were pain, we fhould have great crying out in every houfe. Serve a great man, and you will know what forrow is. Make no abfolute promifes, for nobody will help you to perform them. Every man is a fool in another man's opinion. Wisdom comes after a long courfe of years. Good fortune comes to him who takes care to get her. They have a fig at Rome for him who refufes any thing that is given him. One love drives out another. Kings go as far as they are able, not fo far as they defire to go. So play fools-I muft love you, and you love fomebody elfe. He who thinks what he is to do, muft think what he should fay too. A mifchief may happen which will do me (or make me) good. Threatened men eat bread ftill, i. e. live on. Get but a good name and you may lie in bed. Truth is the child of God. He who hath an ill caufe, let him fell it cheap. A wife man never fays, I did not think of that. Refpect a good man that he may refpect you, and be civil to an ill man that he may not affront you. A wife man only knows when to change his mind. The wife's counfel is not worth much, but he who takes it not is a fool. When two friends have a common purfe, one fings and the other weeps. I loft my reputation by speaking ill of others, and being worfe fpoken of. He who loves you will make you weep, and who hates you may make you laugh. Good deeds live and flourish when all other things are at an end. At the end of life La Gloria is fung. By yielding you make all your friends; but if you will tell all the truth you know, you will have your head broke. Since you know every thing, and I know nothing, pray tell me what I dreamed this morning. Your lookingglafs will tell you what none of your friends will. The clown was angry, and he paid dear for it. If you are vexed or angry, you will have two troubles inftead of one. The last year was ever better than the prefent. That wound that was never given is beft cured of any other. Afflictions teach much, but they are a hard cruel mafter. Improve rather by other men's errors, than find fault with them. Since you can bear with your own, bear with other men's failings too. Men lay out all their underftanding in ftudying to know one another, and fo no man knows himfelf. The applause of the mob or multitude is but a poor comfort. Truths and rofes have thorns about them. He loves you better

who ftrives to make you good, than he who ftrives to please you. You know not what may happen, is the hope of fools. Sleep makes every man as great and rich as the greateft. Follow, but do not run after good fortune. Anger is the weaknefs of the understanding. Great pofts and offices are like ivy on the wall, which makes it look fine, but ruins it. Make no great hafte to be angry; for if there be occafion, you will have time enough for it. Riches, which all applaud, the owner feels the weight or care of. A competency leaves you wholly at your difpofal. Riches make men worse in their latter days. He is the only rich man who understands the ufe of wealth. He is a great fool who fquanders rather than doth good with his eftate. To heap fresh kindneffes upon ungrateful men, is the wifeft, but withal the moft cruel revenge. The fool's pleasures coft him very dear. Contempt of a man is the fharpeft reproof. Wit without difcretion is a fword in the hand of a fool. Other virtues without prudence are a blind beauty. Neither enquire after, nor hear of, nor take notice of the faults of others when you fee them. Years pafs not over men's heads for nothing. An halter will fooner come without taking any care about it, than a canonry. If all affes wore packfaddles, what a good trade would the pack fadlers have. The ufual forms of civility oblige no man. There is no more faithful nor pleasant friend than a good book. He who ioves to employ himself well can never want fomething to do. A thoufand things are well forgot for peace and quietnefs fake. A wife man avoids all occafions of being angry. A wife man aims at nothing which is out of his reach. Neither great poverty nor great riches will hear reafon. A good man hath ever good luck. No pleasure is a better pennyworth than that which virtue yields. No old age is agreeable but that of a wife man. A man's wifdom is no where more feen than in his marrying himfelf. Folly and anger are but two names for the fame. thing. Fortune knocks once at least at every one's door. The father's virtue is the best inheritance a child can have. No fenfual pleafare ever lafted fo much as for. a whole hour. Riches and virtue do not often keep one another company. Ruling one's anger well, is not fo good as preventing it. The moft ufeful learning in the world is that which teaches us how to die well. The beft men come worse out of

