Poor Richard's Almanack by Benjamin Franklin

These mottos can be illustrated and displayed in the classroom or made into bumper stickers or t-shirts. As a final activity, ask students to write their own mottos for life. Then, have students choose one saying, paraphrase it, and explain why they agree or disagree with its message. Many a man thinks he is buying pleasure when he is really selling himself a slave to it.Īsk students to give their impressions of the person who would write these statements. Poor Richards Almanack (sometimes Almanac) was published by Benjamin Franklin, who adopted the pseudonym of 'Poor Richard' or 'Richard Saunders' for this purpose.The almanack sold as many as 10,000 copies a year. Hear no ill of a friend, nor speak any of an enemy. Franklin published the first Poor Richard's Almanack on December 28, 1732, and continued to publish new editions for 25 years, bringing him much economic success and popularity.The noblest question in the world is: What good may I do in it?.He was considered the most accomplished printer in Colonial America. But Benjamin Franklins accomplishments were far greater. Trouble springs from idleness and grievous toil from needless ease. For most people, Franklins fame as a writer and printer rests on Poor Richards Almanack which is commonly recognized for the wit and wisdom spun by Franklin under the pseudonym Richard Saunders.Have you something to do tomorrow? Do it today.Plough deep while sluggards sleep and you shall have corn to sell and to keep.Industry pays debts while despair increases them.He wasn’t alone in the almanac publishing business.

The publication appeared from 1732 to 1758. Business was thriving by the mid 1730s, the Pennsylvania Gazette became the most popular newspaper in the colony and Poor Richard’s Almanac was a best seller with a circulation of 10,000 copies a year. A scan of Poor Richard’s Almanac (k) from 1739. Poor Richards Almanac (sometimes Almanack) was a yearly almanac published by Benjamin Franklin, under the alias of Richard Saunders. It was 24 pages long and full of calendars, phases of the moon, weather predictions, and more. At the working man's house, hunger looks in but dares not enter. Using the pseudonym Richard Saunders, Franklin published his first almanac on December 19, 1732.Share some of the following proverbs taken from Poor Richard's Almanack with your students:

Poor Richard's Almanack by Benjamin Franklin