An Excerpt from the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
My list of virtues contained at first but
twelve; but a Quaker friend having kindly informed me that I was generally
thought proud; that my pride showed itself frequently in conversation; that I
was not content with being in the right when discussing any point, but was
overbearing, and rather insolent, of which he convinced me by mentioning
several instances; I determined endeavouring to cure myself, if I could, of
this vice or folly among the rest, and I added Humility to my list, giving an
extensive meaning to the word.
I cannot boast of much success in acquiring
the reality of this virtue, but I had a good deal with regard to the appearance
of it. I made it a rule to forbear all
direct contradiction to the sentiments of others, and all positive assertion of
my own. I even forbid myself, agreeably
to the old laws of our Junto, the use of every word or expression in the
language that imported a fixed opinion, such as certainly, undoubtedly, etc.,
and I adopted, instead of them, I conceive, I apprehend, or I imagine a thing
to be so or so; or it so appears to me at present. When another asserted
something that I thought an error, I denied myself the pleasure of
contradicting him abruptly, and of showing immediately some absurdity in his
proposition; and in answering I began by observing that in certain cases or
circumstances his opinion would be right, but in the present case there
appeared or seemed to me some difference, etc.
I soon found the advantage of this change in my manner; the
conversations I engaged in went on more pleasantly. The modest way in which I proposed my
opinions procured them a readier reception and less contradiction; I had less
mortification when I was found to be in the wrong, and I more easily prevailed with
others to give up their mistakes and join with me when I happened to be in the
right.
And this mode, which I at first put on with
some violence to natural inclination, became at length so easy, and so habitual
to me, that perhaps for these fifty years past no one has ever heard a
dogmatical expression escape me. And to
this habit (after my character of integrity) I think it principally owing that
I had early so much weight with my fellow-citizens when I proposed new
institutions, or alterations in the old, and so much influence in public
councils when I became a member; for I was but a bad speaker, never eloquent,
subject to much hesitation in my choice of words, hardly correct in language,
and yet I generally carried my points.
In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of
our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down,
stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive, and will every
now and then peep out and show itself; you will see it, perhaps, often in this
history; for, even if I could conceive that I had completely overcome it, I
should probably be proud of my humility.
