BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1706-1790), a man of many talents and prodigious accomplishments, was well known and admired in Great Britain's American colonies during the decades prior to the establishment of the United States of America, in which he played a major role. Active in promoting police and fire services, a free public library, public hospital services, and higher education, he was already prominent in Philadelphia as a businessman, inventor, and civic leader when he served as a delegate to the Second Continenfal Congress and helped draft the Declaration of Independence in 1776. He then became a very popular diplomatic representative to France, successfully seeking military and financial aid for the colonists’war to gain independence.

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First published in 1732 by Benjamin Franklin when he was just 26, Poor Richard’s Almanack was issued annually for the next 25 years. Extremely popular with readers of the day, the Almanack was a fascinating compilation of weather predictions, recipes, jokes, and delightful aphorisms--many representing Franklin’s common-sense philosophy, and others, proverbs from the past.

This handy little volume presents hundreds of these charming maxims, carefully selected from a number of Franklin’s "almanacks." Arranged in nearly 30 categories (eating and drinking; men, women, and marriage; friendship; money and frugality; religion; professions and occupations, etc.), they include such familiar phrases as:

Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man

healthy, wealthy and wise.

Haste makes waste.

Love your Neighbour; yet don’t pull down your Hedge.

He that lies down with Dogs, shall rise up with fleas.

Hunger never saw bad bread.

He’s a Fool that makes his Doctor his Heir.

He that has not got a Wife, is not yet a compleat Man.

An ideal sourcebook for writers, public speakers, and students, this practical and entertaining little book will also delight general readers with its rich store of time-honored folk wisdom.

Aging and Youth

Anger, Revenge, Forgiveness

Cleverness and Craftiness

Contentment and Discontentment

Deceit and Trust

Diligence and Sloth

Eating and Drinking

Folly

Friendship

Good Conscience

Greed, Miserliness

Happiness

Honesty and Dishonesty

Men, Women, and Marriage

Money and Frugality

Pride, Vanity

Professions and Occupations

Prosperity and Success

Prudence, Good Sense

Public Affairs

Religion

Self-Awareness

Self-Development

Social Relations

Talking and Silence

Time

Vice

Virtue

Diverse Considerations