Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin, Volume 1

Front Cover
Derby & Jackson, 1859 - Statesmen
 

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 196 - The Body Of Benjamin Franklin, Printer, (Like the cover of an old book, Its contents torn out, And stript of its lettering and gilding,) Lies here, food for worms. But the work shall not be lost, For it will, as he believed, appear once more, In a new and more elegant edition, Revised and corrected By THE AUTHOR.
Page 368 - And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.
Page 7 - 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...
Page 183 - In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for the divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard; and they were graciously answered. All of us, who were engaged in the struggle, must have observed frequent instances of a superintending Providence in our favor. To that kind Providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful...
Page 23 - Sees but a part o' the chain, the nearest link : His eyes not carrying to the equal beam, That poises all above ; " and from the attributes of God, His infinite wisdom, goodness and power, concluded that nothing could possibly be wrong in the world, and that vice and virtue were empty distinctions, no such things existing...
Page 174 - ... all women and children, scholars of every faculty, cultivators of the earth, artisans, manufacturers, and fishermen unarmed and inhabiting unfortified towns, villages, or places, and in general all others whose occupations are for the common subsistence and benefit of mankind, shall be allowed to continue their respective employments, and shall not' be molested in their persons, nor shall their houses or goods be burnt, or otherwise destroyed, nor their fields wasted, by the armed force of the...
Page xxii - The old man told him that he worshipped the fire only, and acknowledged no other God ; at which answer Abraham grew so zealously angry, that he thrust the old man out of his tent, and exposed him to all the evils of the night and an unguarded condition. When the old man was gone, God called to Abraham, and asked him •where the stranger was : he replied, ' I thrust him away, because he did not worship thee.
Page 6 - I had gone on making verses; since the continual search 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 in the Spectator...
Page 52 - Human felicity is produced not so much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen, as by little advantages that occur every day.
Page 35 - O powerful Goodness ! bountiful Father ! merciful Guide ! Increase in me that wisdom, which discovers my truest interest. Strengthen my resolution to perform what that wisdom dictates.. Accept my kind offices. to thy other children, as the only return in my power for thy continual favors to me.

Bibliographic information