Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

But the most interesting thing that Franklin invented, and continually reinvented, was himself. America’s first great publicist, he was, in his life and in his writings, consciously trying to create a new American archetype. In the process, he carefully crafted his own persona, portrayed it in public, and polished it for posterity.

he was allergic to the pomp and perks of a hereditary aristocracy. Throughout his life he would refer to himself as “B. Franklin, printer.”

Organizations for the
Common Good

Lost time is never found again

that after getting the first £100, it is more easy to get the second

If you would keep your secret from an enemy, tell it not to a friend.

He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another, than he whom you yourself have obliged

people were reluctant to support a “proposer of any useful project that might be supposed to raise one’s reputation

The good men may do separately,” he wrote, “is small compared with what they may do collectively.”

Let all men know thee, but no man know thee thoroughly: Men freely ford that see the shallows