The Autobiography of Benjamin FranklinCosimo, Inc., 01.11.2007 - 146 Seiten American icon BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1706-1790), born in Massachusetts to a British immigrant father and colonial mother, published the famous Poor Richards' Almanack, helped found the University of Pennsylvania, and was the first Postmaster General of the United States. His likeness adorns, among other things, the United States' hundred-dollar bill. Benjamin Franklin was as wildly intriguing a personality as his legend suggest, and as you've always heard, as his autobiography makes plain. From his hoarding of his pay as a teenager to buy books to his askance asides at such habits as the drinking of beer, from his work as a printer to his experiments with electricity, and much more, this is the story of Franklin's life-told as only he could tell it-in the years before the American Revolution. A classic of autobiography, this is must reading for American-history buffs, and for anyone fascinated by larger-than-life personalities. |
Andere Ausgaben - Alle anzeigen
Häufige Begriffe und Wortgruppen
accordingly acquaintance acquir'd advantage advis'd affairs afterwards appear'd arriv'd Art of Virtue ask'd Assembly attend Benjamin Franklin Boston bred brother brought call'd captain character conduct continu'd continued conversation dispute Ecton employ'd endeavor engag'd England father form'd Fort Duquesne Franklin friends gave give good-natur'd governor hands horses inhabitants instructions intended Keimer length letter Little Britain lived lodging London Lord Loudoun Madeira wine means never occasion occasion'd officers opinion pamphlet paper Pennsylvania perhaps persons Philadelphia porringer pounds currency pounds sterling printed printer printing-house procure propos'd proposed proprietaries province Quakers Ralph receiv'd refus'd return'd sail says sect seem'd sent shillings ship Sir William Wyndham sometimes soon Stephen Potts street suppos'd thing thought thousand pounds thro tion told took us'd virtue waggons work'd writing wrote young
Beliebte Passagen
Seite 11 - I had gone on making verses; since the continual occasion for words of the same import, but of different length to suit the measure, or of different sound for the rhyme, would have laid me under a constant necessity of searching for variety and also have tended to fix that variety in my mind and make me master of it. Therefore, I took some of the tales and turned them into verse; and, after a time, when I had pretty well forgotten the prose, turned them back again.
Seite 13 - I conceive or apprehend a thing to be so and so; it appears to me, or I should think it so or so, for such and such reasons; or I imagine it to be so; or it is so, if I am not mistaken. This habit, I believe, has been of great advantage to me when I have had occasion to inculcate my opinions, and persuade men into measures that I have been from time to time engaged in promoting...
Seite 70 - ... and acquisition of his fortune, with all that knowledge that enabled him to be a useful citizen, and obtained for him some degree of reputation among the learned; to Sincerity and Justice, the confidence of his country, and the honorable employs it conferred upon him; and to the joint influence of the whole mass of the virtues, even in the imperfect state he was able to acquire them, all that evenness of temper, and that cheerfulness in conversation, which makes his company still sought for,...
Seite 11 - By comparing my work afterwards with the original, I discovered many faults and amended them; but I sometimes had the pleasure of fancying that, in certain particulars of small import, I had been lucky enough to improve the method or the language, and this encouraged me to think I might possibly in time come to be a tolerable English writer, of which I was extremely ambitious.
Seite 16 - So I sold some of my books to raise a little money, was taken on board privately, and as we had a fair wind, in three days I found myself in New York, near 300 miles from home, a boy of but 17, without the least recommendation to, or knowledge of any person in the place, and with very little money in my pocket.
Seite 62 - Seest thou a man diligent in his calling, he shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men...
Seite 67 - I determined to give a week's strict attention to each of the virtues successively. Thus, in the first week, my great guard was to avoid every the least offense against Temperance, leaving the other virtues to their ordinary chance, only marking every evening the faults of the day. Thus, if in the first week I could keep my first line, marked T...
Seite 19 - Second-street, and ask'd for bisket, intending such as we had in Boston ; but they, it seems, were not made in Philadelphia. Then I asked for a three-penny loaf, and was told they had none such. So not considering or knowing the difference of money, and the greater cheapness nor the names of his bread, I bade him give me three-penny worth of any sort. He gave me, accordingly, three great puffy rolls. I was...
Seite 92 - I declined it from a principle which has ever weighed with me on such occasions, viz., that as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours, and this we should do freely and generously.
Seite 84 - The request was fortunately made to perhaps the only man in the company who had the firmness not to be affected by the preacher. His answer was, " At any other time, friend Hopkinson, I would lend to thee freely; but not now, for thee seems to be out of thy right senses.
Verweise auf dieses Buch
The American Journalist: A Portrait of U.S. News People and Their Work David Hugh Weaver,G. Cleveland Wilhoit Eingeschränkte Leseprobe - 1991 |
Literacy and Literacies: Texts, Power, and Identity James Collins,Richard Blot Eingeschränkte Leseprobe - 2003 |