company

company than they went into it. The most mixed or allayed joy is that men take in their children. Find money and marriage to rid yourself of an ill daughter. There is no better advice than to look always at the iffue of things. Compare your griefs with other men's, and they will feem lefs. Owe money to be paid at Eafter, and Lent will feem fhort to you. He who only returns home, doth not run away. He can do nothing well who is at enmity with his God. Many avoid others because they fee not and know not themfelves. God is always opening his hand to us. Let us be friends, and put out the devil's eye. 'Tis true there are many very good wives, but they are under ground. Talking very much, and lying, are coufin-germans. With all your learning be fure to know yourself. One error breeds twenty more. I will never jeft with my eye nor with my religion. Do what you have to do just now, and leave it not for to-morrow. Ill tongues fhould have a pair of fcilors. Huge long hair, and very little brains. Speak little, hear much, and you will feldom be much out. Give me a virtuous woman, and I will make her a fine woman, He who trufts nobody is never deceived. Drink water like an ox, wine like a king of Spain. I am not forry that my fon lofes his money, but that he will have his revenge, and play on ftill. My mother bid me be confident, but lay no wagers. A good fire is one half of a man's life. Covetoufnefs breaks the fack; i. e. lofes a great deal. That meat relishes bet which cofts a man nothing. The ass bears his load, but not an over-load. He who eats his cock alone, muft catch his horfe fo too. He who makes more of you than he used to do, either would cheat you or needs you. He that would avoid the fin, must avoid the occafion of it. Keep yourself from the anger of a great man, from a tumult of the mob, from fools in a narrow way, from a man that is marked, from a widow that hath been thrice married, from wind that comes in at a hole, and from a reconciled enemy. One ounce of mirth is worth more than ten thousand weight of melancholy. A contented mind is a great gift of God. He that would cheat the devil muft rife early in the morning. Every fool is in love with his own bauble. Every ill man will have an ill time. Keep your fword between you and the ftrength of a clown. Be ye laft to go over a deep.

Let

river. He who hath a handfome wife, or a castle on the frontier, or a vineyard near the highway, never wants a quarrel. Never deceive your physician, your confeffor, nor your lawyer. Make a bridge of filver for a flying enemy. Never truft him whom you have wronged. Seek for good, and be ready for evil. What you can do alone by yourself, expect not from another. Idlenefs in youth makes way for a painful and miferable old age. He who pretends to be every body's particular friend is nobody's. Confider well before you tie that knot you never can undo. Neither praife nor difpraise any before you know them. A prodigal fon fucceeds a covetous father. He is fool enough himfelf who will bray against another afs. Though old and wife, yet ftill advife. Happy is he that mends of himself, without the help of others. A wife man knows his own ignorance, a fool thinks he knows every thing. What you eat yourfelf never gains you a friend. Great house-keeping makes but a poor will. Fair words and foul deeds deceive wife men as well as fools. Eating too well at firft makes men eat ill afterwards. him fpeak who received, let the giver hold his peace. An house built by a man's father, and a vineyard planted by his grandfather. A dapple-grey horse will die fooner than tire. No woman is ugly when he is dreffed. The best remedy against an evil man is to keep at a good diftance from him. A man's folly is Teen by his finging, his playing, and riding full fpeed. Buying a thing too dear is no bounty. Buy at a fair, and fell at home. Keep aloof from all quarrels, be neither a witness nor party. God doth us more and more good every hour of our lives. An ill blow, or an ill word, is all you will get from a fool. He who lies long in bed his eftate pays for it. Confider well of a bufinefs, and dispatch it quickly. He who hath children hath neither kindred nor friends. May I have a difpute with a wife man, if with any. He who hath loft fhame is loft to all virtue. Being in love brings no reputation to any man, but vexation to all. Giving to the poor leiers no man's ftore. He who is idle is always wanting fomewhat. Evil comes to us by ells, and goes away by inches. He whose houfe is tiled with glass must not throw ftones at his neighbours. The man is fire, the woman tow, and the devil comes to blow the coals. He who doth not look

