ben.htm

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   <TITLE>wise guy</TITLE>
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Benjamin Franklin wrote these words a long time ago...

<P>My list of virtues contain at first but twelve: But a Quaker Friend,
having kindly inform me that I was generally thought proud; that my Pride
show itself frequently in Conversation; that I was not content with being
in the right when discussing any point, but was overbearing and rather
insolent; of which he convinced me by mentioning several Instances; I determined
endeavoring to cure myself if I could of this Vice or Folly among the rest,
and I added Humility to my List, giving an extensive Meaning to the Word.

<P>I cannot boast of much Success in Acquiring the Reality of this Virtue;
but I had a good deal with regard to the Appearance of it. I made it a
Rule to forbear all direct Contradiction to the Sentiment of others, and
all positive Assertion of my own. I even forbid myself agreeable to the
old Laws of our Junto, the Use of every Word or Expression in the Language
that imported a fix opinion; such as certainly, undoubtedly, etc. and I
adapted instead of them, I conceive, I apprehend, or I imagine a thing
to be so, or it appears to me at present. When another asserted something
that I thought an Error, I deny myself the Pleasure of contradicting him
abruptly, and of showing immediately some Absurdity in his Proposition;
and in answering I began by observing that in certain Cases or Circumstances
his Opinion would be right, but that in the present case there appear or
seem to me some Difference, etc. I soon found the Advantage of this Change
in my Manners.

<P>The Conversations I engaged in went on more pleasantly. The modest way
in which I propos my Opinions procur them a readier Reception and less
Contradiction; I had less Mortification when I was found to be in the wrong,
and I more easily prevail with others to give up their Mistakes and join
with me when I happen to be in the right. And this Mode, which I at first
put on, with some violence to natural inclination, became at length so
easy and so habitual to me, that perhaps for these Fifty Years past, no
one has ever heard a dogmatical Expression escape me. And to this habit
(after my Character of Integrity) I think it principally owing, that I
had so much Weight with my Fellow Citizens, when I proposed new Institutions,
or Alterations in the Old; and so much Influence in Public councils when
I became a Member. For I was a bad speaker, never eloquent, subject to
much Hesitation in my choice of words, hardly correct in language, and
yet I generally carried my Points.
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	<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
	<META NAME="Author" CONTENT="Chris Kelley">
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	<TITLE>wise guy</TITLE>
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	Benjamin Franklin wrote these words a long time ago...

	<P>My list of virtues contain at first but twelve: But a Quaker Friend,
	having kindly inform me that I was generally thought proud; that my Pride
	show itself frequently in Conversation; that I was not content with being
	in the right when discussing any point, but was overbearing and rather
	insolent; of which he convinced me by mentioning several Instances; I determined
	endeavoring to cure myself if I could of this Vice or Folly among the rest,
	and I added Humility to my List, giving an extensive Meaning to the Word.

	<P>I cannot boast of much Success in Acquiring the Reality of this Virtue;
	but I had a good deal with regard to the Appearance of it. I made it a
	Rule to forbear all direct Contradiction to the Sentiment of others, and
	all positive Assertion of my own. I even forbid myself agreeable to the
	old Laws of our Junto, the Use of every Word or Expression in the Language
	that imported a fix opinion; such as certainly, undoubtedly, etc. and I
	adapted instead of them, I conceive, I apprehend, or I imagine a thing
	to be so, or it appears to me at present. When another asserted something
	that I thought an Error, I deny myself the Pleasure of contradicting him
	abruptly, and of showing immediately some Absurdity in his Proposition;
	and in answering I began by observing that in certain Cases or Circumstances
	his Opinion would be right, but that in the present case there appear or
	seem to me some Difference, etc. I soon found the Advantage of this Change
	in my Manners.

	<P>The Conversations I engaged in went on more pleasantly. The modest way
	in which I propos my Opinions procur them a readier Reception and less
	Contradiction; I had less Mortification when I was found to be in the wrong,
	and I more easily prevail with others to give up their Mistakes and join
	with me when I happen to be in the right. And this Mode, which I at first
	put on, with some violence to natural inclination, became at length so
	easy and so habitual to me, that perhaps for these Fifty Years past, no
	one has ever heard a dogmatical Expression escape me. And to this habit
	(after my Character of Integrity) I think it principally owing, that I
	had so much Weight with my Fellow Citizens, when I proposed new Institutions,
	or Alterations in the Old; and so much Influence in Public councils when
	I became a Member. For I was a bad speaker, never eloquent, subject to
	much Hesitation in my choice of words, hardly correct in language, and
	yet I generally carried my Points.
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