Wisdom In All Things

Benjamin Franklin’s 13 Virtues - Tranquility

Franklin’s admonition is to “keep calm and carry on”. We can’t allow trifles and those events and circumstances that are common and unavoidable to trip us up or pull us away from what is actually important. The inability to find tranquility can develop into a perpetual state of being perturbed.

Read the transcript for Benjamin Franklin's 13 Virtues - Tranquility

Sign up for the Wisdom in All Things email

Benjamin Franklin’s 13 Virtues - Moderation

Both Merriam-Webster and Franklin are in direct opposition to the mindset, and behavior, of exactly where our culture has been tracking for some time. Now, moderation is what you avoid, while extremes are what you embrace, pursue, live for—as if to argue that moderation is an extreme to be avoided.

More to the point is that moderation is to be applied broadly. That is, we are to moderate the expression of our opinions, just as we moderate the consumption of ice cream.

Read the transcript for Benjamin Franklin's 13 Virtues - Moderation

Sign up for the Wisdom in All Things email

Benjamin Franklin’s 13 Virtues - Justice

Unfortunately, we don’t hear much of duty these days. I feel that the idea of duty has been absorbed and used as a form of narcissism. That is, we have a duty unto ourselves to ensure that we get justice.

However, Benjamin rightly prescribed justice as being toward others. The responsibility we have to be “morally right and fair” is outward-facing. What he doesn’t state, but I believe he would agree with, is that our duty to others may mean a sacrifice on our part.

Read the transcript for Benjamin Franklin's 13 Virtues - Justice

Sign up for the Wisdom in All Things email

Benjamin Franklin’s 13 Virtues - Sincerity

We do have the option of not speaking. Fewer words are normally more prudent. And, our being “slow to speak” (James 1:19), gives speaking and acting with sincerity its truest aim.

Franklin’s first four words ("Use no hurtful deceit") really describe a principle. The foundation on which we should first, govern what we think, and then, guide what may follow from those thoughts.

Read the transcript for Benjamin Franklin's 13 Virtues - Sincerity

Sign up for the Wisdom in All Things email

Benjamin Franklin’s 13 Virtues - Industry

First, consider that there must be no room for waste in being industrious. No minute is left unscrutinized or unaccounted for. If you’re going to spend any time, spend it constructively. Time is not lost or wasted, as long as we’re moving forward on what is worthwhile.

Industry requires that we be vigilant as with a machete, whacking away at anything that resembles the unnecessary.

Read the transcript for Benjamin Franklin's 13 Virtues - Industry

Sign up for the Wisdom in All Things email

Benjamin Franklin’s 13 Virtues - Frugality

There really are two aspects to enabling growth. Stop doing what you shouldn’t, and start doing what you should. It would be counterproductive to only do one or the other. Pursuing frugality should lead us to “backfill the hole”, but also produce a level of wealth and autonomy that puts us in the driver’s seat.

Being free and clear puts us in a better position to say 'yes' when presented with the right opportunity. Having a choice is freeing!

Read the transcript for Benjamin Franklin's 13 Virtues - Frugality

Sign up for the Wisdom in All Things email

Benjamin Franklin’s 13 Virtues - Resolution

To not have the right understanding of what “ought” to be, you, well, end up with what Nike declared in 1978: Just Do It. What’s it? Anything you want it to be.

Essentially, Benjamin is saying: get ‘it’ right–with conviction. Acknowledgment, or intellectual assent, is not the same as having a resolve. Like a soldier under command, our conviction should lead to the commitment of carrying out the right course of action.

Read the transcript for Benjamin Franklin's  13 Virtues - Resolution

Sign up for the Wisdom in All Things email

Benjamin Franklin’s 13 virtues - Order

Benjamin hoped having order “would allow [him] more time for attending to [his] project and [his] studies.” To ensure that order would allow him the space to tackle more pressing and valuable concerns.

I was immediately taken by the fact that he had an excellent morning routine, not to mention that he allowed 3 hours for it! He started his day with the proper order of things.

Read the transcript for Benjamin Franklin's 13 Virtues - Order

Sign up for the Wisdom in All Things email

Benjamin Franklin’s 13 Virtues - Silence

It should be clear that Franklin is not intending that we become a quiet person, as there are certainly times to speak up. 

It is speaking with a purpose that distinguishes this virtue and avoiding those situations when you would be drawn into inane, unimportant, or trivial discussions. This way, you benefit from your listening, and others benefit from your speaking.

Read the transcript for Benjamin Franklin's 13 Virtues - Silence

Sign up for the Wisdom in All Things email

Benjamin Franklin’s 13 Virtues - Temperance

Benjamin Franklin believed that temperance “tends to procure that coolness and clearness of head which is so necessary where constant vigilance was to be kept up, and guard maintained against the unremitting attraction of ancient habits and the force of perpetual temptations.”

Read the transcript for Benjamin Franklin's 13 Virtues - Temperance

Sign up for the Wisdom in All Things email