Benjamin Franklin’s 13 Virtues

Benjamin Franklin tried to be morally perfect, and adopted 13 virtues. He believed that by being virtuous it would be beneficial to himself and those around him.

“No quality was likely to make a poor man’s fortune than probity and integrity”

“God will certainly reward virtue and punish vice, either here or thereafter”

Here are those virtues

Benjamin Franklin’s 13 Virtues

• Silence
• Moderation
  • Temperance
• Order
  • Cleanliness
• Tranquility
• Resolution
• Sincerity
• Justice
• Chastity
• Industry: Lose no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
• Frugality: Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
• Humility

I consider temperance to be a part of moderation, and cleanliness a part of order, so my interpretation is that there are basically 11 that I choose to follow.

He focused each week on one of these virtues and recorded every time he failed to meet that virtue.

Reading was one of the ways he liked to spend his time. He would spend 1-2 hours reading every day and one day on the weekend (when he was not working).