The other day I was perusing my book shelf, trying to decide which of the many unread books I should undertake (I seem to have developed a poor habit of buying books faster than I can read them). The one that jumped out at me was a left-over from a college course, (one of the many books I purchased, read for 15 minutes, and put on the book shelf), but on that day it had a special significance. Just the day before I had been listening to an audio book on a plane ride back to Nashville and in the book the author mentioned his opinion that The Autobiography on Benjamin Franklin is one of the best literature sources on success in existence. I remember thinking at the time that it would be great if I had time to read it, but that I probably would never get around to it. Well, as I surveyed my non-fiction shelf, I discovered that I actually already own a copy of it, and as it didn't appear to be too intimidating, I decided to give it a shot. I can honestly say that is has captured my attention unlike any other biography has been able to (not that I read a lot in that genre).
The theme of Franklin's early life is what he terms industry, or more simply, hard work. He was consumed with reading, writing, learning, and working to improve his situation. I'm about half way through the book at this point, so I'll try to come back and wrap this up after I've finished it, but already I can see there are a lot of great things to be learned from his life.
Some good quotes:
"I grew convinc'd that truth, sincerity, and integrity in dealings between man and man were of the utmost importance to the felicity of life."
"So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for every thing one has a mind to do."
"[My father] convinced me that nothing was useful which was not honest."
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