think the advice of the Junto may be of service?
22. What benefits have you lately received from any man not present?
23. Is there any difficulty in matters of opinion, of justice, and injustice, which you would gladly have discussed at this time?
24. Do you see any thing amiss in the present customs or proceedings of the Junto, which might be amended?

“He expressed his credo as a publisher in a famous Gazette editorial ‘Apology for Printers,’ which remains on e of the best and most forceful defenses of a free press. ‘Printers are educated in the belief that when men differ in opinion, both sides ought equally to have the advantage of being heard by the public; and that when Truth and Error have fair play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter.’”

“But it also illustrates some complexities of Franklin’s character: his desire to tame his hard-to-govern passions by being practical, and the genuine fondness he felt for kindred companions. He was not given to starry-eyed soulful commitments or poetic love; instead, his emotional attachments tended to be the more prosaic bonds of affection that grew out of partnership, self-interest, collaboration, camaraderie, and good-humored kinship.”

“Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, and half shut afterwards.” (Poor Richard’s Almanac)

“One day, Andrews prevailed on him to sample his Sunday sermons, which Franklin did for five weeks. Unfortunately, he found them ‘uninteresting and unedifying since not a single moral principle was inculcated or enforced, their aim seeming to be rather to make us good Presbyterians than good citizens.”

“I think opinions should be judged by their influences and effects; and if a man holds none that tend to make him less virtuous or more vicious, it may be concluded that he holds none that are dangerous, which I hope is the case with me.”

Franklin’s 13 virtues:

• 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 employ’d 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, cloaths, 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.

“Mastering all of these thirteen virtues at once was ‘a task of more difficulty than I had imagined,’ Franklin recalled. The problem was that ‘while my care was employed in guarding against one fault, I was often surprised by another.’ So he decided to tackle them like a person who, ‘having a garden to weed, does not attempt to eradicate all the bad herbs at once, which would exceed his reach and his strength, but works on one of the beds at a time.”

“It also mistakenly confuses Franklin with the characters he create. The real Franklin was not a moral prude, and he did not dedicate his life to accumulating wealth. ’The general foible of mankind,’ he told a friend, is ‘in the pursuit of wealth to no end.’ His goal was to help aspiring tradesmen become more diligent, and thus more able to be useful and virtuous citizens.”

“This gregarious outlook would lead him, as a twenty something printer during the 1730s, to use his Junto to launch a variety of community organizations, including a lending library, fire brigade, and night watchmen corps, and later a hospital, militia, and college. ’The good men may do separately,’ he wrote, ‘is small compared to what they may do collectively.’”

“In doing so, he learned on of his pragmatic lessons about jealousy and modesty: he found that people were reluctant to support a ‘proposer of any useful project that might be supposed to raise one’s reputation.’ So he put himself ‘as much as I could out of sight’ and gave credit for the idea to his friends. This method worked so well that ‘I ever practiced it on such occasions.’”

“Franklin spent an hour or two each day reading the books in the library, ‘and thus repaired in some degree the loss of the learned education my father once intended for me.”

“As was often the case, Franklin was able to weave together seamlessly his financial interests with his civic desires and personal enthusiasms.”

“He proposed what was, in effect, an intercolonial Junto, to be called the American Philosophical Society. IT would be based in Philadelphia and include scientists and thinkers from other cities. They would share their studies by post, and abstracts would be sent to each member four times a year.”

“Their club was not very active at first — Franklin complained that its members were ‘very idle gentlemen” — but it eventually grew into a learned society that thrives to this day.”

“I would rather have it said,’ he wrote his mother, ‘He lived usefully,’ than, ‘He died rich.’”

“Franklin was not aspiring, by his retirement, to become merely an idle gentleman of leisure. He left his print shop because he was, in fact, eager to focus his undiminished ambition on other pursuits that beckoned: first science, then politics, then diplomacy and statecraft. As Poor Richard said in his almanac that year, ‘Lost time is never found again.’”

“In general, he would begin a scientific inquiry driven by pure intellectual curiosity and then seek a practical application for it.”

“Part of Franklin’s importance as a scientist was the clear writing he employed.”

“The new academy should not, he felt, train scholars merely to glorify God or to seek learning for its own sake. Instead, what should be cultivated was ‘an inclination joined with an ability to serve mankind, one’s country, friends and family.’ That, Franklin declared in conclusion, ’should indeed be the great aim and end of all learning.’”

