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The wit & wisdom of Benjamin Franklin
The Wit & Wisdom of Benjamin Franklin is a generous sampling of the Founding Father's letters, essays, and fables. From the humorous and whimsical to the profound and inspiring, his writings portray a man of courage and character, a thinker well in advance of his time.
This distinctive volume reveals the details of the legendary kite experiment and includes both "Franklin's Plan of Conduct" and the charming "Rules of Making Oneself a Disagreeable Companion" (which begins "Your business is to shine; therefore, you must by all means prevent the shining of others"), as well as Franklin's political musings and his perceptive comments on issues of his day ("Slavery is such an atrocious debasement of human nature, that its very extirpation, if not performed with solicitous care, may sometimes open a source of serious evils"). The book also contains pungent extracts from his timeless Poor Richard's Almanac.
Statesman, scientist, philosopher - Benjamin Franklin is the embodiment of the American spirit, forever engraved in the animals of his nation's history. His diverse talents have never been more readily apparent than in this handsome collection.
86 pages, Hardcover
First published November 30, 1948
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
November 12, 2012
The Wit and Wisdom of Benjamin Franklin was erratic at best. Tidbits taken from Franklin's "Poor Richard's Almanac" are splattered throughout the book and they range from enlightening snippets such as:
"He's a fool that cannot conceal his wisdom."
to mundane sayings bordering on obtuse such as:
"If your head is wax, don't walk in the sun."
Overall this has some interesting thoughts I found amusing but didn't think it was worth the read in the end. What it did do for me was make me want to read Poor Richard's Almanac. If you're considering picking this up to get a feel for Franklin, don't bother. Just skip to the real thing.
ClassicsDefined.com
"He's a fool that cannot conceal his wisdom."
to mundane sayings bordering on obtuse such as:
"If your head is wax, don't walk in the sun."
Overall this has some interesting thoughts I found amusing but didn't think it was worth the read in the end. What it did do for me was make me want to read Poor Richard's Almanac. If you're considering picking this up to get a feel for Franklin, don't bother. Just skip to the real thing.
ClassicsDefined.com
March 24, 2025
(Mostly) words of wisdom still relevant today.
March 21, 2017
Short/Easy read. just like the book says..full of Wit and Wisdom from Benjamin Franklin.
August 25, 2018
I got this little book of quotes from my grandfather It is quotes from "Poor Richards Says" I don't get many of the quotes but I love the book and love the notes my grandfather put in the book.
May 20, 2024
Came across this book in my local library and have finished it within 30min without buying it. Benjamin Franklin lays each morsel of wisdom blended with a dash of irony. He used Shakespeare’s pronouns which I found a bit annoying. Here is a glimpse of wisdom, casted the irony aside to not spoil the book for you.
- Fish and Visitors stink after three days
- A traveller should have a Hog’s nose, a deer’s leg and an Ass’s back
- Great good nature, without prudence is a great misfortune
- Late children, early orphans
- Anger and folly walk cheek by jowl, repentance treads on both their heels.
- The traveller that is struck by lightning, seldom gets home to tell his widow
- In marriage without love, there will be love without marriage
- The tongue offends and the ears get the cuffing
- great talkers, little doers
- The proof of gold is fire, the proof of woman, gold. The proof of man, a women
- Fish and Visitors stink after three days
- A traveller should have a Hog’s nose, a deer’s leg and an Ass’s back
- Great good nature, without prudence is a great misfortune
- Late children, early orphans
- Anger and folly walk cheek by jowl, repentance treads on both their heels.
- The traveller that is struck by lightning, seldom gets home to tell his widow
- In marriage without love, there will be love without marriage
- The tongue offends and the ears get the cuffing
- great talkers, little doers
- The proof of gold is fire, the proof of woman, gold. The proof of man, a women
February 21, 2023
Found this in the back of my moms crusty bookshelf. Made me feel smart for the most part. Also gave me a massive headache. I had to use every brain cell that I have to decipher what was going on but I eventually figured it out. Pretty good for being so old and out of date.
May 17, 2023
The Wit & Wisdom of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin - The founding fathers may not have trusted him to keep jokes out of the final copy of important documents, but we still appreciate his one liners today! Happy Reading!
June 18, 2017
Seemed a bit like a miss-matched scrapbook but some good quotes
February 18, 2018
This is pretty repetitious and flimsy. Not Ben's fault,just the folks that slapped this together,
July 13, 2018
Ahead of his time. I'll be reading this over and over.
March 18, 2019
Great quote resource. The man is always inspiring.
July 8, 2019
A few interested quote and a lot I just didn't get inspiration from. At least it was super short.
August 24, 2020
It was fun to read the witticisms ascribed to this man, even if he admittedly did not coin all the phrases.
August 29, 2020
Book of quotes
Good time killer and great pondering, and fun. Clearly Ben Franklin had a sense of humor. It was in public domain so the price was great.
Good time killer and great pondering, and fun. Clearly Ben Franklin had a sense of humor. It was in public domain so the price was great.
January 15, 2023
A decent collection of truisms. Fine for a quick read to make that Goodreads annual goal!
August 5, 2009
A fun read with more than a few quotes and, of couse Benjamin Franklin's Wisdom..."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." I think he's accomplised just this!
August 20, 2013
Rather eccentric and erratic compilation.....all over the place. Love Ben Franklin but this volume is disconnected at best. Mainly checked it out to expose my young adult reader to Franklin, so I think it will work out for that. It is like a scrapbook of Franklin.
March 12, 2008
I liked reading this book. It's quite short, but full of great things about Ben Franklin.
June 1, 2008
Interesting little bits of wisdom.
October 8, 2009
Fun read - short book - but his quotes on both humor and wisdom are timeless.
November 25, 2009
Another Founding Father who greatly shaped our country. Witty.
September 6, 2011
See book index for a list of the quotes I liked.
June 7, 2012
Amusing, interesting, and insightful! A must read!
November 27, 2013
One of my all-time favorite books. It's a lovely little coffee table book; short, sweet, and to the point. He has a lot of zinger-quotes; words I try to live by.
March 29, 2016
Wonderful!
Very wise, & I like the way you used the same grammar as they did. A simply wise book. Very wise.
Very wise, & I like the way you used the same grammar as they did. A simply wise book. Very wise.
July 25, 2016
What's not to love about the sayings from Poor Richard's Almanac? This is a listing of many of his best sayings and they always produce a laugh
April 4, 2020
Timeless words to live by.
March 9, 2017
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I love sarcasm and Benjamin Franklin was a master.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews