Saturday, January 15, 2022

Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

 I have a copy of Benjamin Franklin's autobiography and yes it is an electronic copy.  In the past I have started reading it but never passed more than a few pages before I allowed other concerns to halt my reading.

I came across an article today that reminded me of my copy any I will  endeavor to pick it up again.  Here is the article.

"Hitting page 13, I came across a nugget of wisdom perfect for our times, in which many strong and polarizing opinions flow freely. Franklin is discussing his journey in learning how to properly persuade and inform others while in conversation, rather than to simply debate and argue with them. Having been on both the giving and receiving end of such argumentative conversations in the last year—as, I’m sure, have many of you—I found Franklin’s remarks a gentle reminder that, if we are to win the world to our way of thinking, we must practice effective methods of persuasion.

“I wish well-meaning, sensible men would not lessen their power of doing good by a positive, assuming manner,” Franklin begins, showing that our influence on others is reduced by an attitude of overconfidence. Franklin says that this type of approach “seldom fails to disgust, tends to create opposition, and to defeat every one of those purposes for which speech was given to us, to wit, giving or receiving information or pleasure.”"

https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/how-to-change-the-minds-of-those-you-disagree-with/

You can find a copy of Benjamin Franklin's autobiography here:

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20203

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