"Better slip with foot than tongue." - Benjamin Franklin There are few things worse than saying something negative or demeaning about another person who is unexpectedly within earshot. It is a good practice to imagine anyone you're talking about being in the room with you. If it is a criticism, ask yourself "Would I say …
Tag: benjamin franklin
Silence
"Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment." - Benjamin Franklin Looking back over my life I must say that I have been more often repentant for things I have said than for times of inapposite …
Courage and Resolution
"How few there are who have courage enough to own their faults, or resolution enough to mend them." ~ Benjamin Franklin Of all the words that come to mind in relation to personal faults, I can't imagine that "ownership" would top the list in the minds of most people. The majority, I imagine, would claim …
Human Felicity
"Human felicity is produced not as much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen as by little advantages that occur every day." ~ Benjamin Franklin What little advantages came your way yesterday? Did you take time to enumerate them at the end of the day? Did you recognize them when they happened? If …
A New Corporate Culture
"We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately." ~ Benjamin Franklin One of the greatest challenges I've faced while developing a more desirable corporate culture that is free of the common impediments that creep in through the less illuminated corners of human nature lies in overcoming the entropic tendency …
Your Tomorrows
"Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What's a sundial in the shade?" ~ Benjamin Franklin How successful have you been at employing your talents in relation to your friends, family, associates and beyond? No matter what you have or haven't done in your life, what you've completed or left undone, you still …
Virtue
Benjamin Franklin lived an uncommon life. One of the Founding Fathers of the United States and a noted polymath, Franklin's inquisitiveness and inventiveness influenced American life and thought profoundly. Everywhere you turn you see evidence of Franklin's legacy: bifocals, the public library system, police departments, volunteer fire departments, the lightning rod, an incredible literary treasure …
Enriching Down-Time
"A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body." ~ Benjamin Franklin Of the things that you do at home, how many are truly enriching versus simply entertaining? Entertainment options have proliferated over the last few decades. Cable and satellite television. The internet. iPhone, …
The Basis of Learning
"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn." ~ Benjamin Franklin Some education experts claim that there are as many as seven types of learners, most agree that there are three primary types: audio learners visual learners kinesthetic learners Audio or "listening" learners are often mistakenly accused as …
Humility and Repentance
"I confess that there are several parts of this Constitution which I do not at present approve, but I am not sure I shall never approve them. For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged by better information, or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which I once …
Gregory Hake 