Franklin first talks about how he plans to reach "moral perfection." He says that he wanted to live without any fault, and would do anything that could get him there. In this passage he states that just trying to be virtuous is not sufficient enough to keep us from making mistakes. He goes on to say that he will follow a certain set of values. He also says he will define the because they can mean different thing to different people; these values (virtues) are as follows: 1) Temperance -- Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation. 2) Silence -- Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversations. 3) Order -- Let all things have their places; let each part of you business have its time. 4) Resolution -- Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve. 5) Frugality -- Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing. 6) Industry -- Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions. 7) Sincerity -- Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and. if you speak, speak accordingly. 8) Justice -- Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty. 9) Moderation -- Avoid extremes; forebear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve. 10) Cleanliness -- Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation. 11) Tranquility -- Be no disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable. 12) Chastity -- Refraining from sexual intercourse. 13) Humility -- Imitate Jesus and Socrates.
After Franklin lists these virtues, he goes on to tell why they are in the order that they are, and that the point behind this is so that one my help acquire another. He that tell how he set up a journal to keep track of his faults during the day. He explains that the first offense he was going to focus on would be temperance because this is the first on his list. Thus he will leave all other offenses to chance. Franklin then moves on to explain what this journal would look like in a 24 hour period (one regular day)
Franklin goes on to talk about all of the faults that he had. He says that he had many more faults that he had ever imagined, but the one that was most prominent and gave him the most trouble fixing was Order. He says that he had to pay so much attention that it was actually painful for him. Franklin compares this to a man buying an axe; he wants it shiny, however he does not want to do all the work to get it there. He says that sometimes a speckled axe is best; by this he means sometimes it is okay to have flaw. You cannot fix everything. Franklin says that even though he never truly reached perfection, he tried and was a happier man because of that.
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