forward,

forward, finds himself behind other men. The love of God prevails for ever, all Other things come to nothing. He who is to give an account of himself and others, must know both himself and them. A man's love and his faith appear by his works or deeds. In all contention put a bridle upon your tongue. In a great froft a nail is worth a horfe. I went a fool to the court, and came back an afs. Keep money when you are young, that you may have it when you are old. Speak but little, and to the purpose, and you will pass for fomebody. If you do evil, expect to fuffer evil. Sell cheap, and you will fell as much as four others. An ill child is better fick than well. He who rifes early in the morning hath fomewhat in his head. The gallows will have its own at laft. A lye hath no legs. Women, wind, and fortune, are ever changing. Fools and wilful men make the lawyers great. Never fign a writing till you have read it, nor drink water till you have feen it. Neither is any barber dumb, nor any fongfter very wife. Neither give to all, nor contend with fools. Do no ill, and fear no harm. He doth fomething who fets his houfe on fire; he fcares away the rats, and warms himself. I fell nothing on truft till to-morrow. [Written over the shop doors.] The common people pardon no fault in any man. The fidler of the fame town never plays well at their feaft. Either rich, or hanged in the attempt. The feaft is over, but here is the fool still. To divide as brothers ufe to do: that which is mine is all my own, that which is yours I go halves in. There will be no money got by lofing your time. He will foon be a loft man himself who keeps fuch men company. By courtefies done to the meanest men, you get much more than you can lofe. Trouble not yourself about news, it will foon grow ftale and you will have it. That which is well faid, is faid foon enough. When the devil goes to his prayers he means to cheat you. When you meet with a fool, pretend bufinefs to get rid of him. Sell him for an afs at a fair, who talks much and knows little. He who buys and fells doth not feel what he fpends. He who ploughs his land, and breeds cattle, fpins gold. He who will venture nothing must never get on horseback. He who goes far from home for a wife, either means to cheat, or will be cheated. He who fows his land, trufts in God. He who leaves the great road

for a by-path, thinks to fave ground, and he lofes it. He who ferves the public obliges nobody. He who keeps his firft innocency efcapes a thoufand fins. He who abandons his poor kindred, God forfakes him. He who is not handsome at twenty, nor ftrong at thirty, nor rich at forty, nor wife at fifty, will never be handfome, ftrong, rich, nor wife. He who refolves on the fudden, repents at leisure. He who rifes late lofes his prayers, and provides not well for his houfe. He who peeps through a hole may fee what will vex him. He who amends his faults puts himself under God's protection. He who loves well fees things at a distance. He who hath fervants hath enemies which he cannot well be without. He who pays his debts begins to make a ftock. He who gives all before he dies will need a great deal of patience. He who faid nothing had the better of it, and had what he defired. He who fleeps much gets but little learning. He who fins like a fool, like a fool goes to hell. If you would have your bufinefs well done, do it yourself. 'Tis the wife man only who is content with what he hath. Delay is odious, but it makes things more fure. He is always fafe who knows himself well. A good wife by obeying commands in her turn. Not to have a mind to do well, and to put it off at the prefent, are much the fame. Italy to be born in, France to live in, and Spain to die in. He lofes the good of his afflictions who is not the better for them. 'Tis the most dangerous vice which looks like virtue. 'Tis great wisdom to forget all the injuries we may receive. Profperity is the thing in the world we ought to truft the leaft. Experience without learning does more good than learning without experience. Virtue is the best patrimony for children to inherit. 'Tis much more painful to live ill than to live well. An hearty good-will never wants time to fhew itfelf. To have done well obliges us to do fo ftill. He hath a great opinion of himself who makes no comparison with others. He only is rich enough who hath all that he defires. The best way of inftruction is to practise that which we teach others. 'Tis but a little narrow foul which earthly things can please. The reafon why parents love the younger children beft, is because they have fo little hopes that the elder will do well. The dearest Ichild of all is that which is dead. He who is about to marry fhould confider

