Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin: Consisting of His Life, Written by Himself, Together with Essays, Humorous, Moral & Literary, Chiefly in the Manner of The SpectatorP. Wogan, P. Byrne, J. Moore, and W. Jones, 1793 - 303 pages |
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Popular passages
Page 137 - THE BODY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Printer, {like the cover of an old book, its contents torn out, and stript of its lettering and gilding) lies here food for worms ; yet the work itself shall not be lost, for it will (as he believed) appear once more in a new and more beautiful edition, corrected and amended by THE AUTHOR.
Page 244 - We have had some experience of it — several of our young people were formerly brought up at the colleges of the northern provinces; they were instructed in all your sciences, but when they came back to us, they were bad runners, ignorant of every means of living in the woods, unable to bear either cold or hunger, knew neither how to build a cabin, take a deer, or kill an enemy, spoke our language imperfectly, were therefore neither fit for hunters, warriors, nor counsellors; they were totally good...
Page 155 - I voluntarily offered and gave all my money for one. I then came home and went whistling all over the house, much pleased with my whistle, but disturbing all the family. My brothers and sisters and cousins, understanding the bargain I had made, told me I had given four times as much for it as it was worth...
Page 156 - I saved my money. As I grew up, came into the world, and observed the actions of men, I thought I met with many, very many, who gave too much for the whistle.
Page 156 - I, you are providing pain for yourself, instead of pleasure; you give too much for your whistle.
Page 250 - If a white man, in travelling through our country, enters one of our cabins, we all treat him as I do you ; we dry him if he is wet, we warm him if he is cold, and give him meat and drink, that he may allay his...
Page 271 - Land being cheap in that country, from the vast forests still void of inhabitants, and not likely to be occupied in an age to come, insomuch that the propriety of an hundred acres of fertile soil full of wood may be obtained near the frontiers, in many places, for eight or ten guineas...
Page 245 - The Business of the Women is to take exact notice of what passes, imprint it in their Memories, for they have no Writing, and communicate it to their Children. They are the Records of the Council, and they preserve...
Page 164 - ... of minutes become corrupt, like those of other and older bushes, and consequently as wretched : and in philosophy how small our progress ! Alas ! art is long, and life is short ! My friends would comfort me with the idea of a name, they say, I shall leave behind me ; and they tell me I have lived long enough to nature and to glory. But what will fame be to an...
Page 271 - Multitudes of poor people from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Germany, have by this means in a few years become wealthy farmers, who, in their own countries, where all the lands are fully occupied, and the wages of labour low, could never have emerged from the poor condition wherein they were born.