Being Virtuous: Benjamin Franklin’s 13 Virtues of Life | The Art of Manliness

An excerpt from the Art of Manliness blog, an older article I stumbled upon while perusing the site that I find very interesting.

Being Virtuous: Benjamin Franklin’s 13 Virtues of Life | The Art of Manliness: "For the past 13 weeks, The Art of Manliness has been running a series entitled “The Virtuous Life.” Each week we took a look at each one of Benjamin Franklin’s 13 virtues and how men could implement them in their life.

Today “virtue” has taken on soft and effeminate connotations. But originally, the word “virtue” was inextricably connected to what it meant to be a true man. The word comes from the Latin virtus, which in turn is derived from vir, Latin for “manliness.” These days guys excuse their lack of virtue by hiding behind the excuse of being “just a guy.” Men need to do better and strive to improve themselves each day. It’s time to restore the tie between manliness and virtue.

What follows is a summary of the entire series with links to each virtue. We hope you found the series helpful and will revisit it in the future for inspiration.

Let’s get started."

Essentially, the article goes on to discuss how Franklin decided to attempt to achieve a perfect morality. He set out upon the venture at the ripe old age of... twenty! At an age when most Americans are waking up blissfully unaware of their weekend binging in college, Franklin was contemplating how he might discover the perfect morality and apply it to his own life. To this end, he developed a list of thirteen virtues that he might live his life by. The virtues are listed below and taken from a different AoM blog post found here.

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1. “TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.”
2. “SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.”
3. “ORDER. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your 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 employ’d 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; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.”
10. “CLEANLINESS. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.”
11. “TRANQUILLITY. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.”
12. “CHASTITY. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.”
13. “HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.”

Do note that the AoM blog has a full post dedicated to each virtue, and I strongly encourage the read. It is very much worth the time investment!

He then went on to place these virtues in a chart that he could carry with him, whereby he might track his actions throughout the day and, at the end of a day, put a tick by each of the virtues he felt he violated throughout the day, thence trying to minimize the marks daily and live a more virtuous life. (Being a printer gave him an infinite supply of these pages, which, at the time, I suppose was much to his benefit given circumstances of technology and circulation of printed materials.) An example of what it looked like below:

(I snagged the gif from this website, which is linked in the initial AoM post if anyone is interested.)

You notice that at the top of the chart, the work industry and his brief description is present. That is because each week, he would pick a different virtue to focus on throughout the week, disciplining himself in one particular virtue for an extended period of time while, simultaneously, working on all. 

On more excerpt from the second AoM post:

While Franklin never accomplished his goal of moral perfection, and had some notable flaws (womanizing and his love of beer probably gave him problems with chastity and temperance), he felt he benefited from the attempt at it.

Tho’ I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it, yet I was, by the endeavour, a better and a happier man than I otherwise should have been if I had not attempted it.

I find the whole article and concept fascinating. We, as a society, don't seem to have many virtues that we regard highly, nor do we spend any time in a child's education stressing virtues for fear that we might offend someone's sensibilities on the state dollar. As a result, we are rarely a society of virtues.

We are a society of laws. However, this is a far cry from a society of virtues. Laws are enforced upon you, virtues are taken upon oneself.

After reading through these, I felt that I should, in some fashion, take the 'Franklin challenge' of sorts onto myself. I may, in fact, simply find a means to carry around a similar journal. Perhaps an exact copy of what he has used himself. Regardless, I very much think it shall become a goal of mine. It is perhaps an audacious endeavor to undertake, but I can think of few endeavors more noble and worthy of the effort.

The question that presents itself to me is, should I choose the same thirteen virtues? Should I add more? Focus on fewer, but to a greater extent? Perhaps trade in some for others? How would I decided which are more or less worthy of attention? More or less relevant to my life and shortcomings as a man?

This will probably become a project of mine. I fully expect more posts in the future about it. Maybe pictures of whatever form my journal takes as well. Comments or suggestions are more than welcome!