The very foundations of character rest on
regularity, on good habits so inflexibly formed that it is painful to break
them. Franklin's success in laying these foundations was phenomenal. His
_Poor Richard's Almanac_, begun in 1733, was one of his chief agencies in
reaching the common people. They read, reread, and acted on such proverbs
as the following, which he published in this _Almanac_ from year to year:--
[Footnote: The figures in parenthesis indicate the year of publication.]
"He has changed his one ey'd horse for a blind one" (1733).
"Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead" (1735).
"Wealth is not his that has it, but his that enjoys it" (1736).
"Fly pleasures and they'll follow you" (1738).
"Have you somewhat to do to-morrow; do it to-day" (1742).
"Tart words make no friends: a spoonful of honey will catch more flies than
a gallon of vinegar" (1744).
In 1757 Franklin gathered together what seemed to him the most striking of
these proverbs and published them as a preface to the _Almanac_ for 1758.
This preface, the most widely read of all his writings, has since been
known as _The Way to Wealth_. It had been translated into nearly all
European languages before the end of the nineteenth century.
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