"If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth the writing." ~ B. Franklin
Do you recognize the picture above? Most of us will recognize it as the US 100 $ bill.Well what about the man on the bill? He is Benjamin Franklin and the above quote was given by him. Well he was a man who did both.
I myself learnt some information on Benjamin Franklin only few weeks back...
He is one of the founding fathers of US of A. To say that he was a multi-talented person is an understatement.He was a leading author and printer, satirist,political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat.(courtesy -Wikipedia)
His success was due to his self-motivation.His father had seventeen children and he was the youngest.His school education was only till his tenth year.He was always interested in reading and taught himself to read .He worked as an apprentice to his brother in the printing press where he had access to many books. He taught himself to write prose by reading literature, assimilating the ideas and trying to express the idea in his own words.To make a long story short, he was a self made man.
When he was 20 years old, he decided that he has to achieve moral perfection.He wanted to improve his character by following thirteen virtues.He used to maintain a journal to perfect all these habits. He followed all these through out his life.
THE THIRTEEN VIRTUES OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
1. TEMPERANCE - never eat or drink to dullness
2. SILENCE - avoid unnecessary talking;speak only when it is useful to you or others
3. ORDER - your life should have an order, all things should have their place and all work should have their own time
4. RESOLUTION - have the resolution to do, what you have to and do that with out fail
5. FRUGALITY - do not make unnecessary expenses;whatever expense you do must do good to you or others
6. INDUSTRY - donot waste time;always be occupied with some work;cut off all unnecessary work
7. SINCERITY- donot deceive anyone;think and speak justly
8. JUSTICE - donot harm anyone by doing a bad deed or avoiding anything good happening to them
9. MODERATION - have patience to anything bad you encounter
10.CLEANLINESS - be clean in body, cloathing and your living place
11.TRANQUILLITY - donot get disturbed by trivial issues or any unavoidable incidents
12.CHASTITY - use sex only for proper health and offspring,never to dullness, weakness or to injure your/others peace of mind or reputation
13.HUMILITY - imitate Jesus and Socrates
He would work on one quality at a time and record his improvements in his journal.He feels that he may not have fully followed these 13 virtues, but they have contributed to his success and happiness.
He wrote that "I hope, therefore, that some of my descendants may follow the example and reap the benefit."
Ivar sonnadhile oru 10% kadaipidicha kooda podhum, namma ellam urupatturuvom :)
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