Maxims and Aphorisms

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.

— Benjamin Franklin

There is a reason the world still remembers Benjamin Franklin and is influenced by his many contributions. A prosperous merchant, generous philanthropist, skilled negotiator, charming diplomat, proliferate inventor, and preeminent writer/publisher, Franklin spent his life devising ways to improve the quality of life for Americans in every sense of the word.

Born the fifteenth of seventeen children to a candle-molder and soap-boiler in Boston, Massachusetts, Franklin had to strike out on his own at an early age. Despite having to leave school at a young age to seek employment, by the age of twenty-four he was already a successful businessman and publisher. Perhaps because he was forced to cut his own education short, Franklin helped to found the Academy of Philadelphia (known today as the University of Pennsylvania) and the first public library in America. Franklin invented a portable fireplace, bifocal glasses, and rockers for easy chairs. He organized police and fire departments, delivered mail using his original odometer, and contributed to the protection of buildings and ships from lightning damage with his invention of the lightning rod.

Franklin's devotion to improvement was not limited to just inventing and creating physical comforts for people. One of Franklin's most well-known works is his essay on moral perfection, which he wrote in his autobiography. He began writing his autobiography in 1771 and finished in 1788, the final year of his life. In a section of his memoirs, Franklin details the plan he devised by which to live by his own moral values. After much research and inner debate, Franklin decided upon thirteen moral virtues: temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, and humility.

Maxims and Aphorisms

An aphorism, or maxim, is a brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life. People use and encounter aphorisms every day. They grow out of speeches, sermons, poems, stories, religious texts, advertisements, and everyday expressions. They discuss any type of subject from something as large and complex as war to something as simple as ants at a picnic. Aphorisms serve many purposes:

• to entertain - using humor, wit, and wordplay
• to instruct - suggesting ways to overcome obstacles
• to solve problems
• to achieve success
• to inspire - providing a moral uplift
• to satirize - using humor to mock or criticize the way things are

Poor Richard's Almanack was Benjamin Franklin's most successful publishing feat. Writing under an assumed name (or pen name), Richard Saunders, Franklin produced his almanac for twenty-five years. Almanacs are periodicals that contain weather forecasts for the coming year, calculated tides and phases of the moon, astrological advice, and often recipes, aphorisms, jokes, and other types of advice. Through Poor Richard's Almanack, Franklin had a forum for his wit and wisdom and a platform for his practicality.

 

 

Maxims and Aphorisms Review

Now that you have explored the contributions of Benjamin Franklin and aphorisms, review your knowledge in this non-graded activity. First, match the thirteen virtues of Franklin's autobiography with their paraphrased meanings by dragging and dropping the correct virtue to the blank. Second, match Franklin's aphorisms with their paraphrased meanings by dragging the meanings on the right and dropping them next to the aphorisms on the left. Click on the player button to get started.