THE GREAT ONES
Benjamin Franklin
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Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790) helped draft the American Declaration of Independence.
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ILLUSTRATION: V.K. SUBRAMANAIAN
Benjamin Franklin, the American statesman and diplomat, was a multifaceted personality. He was: writer, philosopher, printer, philanthropist, scientist and inventor.
One of the founding fathers of the United States of America, who helped draft the American Declaration of Independence, Franklin started the first public library in America, the first city post office, the first fire department and the first city hospital.
He invented bifocal eyeglasses and the lightning rod. He first identified lightning as an electrical charge.
Wit and wisdom
Benjamin Franklin became famous as the publisher of the newspaper Poor Richard's Almanac, which contained his witty sayings like the world-famous: "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise."
Other samples of Frankin's wit and wisdom:
"Where there is marriage without love, there will be love without marriage."
"Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, not liberty to purchase power."
"There never was a good war or a bad peace."
"Remember that time is money."
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Once someone asked Franklin: "What condition of man most deserves pity?"
He replied: "A lonesome man on a rainy day who does not know how to read."
On another occasion Franklin asked: Who is wise? And answered: He that learns from everyone. Who is powerful? He that governs his passions. Who is rich? He that is content.
Who it that? Nobody.
This is an extract from the book The Great Ones by V.K.Subramanian, Abhinav Publications, New Delhi
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