All posts in The Writings of Benjamin Franklin, Vol II: Philadelphia

As there is nothing more partial than the Accounts given of Battles, all of them lessening or magnifying the Loss or Gain on either Side, just as the Writers are affected; we find it necessary to publish several Accounts on both Sides, when there has been any important Action, that so the Reader may be…

Sunday last between 7 and 8 in the Evening we had the most terrible Gust of Wind and Rain accompanied with Thunder and Lightning, that can be remembred in these Parts: It blew down several Stacks of Chimneys, uncovered several Houses, some wholly and others in Part; and quite demolished some weak Buildings. The Violence…

By being too nice in the Choice of the little Pieces sent me by my Correspondents to be printed, I had almost discouraged them from writing to me any more. For the Time to come, and that my Paper may become still more generally agreeable, I have resolved not to regard my own Humour so…

Ostendunt Terris hunc tantum Fata, neque ultra Esse sinunt. ——– Virgil. It has been observ’d Sir William Petty in his Political Arithmetick, that one half of Mankind, which are born into this World, die, before they arrive to the age of Sixteen, and that an half of the remaining part never measure out the short…

Hi mores baec duri immota Catonis Secta fuit, servare modum, finemque tenere, Naturamque sequi, patriaeque impendere vitam. Lucan. When I have sometimes observ’d Men of Wit and Learning, in Spite of their excellent natural and acquir’d Qualifications, fail of obtaining that Regard and Esteem with Mankind, which their Inferiors in point of Understanding frequently arrive…