how

how it is with his neighbours. There is a much shorter cut from virtue to vice, than from vice to virtue. He is the happy man, not whom other men think, but who thinks himfelf to be fo. Of finful pleasures repentance only remains. He who hath much wants ftill more, and then more. The lefs a man fleeps the more he lives. He can never fpeak well who knows not when to hold his peace. The trueft content is that which no man can deprive you of. The remembrance of wife and good men inftructs as well as their prefence. 'Tis wisdom, in a doubtful cafe, rather to take another man's judgment than our own. Wealth betrays the best refolved mind into one vice or other. We are ufually the beft men when we are worst in health. Learning is wealth to the poor, an honour to the rich, and a fupport and comfort to old age. Learning procures refpect to good fortune, and helps out the bad. The mafter makes the houfe to be respected, not the house the mafter. The fhort and fure way to reputation, is to take care to be in truth what we would have others think us to be. A good reputation is a fecond, or half an eftate. He is the better man who comes neareft to the beft. A wrong judgment of things is the most mischievous thing in the world. The neglect or contempt of riches makes a man more truly great than the poffeffion of them. That only is true honour which he gives who deferves it himself. Beauty and chastity have always a mortal quarrel between them. Look always upon life, and use it as a thing that is lent you. Civil offers are for all men, and good offices for our friends. Nothing in the world is stronger than a man but his own paffions. When a man comes into troubles, money is one of his best friends. He only is the great learned man who knows enough to make him live well. An empty purfe and a new houfe finished make a man wife, but 'tis fomewhat too late.

§ 154. The Way to Wealth, as clearly fhewn in the Preface of an old Pennsylvanian Almanack, intitled, "Poor Richard improved." Written by Dr. Benjamin Franklin.

cr

Courteous Reader,

I have heard, that nothing gives an author fo great pleafure, as to find his works, refpectfully quoted by others. Judge, then, how much I must have been gra

tified by an incident I am going to relate to you. I stopped my horse, lately, where a great number of people were collected at an auction of merchants goods. The hour of the fale not being come, they were converfing on the badness of the times; and one of the company called to a plain, clean old man, with white locks, Pray, father Abraham, what think you of the times? Will not those heavy taxes quite ruin the country? how fhall we be ever able to pay them? What would you advise us to?'. -Father Abraham stood up, and replied, If you would have my advice, I will give it you in fhort; " for a word to the wife is enough," as poor Richard fays,' They joined in defiring him to speak his mind, and gathering round him, he proceeded as follows *:

Friends,' fays he, the taxes are, indeed, very heavy; and, if those laid on by the government were the only ones we had to pay, we might more eafily discharge them; but we have many others, and much more grievous to fome of us. We are taxed twice as much by our idleness, three times as much by our pride, and four times as much by our folly; and from these taxes the commiffioners cannot eafe or deliver us by allowing an abatement. However, let us hearken to good advice, and something may be done for us; "God helps them that help themselves," as Poor Richard fays.

I. It would be thought a hard government that fhould tax its people one-tenth part of their time to be employed in its fervice: but idlenefs taxes many of us much more; floth, by bringing on difeafes, abfolutely fhortens life." Sloth, like ruft, confumes fafter than labour wears, while the ufed key is always bright," as Poor Richard fays." But doft thou love life, then do not fquander time, for that is the ftuff life is made of," as Poor Richard fays.

How much more than is necessary do we

* Dr. Franklin, wishing to collect into one piece all the fayings upon the following fubjects,

which he had dropped in the course of publishing the Almanacks called Poor Richard, introduces father Abraham for this purpose. Hence it is, that Poor Richard is fo often quoted, and that, in the prefent title, he is faid to be improved.-Notwithstanding the ftroke of humour in the concluding paragraph of this address, Poor Richard (Saunders) and father Abraham have proved, in America, that they are no common preachers.-And fhall we, brother Englishmen, refuse good sense

and faving knowledge, because it comes from the other fide of the water

spend