“Out of this arose a vision of America as a nation where people, whatever their birth or social class, could rise (as he did) to wealth and status based on their willingness to be industrious and cultivate their virtues.”

“’Some may think these trifling matters not worth minding,’ Franklin said, but they should remember that ‘human felicity is produced…by little advances that occur everyday.’”

“‘Reasonable, sensible men can always make a reasonable scheme appear such to other reasonable men.’”

“‘Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.’”

“For the burgeoning new class of writers, journalists, professionals, and intellectuals whose company Franklin preferred, there were the coffeehouses. London had more than five hundred at the time. They contained newspapers and periodicals for the patrons to read and tables around which discussion clubs could be formed.”

“American democracy was built on a foundation of unbridled free speech. In the centuries since then, the nations that have thrived have been those, like America, that are most comfortable with the cacophony, and even occasional messiness, that comes from robust discourse.”

“When Englishmen such as his father had immigrated to a new land, they had bred a new type of people. As Franklin repeatedly stressed in his letters to his son, America should not replicate the rigid ruling hierarchies of the Old World, the aristocratic structures and feudal social orders based on birth rather than merit. Instead, its strength would be its creation of a proud middling people, a class of frugal and industrious shopkeepers and tradesmen who were assertive of their rights and proud of their status.”

Temple Franklin, Benjamin Franklin’s grandson and who was mostly raised by his grandfather, was described as “lanky, fun-loving, and as disorganized as most 15-year olds.” Contrast that with John Quincy Adams who was probably more put together as a 10-year old than most adults. An interesting evaluation of alternative styles to parenting?

“‘It is a common observation here that our cause is the cause of all mankind, and that we are fighting for their liberty in defending our own.’”

Referring to a British spy coming to Paris to meet secretly with the American delegation during the Revolution — “Wentworth arrived in Paris in mid-December, just as the Americans were meeting with Vergennes, and sent a missive to Silas Deane that was worthy of a British spy: a gentleman who wished to meet him, it said, could be found the next morning in a coach at a specified place on the road to Passy, or later at an exhibition in the Luxembourg Gallery, or at the public baths at Seine, where Deane would find a note giving the room number to use. Deane sent a reply worthy of an American: he would be in his office, where he would be happy to see anyone who wanted to come by.”

“After a mid afternoon dinner hosted by Vergennes, Franklin had the honor, if not the pleasure, of being allowed to stand next to the queen, the famously haughty Marie-Antoinette, as she played at the gaming tables. Alone among the throng at Versailles, she seemed to have little appreciation for the man who, she had been told, had once been ‘a printer’s foreman.’ As she noted dismissively, a man of that background would never have been able to rise so high in Europe. Franklin would have proudly agreed.” #middleclass #AmericanDream

“‘In colonial America it was sinful to look idle, in France it was vulgar to look busy.’”

“‘All wars are follies, very expensive, and very mischievous ones. When will mankind be convinced of this and agree to settle their differences by arbitration? Were they to do it, even by the cast of a die, it would be better than by fighting and destroying each other.’”

“‘There hardly ever existed such a thing as a bad peace, or a good war.’”

“Instead of rich proprietors and struggling tenants, ‘most people cultivate their own lands’ or follow some craft or trade. Franklin was particularly harsh on those who sought hereditary privilege or who had ’no other quality to recommend him but his birth.’ In America, he said, ‘people do not enquire of a stranger, What is he? but, What can he do?’” — It is interesting that we spent hundreds of years trying to make sure people didn’t succeed in life just because of who their family is and the circumstances into which they were born; and now our time is spent trying to make sure that people don’t fail for the same circumstances.

“Franklin’s affection for the middle class and its virtues of hard work and frugality meant that his social theories tended to be a blend of conservatism (as we have seen, he was dubious of generous welfare laws that led to dependency among the poor) and populism (he was opposed to the privileges of inheritance and to wealth idly gained through ownership of large estates). In 1784, he expanded on these ideas by questioning the morality of excess personal luxuries.”

“However, too much time spent seeking luxuries was wasteful and a ‘public evil.’ So he suggested that America should impose heavy duties on the importation of frivolous fineries.”

In a letter to his loyalist Tory son who spent most of the Revolution in prison, after his son attempted reconciliation — “‘We are men, all subject to errors. Our opinions are not in our own power; they are formed and governed much by circumstances, that are often as inexplicable as they are irresistible. Your situation was such that few would have censured your remaining neuter, though there are natural duties which precede political ones.’”

