Take Root Franklin In (2024)

FAQs

How did Franklin go about achieving his virtues and how does that work for him? ›

Franklin allotted himself one week to acquire each new virtue. And in order to see his progress, he made a record book and gave himself a black mark each time he failed to exhibit a virtue on which he was working.

At this point Keimer offered Franklin large yearly wages to manage his printing-house. Though Franklin wanted no more to do with the man, he accepted the offer because he found no other work.

According to Franklin's memoirs, his bold goal was to arrive at “moral perfection.” I wished to live without committing any fault at any time; I would conquer all that either natural inclination, custom, or company might lead me into.

He finds that Order is the most difficult for him to acquire, partly because Franklin's good memory makes Order not as necessary. However, Franklin ends up being pleased with his inability to perfect all his virtues, deciding, "a speckled axe is best....

Franklin would take a single virtue at a time, work on it for a week and then move on to the next. Trying to fix everything that's wrong with you all at once is overwhelming, he decided. The virtuous path needs to be broken down to give each area some concentrated time of intention and effort.

The key to Franklin's success was his drive to constantly improve himself and accomplish his ambitions. In 1726, at the age of 20, Ben Franklin set his loftiest goal: the attainment of moral perfection. I conceiv'd the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection.

I concluded, at length, that the mere speculative conviction that it was our interest to be completely virtuous, was not sufficient to prevent our slipping; and that the contrary habits must be broken, and good ones acquired and established, before we can have any dependence on a steady, uniform rectitude of conduct.

Though Franklin was industrious and successful in the career sense of that term, he knew that a truly successful life lay in the pursuit of something beyond personal advancement—in living a life of character.

One setback that stopped Franklin from achieving his goal of mastering the virtues was that while trying to live out one virtue, he would fail at another. Franklin believed in practicing thirteen virtues, including temperance, silence, and industry, among others.

Which reminder from poor Richard's almanack connects best to Franklin's ideas about trying to become a better person? ›

Which reminder from poor Richard's almanacs connects best to Franklin's ideas about trying to become a better person? "Tis easier to prevent bad habits than to break them."

Explanation: The descendants of Benjamin Franklin would have benefitted from his example as he hoped they would because he lived a successful life which is proof that his principles were right and accurate. This would serve as a motivation for them to follow his path and also turn out well.

But Franklin's success didn't derive from good content alone. He and his wife collected cotton rags (the raw material of paper), invested in setting up paper mills, and eventually ran a thriving wholesale paper business.

He identified thirteen virtues that he believed were important, including temperance, silence, order, and humility.To develop these virtues, Franklin created a system in which he would focus on one virtue per week. He would track his progress and try to improve each week, building on the previous week's work.

While Franklin never accomplished his goal of moral perfection, and had some notable flaws (womanizing and his love of beer probably gave him problems with chastity and temperance), he felt he benefited from the attempt at it.

Franklin became a successful newspaper editor and printer in Philadelphia, the leading city in the colonies, publishing the Pennsylvania Gazette at age 23. He became wealthy publishing this and Poor Richard's Almanack, which he wrote under the pseudonym "Richard Saunders".