Franklin's Autobiography: (Eclectic English Classics)Franklin, Benjamin
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Franklin's Autobiography: (Eclectic English Classics)
Franklin, Benjamin
Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790
Pleasure and wine, game and deceit,
Make the wealth small, and the want great.
And further, What maintains one vice would bring up two children. You
may think, perhaps, that a little tea or a little punch now and then,
diet a little more costly, clothes a little finer, and a little
entertainment now and then, can be no great matter; but remember, Many a
little makes a mickle. Beware of little expenses; A small leak will sink
a great ship, as Poor Richard says; and again, Who dainties love shall
beggars prove; and moreover, Fools make feasts and wise men eat them.
"Here you are all got together at this sale of fineries and
knick-knacks. You call them goods; but, if you do not take care, they
will prove evils to some of you. You expect they will be sold cheap,
and perhaps they may for less than they cost; but, if you have no
occasion for them, they must be dear to you. Remember what Poor
Richard says: Buy what thou hast no need of, and ere long thou shalt
sell thy necessaries. And again, At a great pennyworth pause awhile.
He means that perhaps the cheapness is apparent only, and not real;
or, the bargain, by straitening thee in thy business, may do thee more
harm than good. For in another place he says, Many have been ruined by
buying good pennyworths. Again, It is foolish to lay out money in a
purchase of repentance; and yet this folly is practiced every day at
auctions for want of minding the Almanac.[208] Many for the sake of
finery on the back have gone hungry and half-starved their families.
Silks and satins, scarlet and velvets, put out the kitchen fire, as
Poor Richard says.
"These are not the necessaries of life; they can scarcely be called
the conveniences; and yet, only because they look pretty, how many
want to have them. By these and other extravagances the genteel are
reduced to poverty, and forced to borrow of those whom they formerly
despised, but who, through industry and frugality, have maintained
their standing; in which case it appears plainly that, A plowman on
his legs is higher than a gentleman on his knees, as Poor Richard
says. Perhaps they have a small estate left them which they knew not
the getting of; they think, It is day and it never will be night; that
a little to be spent out of so much is not worth minding; but, Always
taking out of the meal tub and never putting in, soon comes to the
bottom, as Poor Richard says; and then, When the well is dry, they
know the worth of water. But this they might have known before, if
they had taken his advice. If you would know the value of money, go
and try to borrow some; for, He that goes a-borrowing goes
a-sorrowing, as Poor Richard says; and, indeed, so does he that lends
to such people, when he goes to get it in again. Poor Dick further
advises and says:
Fond pride of dress is sure a very curse;
Ere fancy you consult, consult your purse.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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