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Benjamin Franklin and his success
Category: From the life of the great | 4 comments
It is hardly possible to be considered an educated person if you do not know the biography (or at least the main achievements) of Benjamin Franklin – a man whose image is on a hundred dollar bill.
This unique person was born on January 17, 1706 and lived for 84 years.
By his vocation, he was what is now called universal geniuses (polymaths), and not just great people.
To list the directions of its activities, an article will not be enough.
However, he went down in history as a politician, inventor, scientist, diplomat, writer, publisher and journalist, as well as just an extremely influential person, whose authority was treated with great respect by both the most famous rich people of that time and kings and presidents.
In this text, we will give the main, in our opinion, moments from the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.
Actually, this work is considered one of the best classical textbooks for those who want to become a successful person.
Anyone, a young man engaged in self improvement, is simply obliged to read this book, especially since it is not expensive (gift editions do not count).
For general development, you can read an interesting fact from the life of Benjamin Franklin.
Let's get acquainted with the main achievements of our genius:
Invented a lightning rod; Invented bifocal glasses; Invented the Franklin oven;
He made many outstanding discoveries in the field of electricity; Created the first detailed map of the Gulf Stream; Founded the first public library in the United States; Founded the Philadelphia Academy;
Participated in the creation of the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution;
He was actively engaged in publishing activities.
A truly impressive list, worthy of several lives of the most talented people!
The formation of Franklin's personality
According to Franklin himself, from early childhood he saved all his money for the purchase of books.
It should be understood that Benjamin's passion for knowledge manifested itself in his deep childhood, when he reread his father's library from cover to cover.
It mainly consisted of religious polemical works.
Franklin was particularly fond of the work of John Bunyan, the author of the allegorical narratives "Pilgrim's Journey"and" Spiritual War".
Among other books, one can distinguish "Biographies" of Plutarch," Experience about Projects " by Daniel Defoe, as well as Dr. Mezer's essay "Experiments on How to do Good".
It was the things listed above that had a huge impact on the formation of the personality of Benjamin Franklin.
One day, Xenophon's "Memoirs of Socrates" fell into the hands of Franklin.
This work describes the unique Socratic method of cognition and persuasion.
It consists in not proving anything, but only asking questions.
If the opponent is wrong, then with the help of correctly asked questions, you can quickly show all his inconsistency.
If the interlocutor is right, then you also do not remain at a loss, since you only asked questions, and did not assert anything.
Being passionate about this method of discussion, Benjamin achieved outstanding results in it, as he constantly practiced.
This brought him many victories in disputes with interlocutors older and more authoritative than himself.
However, after a few years, Franklin decided to completely abandon this method, due to the fact that this system of argument assumed a certain amount of self confidence and pride of the questioner.
It was replaced by absolute modesty, which made Franklin's fame known all over the world.
Here I immediately remember the aphorism that you can be modest without being wise, but you canot be wise without being modest!
Instead of self confident phrases like "undoubtedly", "of course", "beyond any doubt", etc., Franklin began to use extremely restrained and modest turns of speech: "It seems to me that...", " Due to certain circumstances, I believe..."
, "If I am not mistaken, then..."
, "You are probably right, but if you look from the other side..." and so on.
It was this manner of expression that played a very decisive role in the most difficult life situations of Benjamin Franklin.
People subconsciously take your side if you do not blindly, with foam at the mouth, assert this or that, but humbly express an exact thought in the form of an idea for reflection.
According to Benjamin himself, this principle of communication with people became the most important factor in the fact that respectable citizens began to consider his opinion so early.
Here it is very fair to quote the phrase of a wise man: "People should be taught as if you did not teach them, and unfamiliar things should be presented as forgotten."
An interesting fact from life
There were a lot of interesting facts in the life of our character, one of which we will now give.
Franklin was very fond of fried fish, but after some time he decided to become a vegetarian.
For several years, he managed to do without eating animal organisms.
However, being on a long voyage and having a limited choice of food, Benjamin sat on the deck and watched the fish being cleaned and prepared for frying.
Suddenly seeing that many small fish were being taken out of the stomach of a big fish, he exclaimed in his heart: "Well, if you eat each other, then why canot I eat you"!
Thus, sound logic helped to solve the difficult, at first glance, philosophical problem of whether it is humane to eat animals.
Since then, Franklin has not raised the issue of vegetarianism.
Public activities of Benjamin Franklin
Being a very thrifty person, Benjamin was able to make do with simple food even when he became a very wealthy gentleman.
He considered hard work and dedication to be the most important qualities of any person and citizen.
