Aphorisms by Ben Franklin
Posted on July 10, 2010
Filed Under Aphorisms | 14 Comments
“Ben Franklin Is a Big Fat Idiot” is an entertaining re-appreciation of America’s founding aphorist by Joe Queenan. Queenan rightly points out that Big Fat Ben often purloined his sayings from sages past, and not all of the Great Man’s maxims are equally great. I don’t think this should in any way diminish Franklin’s reputation as one of the aphoristic titans, however. If you read any of the master aphorists, it is always a minority of their sayings that are truly phenomenal. Phenomenal aphorisms are very hard to write, so it shouldn’t surprise us that the truly great sayings are but a subset of the entire aphoristic oeuvre. And in regard to charges of plagiarism, we must remember Anatole’s Axiom, first laid down by French novelist Anatole France:
When a thing has been said, and said well, have no scruple. Take it and copy it.
Franklin did just that, but in copying what had already been said well he added distinctive flourishes and twists that make the recycled sayings truly his own. My favorite Franklinism, and one of my all-time favorite aphorisms, remains:
It is hard for an empty sack to stand upright.
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Everyone knows President Truman’s White House motto, “The buck stops here,” but not that it originated with an Oklahoma prison warden.
The self-deceived deceiver thinks he is helping others, not cheating them.
An empty sack cannot stand upright.
17th century English proverb. [Everyman's Dictionary and proverbs (1951) entry no. 6685.] Consequently (to quote Quiller-Couch), it may be inferred that “Benjamin Franklin is a plagiarist.”
Or one Poor Richard was the offending party?
I wonder if Franklin actually claimed to have penned all the sayings in his Almanack. If not, he may excused for re-using and recasting familiar adages, particularly under the guise of a fictional character.
Didn’t Erasmus do much the same thing?; collected more sayings/adages than he composed.
Empty sacks don’t know they’re empty. The same with empty heads.
Benjamin Franklin wrote: “Well done is better than well said.”
… I know what you’re thinking: ‘Well said.’
But remember, Ol’ Ben had to actually write this idea down on a piece of paper, and then yell to an apprentice to go and print it.
So the point is, well done too.
Today, without consciously thinking about it (through a process of serendipity), I have invented a new word, which I thought was a real word but upon second thought realized it was one of those made up words like, floccanticipitation (by Johnson & Jonson). The word is: “Culpetrator”; it means, “culpable perpetrator”, or words to that effect… This proves to me that, without doubt, I must be a very clever person indeed.
…I wonder whether we’re all as clever as we’d like to appear to be: a real Mr. Clever-Clever? Or indeed, whether one can be very clever on the quiet, but still not a very wise man in the clinches? And, indeed, if all we do around here is try to improve on what some anonymous fellow has said long before now (and that has then become a proverb) isn’t very smart after all, then why bother? And if, indeed, our resident wiseacre (whomsoever he may be), is as clever as he thinks he is, after all? As, after all, one can be “full of beans” and still go “pop” in the frying pan [of life] when the flame’s too high…
P.S. I do rather like Ms. Candadai Tirumalai’s Aphorism printed above, “The self-deceived deceiver thinks he is helping others, not cheating them.” It is really rather good you know…
Credentials don’t always translate into capacity.
Yes! old Andy (along with Franklin no doubt) is definitely a “culpable perpetrator”, but does it do him any good in the long run, him being such a “clever-clogs”?
“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”
Nuff said (even for atheists)
[...] was reminded of “Churchillian Drift” while reading the comments on Aphorisms by Ben Franklin. Churchillian Drift is a precursor to Anatole’s Axiom (scroll down the Corrections & [...]
The empty bottle rejoices, knowing it has given its all.
I shouldn’t be surprised if the Doctor meant something sly by putting these two books [one being Poor Richard’s Almanak, the other being...(?)] in my hand. Somehow, the old gentleman has an amazing sly look—a sort of wild slyness––about him, seems to me. His wisdom seems a sort of sly, too. But all in honor, though. I rather think he’s one of those old gentlemen who say a vast deal of sense, but hint a world more. Depend upon it, he’s sly, sly, sly. Ah, what’s this Poor Richard says: ‘God helps them that help themselves:’ Let’s consider that. Poor Richard ain’t a Dunker, that’s certain, though he has lived in Pennsylvania. ‘God helps them that help themselves.’ I’ll just mark that saw, and leave the pamphlet open to refer to it again––Ah!”
This being a few relevant lines from “Israel Potter meets Dr. Franklin” (1855), Chapter VII…just to muddy the waters a little more here and there…