“‘I hardly know how to justify building a library at an age that will soon oblige me to quit it, but we are apt to forget that we are grown old, and building is an amusement.’”

During the Constitutional Convention — “‘Declarations of a fixed opinion, and of determined resolution never to change it, neither enlighten nor convince us,’ he said. ‘Positiveness and warmth on one side, naturally beget their like on the other.’ He had personally been willing, he said, to revise many of his opinions, including the desirability of a unicameral legislature. Now it was time for all members to compromise.”

“‘The longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth — that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?’”

“When Hamilton favored making the president a near-monarch to be chosen for life, Franklin noted that he provided living proof that a person’s life sometimes lasted longer than his mental and physical prime. Instead, it would be more democratic to relegate the president to the role of average citizen after his term. The argument that ‘returning to the mass of the people was degrading,’ he said, ‘was contrary to republican principles. In free Governments the rulers are the servants, and the people their superiors and sovereigns. For the former therefore to return among the latter was not to degrade but to promote them.’”

“‘There are two passions which have a powerful influence int he affairs of men. These are ambition and avarice; the love of power and the love of money. Separately, each of these has great force in prompting men to action; but, when united in view of the same object, they have in many minds the most violent effects… And of what kind are the men that will strive for this profitable preeminence, through all the bustle of cabal, the heat of contentions, the infinite mutual abuse of parties, tearing to pieces the best of characters? It will not be the wise and moderate, the lovers of peace and good order, the men fittest for the trust. It will be the bold and the violent, the men of strong passions and indefatigable activity in their selfish pursuits.’”

“With the wisdom of a patient chess player and the practicality of a scientist, Franklin realized that they had succeeded not because they were self-assured, but because they were willing to concede that they might be fallible.”

“‘I confess that I do not entirely approve this Constitution at present; but sir, I am not sure I shall ever approve it: For, having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise. It is therefore that, the older I grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment and pay more respect to the judgment of others. Most men, indeed as well as most sects in religion, think themselves in possession of all truth, and that wherever others differ from them, it is so far error. Steele, a Protestant, in a dedication, tells the Pope that the only difference between our two churches in their opinions of the certainty of their doctrine is, the Roman Church is infallible, and the Church of England is never wrong. But, though many private persons think almost as highly of their own infallibility as of that of their sect, few express it so naturally as a certain French lady, who, in a little dispute with her sister said: ‘I don’t know how i happens, sister, but I meet with nobody but myself that is always in the right.’ In these sentiments, sir, I agree to this Constitution with all its faults — if they are such — because I think of a general government necessary for us…I doubt, too, whether any other convention we can obtain may be able to make a better Constitution; for, when you assemble a number of men, to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinions, their local interests, and their selfish views. From such an assembly can a perfect production be expected? It therefore astonishes me, sir, to find this system approaching so near to perfection as it does; and I think it will astonish our enemies who are waiting with confidence to hear that our councils are confounded like those of the builders of Babel, and that our States are on the point of separation, only to meet hereafter for the purpose of cutting one’s throats. Thus I consent, sir, to this Constitution because I expect no better, and because I am not sure that it is not the best.”

“According to a tale recorded by James McHenry of Maryland, he made his point in a pithier way to an anxious lady named Mrs. Powel, who accosted him outside the hall. What type of government, she asked, have you delegates given us? To which he replied, ‘A republic, madam, if you can keep it.’”

“‘A stand for compromise,’ Oberg points out, ‘is not the stuff of heroism, virtue, or moral certainty. But it is the essence of the democratic process.’”

“The Constitution, wrote Henry May in his book The Enlightenment in America, reflected ‘all the virtues of the moderate Enlightenment, and also one of its faults: the belief that everything can be settled by compromise.’ For Franklin, who embodied the Enlightenment and its spirit of compromise, this was hardly a fault. For him, compromise was not only a practical approach but a moral one. Tolerance, humility, and a respect for others required it. On almost every issue for more than two centuries, this supposed fault has served the Constitution, and the nation it formed, quite well.”

“When a town in Massachusetts named itself Franklin in 1785 and asked him to donate a church bell, he told them to forsake the steeple and build a library, for which he sent ‘books instead of a bell, sense being preferable to sound.’”

