Benjamin Franklin

A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body.

Diligence is the mother of good luck.

Most men die at age 25, but aren't buried until age 65.

When men are employed, they are best contented; for on the days they worked they were good-natured and cheerful, and, with the consciousness of having a good day’s work, they spent the evening jollily; but on our idle days they were mutinous and quarrelsome.

Profile / Biography

Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706 in Boston. After only one year of schooling, he became an apprentice to his older brother as a printer. The two did not get along and Benjamin ran away to Philadephia.

His newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette, became the most successful newspaper in the colonies. He eventually married Deborah Read. They raised three children, including William, who later became the last loyalist Governor of New Jersey.

One of Franklin's most famous works was Poor Richard's Almanac, a yearly publication that blended wise sayings with weather reports and recipes. Among the most famous of his sayings were "A penny saved is a penny earned," and "God helps them that help themselves."

Benjamin Franklin attended the Second Continental Congress in 1776. He was on the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence, along with John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. During the American Revolution, he was sent to France when he was 75 years old, persuading them to back the Colonists. After returning, he freed his slaves and started an abolitionist group. He was also among the delegates to the Constitutional Convention in 1787.

In addition to his political and literary works, Franklin is credited with creating the nation's first public library, fire department, and fire insurance company. He experimented with electricity, invented bifocals, the Franklin stove, and the glass harmonica.
He lived a full life and created most of the inventions we are using today.