Wednesday, September 23, 2015

He that composes himself is wiser than he that composes books

We didn't have time to read Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography in class, but I didn't want to move on without reading something by our witty and rascaly founding father. Franklin's biggest publishing success was Poor Richard's Almanack, an annual book that predicted weather but also contained recipes, jokes, and proverbs. Franklin wrote most of Poor Richard's maxims, though he liberally stole them from other authors and revised them to his purposes. A good list of some of his best sayings is here.

Here's a quote of Franklin's I have found oddly true: “He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another, than he whom you yourself have obliged.” The idea is that people like you more if you ask them to do a favor for you, than if they have to ask you to do a favor for them. Why would this be? Maybe when we ask for favors we feel beholden or helpless. When we do someone else a favor, we may feel competent, magnanimous, powerful, needed. And we may feel we have the upper hand with the person we have helped: now he or she will owe us a favor in the future. And as Seinfeld confirmed, we all want the hand, but hand is tough to get.

For your blog post, pick a favorite or two of Franklin's quotes from the link above. Explain what it means and why you like it. Or choose a proverb you don't agree with or don't understand. You may also discuss a favorite proverb of yours from another writer . . . even if that writer is yourself!




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