Benjamin Franklin

It is a curious contradiction that we look so sharply at the flaw in our neighbor while turning a blind eye to it in our own glass. I have often seen a man scold another for puffing his chest or boasting of a catch he made, only to be heard telling a far more inflated tale of his own adventures the very next day. We are all guilty of this…

I once kept a ledger where every farthing was recorded, yet I found myself spending much on trifles that pleased only my vanity. One evening, I bought a new coat of fine cloth because it looked well in the mirror, though my old one served me perfectly. That night, by the candlelight, I marked the error in my list of virtues. I realized that true frugality is not about hoarding…

I sat in my small print shop on High Street, the air thick with the smell of ink and drying paper. Outside, a summer rain drummed against the windowpanes while inside, I sorted through letters from men in London and Philadelphia who argued fiercely about taxes and trade. Each wrote as if his own view was the only truth that mattered, convinced he served the public good by defending his…