Without wasting time either on gatherings in pubs, or on games and other amusements, the young Franklin worked in his printing house day and night.
When he entered the path of public life, his powerful and creative intellect gave rise to many social projects.
However, envious people began to claim that this young upstart wants to become famous at the expense of public achievements, attributing them to himself personally.
This is what made Benjamin change his position on this issue.
Since then, any project invented by Franklin himself has been issued as the idea of a particular community or group of famous people.
This practice served the young figure well and allowed him to implement many of his initiatives.
For example, the city police and the fire department in Philadelphia are, by and large, the merit of Franklin.
Similar things were already organized according to this model in other cities of America.
Benjamin Franklin and His Morality
In addition to outstanding achievements in terms of science and the state structure of society, Benjamin Franklin constantly improved himself.
He had a special plan, according to which he monitored the development of a specific property of virtue every week.
Each day was marked in a special notebook with a plus if the quality was manifested, and a minus if it was not possible to achieve success.
Thus, four times a year, each virtue was drilled for a whole week.
These are the things that an outstanding American wanted to achieve:
FRANKLIN'S MORAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN:
Abstinence - Not to eat to satiety, not to drink to intoxication.
Silence - To say only what can benefit me or another; to avoid empty conversations.
Order - Keep all your things in their places; have your own time for each activity.
Determination - To decide to do what should be done; to strictly carry out what is decided.
Thrift is to spend money only on what benefits me or others, that is, not to waste anything.
Diligence - Not to waste time in vain; to be always busy with something useful; to refuse all unnecessary actions.
Sincerity - Not to cause harmful deception, to have pure and fair thoughts; in conversation, also adhere to this rule.
Justice - Do not harm anyone; do not commit injustice and do not omit good deeds, which are among your duties.
Moderation To avoid extremes; to restrain, as far as you consider it appropriate, the feeling of resentment from injustices.
Cleanliness - Do not allow bodily uncleanness; observe neatness in clothing and in the home.
Calmness - Do not worry about trifles and about ordinary or unavoidable cases.
Chastity - Be chaste in your thoughts, control your instincts.
Modesty is to imitate Jesus and Socrates.
Benjamin Franklin and Religion
I must say that although Benjamin Franklin was not a religious person, he still believed in God and that any religion is good if it brings good and order to a person's life.
Here is a brief summary of Franklin's views, given by him in his autobiography:
"There is one God who created the whole world.
By His providence He rules the world.
He should be worshipped through reverence, prayer and thanksgiving.
The most pleasing service to God is to do good to people.
The soul is immortal.
God will certainly reward virtue and punish vice either here or in the afterlife."
Moreover, he composed several prayers of his own, and pronounced them before God every morning.
Here is one of them: "Oh, Almighty God!
Generous Father!
Merciful Mentor!
Strengthen in me the wisdom that would reveal the Truth to me.
Strengthen me in my determination to do what is dictated by this wisdom.
Accept my sincere actions aimed at Your children as my only reward for Your tireless care for me."
The daily routine of Benjamin Franklin
There are many myths about the daily routine of Benjamin Franklin on the Internet.
Below is the mode of the day, which is literally indicated in the autobiography of the scientist:
Interested?
We hope that the brief biography of Benjamin Franklin and his activities have interested you, and you will want to learn many more interesting facts about this amazing man.
Be sure to read the full biography of the genius.
The pleasure is guaranteed to you!
The author himself has repeatedly said that as the handwriting is corrected by repeated repetition of calligraphic writing, so life can change with regular reference to the biographies of outstanding figures of all times and peoples.
It is safe to add that people like Benjamin Franklin do not die, but remain in history as geniuses who changed the world.
Read, develop and improve every day, because in old age it will be too late to regret a meaninglessly lived life.
Good luck to all!
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4 comments
Yulia 19.05.2016
Great article!
He was a unique person, I love his autobiography — one of the best works on motivation and self development.
Franklin is a real genius, without a doubt!
To answer
Zinaida 11.10.2016
I wish there were more people like Benjamin Franklin.
And then it seems that there are no great people in the world anymore, but only some greedy and money mad types!
If our young people were equal to such wonderful geniuses as the hero of your article, maybe the world would become much better in many ways.
I want to believe that these interesting facts will really be interesting to the new generation.
With uv.
Zinaida
To answer
Alexander 12.11.2016
Interesting facts about Benjamin Franklin are an inexhaustible source of inspiration and desire to move forward, no matter how hard it is.
I have his image on the screen saver in my phone for two years now — I still havenot got tired of it!
To answer
Guest 30.01.2017
An amazing personality.
To answer
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