“‘You yourself may find it easy to live a virtuous life without the assistance afforded by religion,’ he said, ‘but think how great a proportion of mankind consists of weak and ignorant men and women, and of inexperienced and inconsiderate youth of both sexes, who have need of the motives of religion to restrain them from vice.’”

“But on the issue of whether Jesus was divine, he provided a surprisingly candid and wry response. ‘I have,’ he declared, ’some doubts as to his divinity; though it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an opportunity of knowing the truth with less trouble.’”

In Franklin’s will, left to “The aspiring tradesmen of Boston and Philadelphia” — “The most unusual provision in the codicil to Franklin’s will was a trust he established. He noted that, unlike the others founders of the country, he was born poor and had been helped in his rise by those who supported him as a struggling artisan. ‘I wish to be useful even after my death, if possible, in forming and advancing other young men that may be serviceable to their country.’ So he designated the $2,000 he had earned as President of Pennsylvania — citing his often expressed belief that officials should serve without pay — to be split between the towns of Boston and Philadelphia and provided as loans, ‘at 5 percent per annum, to such young married artificers’ who had served apprenticeships and were now seeking to establish their own businesses.”

“‘Mankind divides into two classes,’ the Nation magazine declared in 1868: the ’natural-born lovers’ and the “natural-born haters’ of Benjamin Franklin. One reason for this split is that he does not, despite what some commentators claim, embody the American character. Instead, he embodies one aspect of it. He represents one side of a national dichotomy that has existed since the days when he and Jonathan Edwards stood as contrasting cultural figures. On one side were those, like Edwards and the Mather family, who believed in an anointed elect and in salvation through God’s grace alone. They tended to have a religious fervor, a sense of social class and hierarchy, and an appreciation for exalted values over earthly ones. On the other side were the Franklins, those who believed in salvation through good works, whose religion was benevolent and tolerant, and who were unabashedly striving and upwardly mobile.”

“‘All Franklin’s moral attitudes,’ wrote Weber, ‘are colored with utilitarianism,’ and he accused Franklin of believing only in ’the earning of more and more money combined with the strict avoidance of all spontaneous engagement of life.’” — As Isaacson previously pointed out, this is more an accusation directed at Franklin’s character of Poor Richard than of Franklin himself

“As part of the essay, Lawrence rewrote Franklin’s thirteen virtues to make them more to his romantic liking. Instead of Franklin’s definition of industry (‘Be always employed in something useful’) Lawrence substituted ’Serve the Holy Ghost; never serve mankind.’ Instead of Franklin’s definition of justice (‘Wrong none by doing injuries’), Lawrence proclaimed, ’The only justice is to follow the sincere intuition of the soul, angry or gentle.’” — Romanticism is, in most ways, trash.

“The Great Depression of the 1930s reminded people that the virtues of industry and frugality, of helping others and making sure that the community held together, did not deserve to be diminished as trivial or mundane.” — Thrift can only be effectively belittled in times of luxury

“Franklin also became the patron saint of the self-help movement. Dale Carnegie studied the Autobiography when writing How To Win Friends And Influence People, which, after its publication in 1937, helped launch a craze that persists to this day for books featuring simple rules and secrets about how to succeed in business and in life.”

“‘We may discover,’ Morgan declared, ‘a man with a wisdom about himself that comes only to the great of heart.’”

“‘Upon the whole, I am much disposed to like the world as I find it, and to doubt my own judgment as to what would mend it.’”

“Franklin did not view penny saving as an end in itself but as a path that permitted young tradesmen to be able to display higher virtues, community spirit, and citizenship. ‘It is hard for an empty sack to stand upright,’ both he and Poor Richard proclaimed.”

“During the Constitutional Convention, for example, he was willing to compromise some of his beliefs to play a critical role in the conciliation that produced a near-perfect document. It could not have been accomplished if the hall had contained only crusaders who stood on unwavering principle. Compromisers may not make great heroes, but they do make great democracies.”

“He helped to create, and came to symbolize, a new political order in which rights and power were based not on happen-stance of heritage but on merit and virtue and hard work.”

“He snatched lightning from the sky and the scepter from tyrants.”

“Through it all, he trusted the hearts and minds of his fellow leather-aprons more than he did those of any inbred elite. He saw middle-class values as a source of social strength, not as something to be derided. His guiding principle was a ‘dislike of everything that tended to debase the spirit of the common people.’ Few of his fellow founders felt this comfort with democracy so fully, and none so intuitively.”