Benjamin Franklin's Thirteen Virtues, and The Noble Eightfold Path

There are many people in business leadership, mentorship, and self-help industries that have crafted roadmaps and guides to success and accountability. People such as Dale Carnegie, Napoleon Hill, Tony Robbins, and Steven Covey are often given credit for this movement in self-improvement and motivation. However, despite his many great inventions and accomplishments, Benjamin Franklin is not given the credit he deserves for pioneering such tools for personal accountability and discipline.

I recently read Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography, which is widely regarded as one of the best autobiographies ever published. Written in an informal and conversational tone, it feels as though Franklin is writing this as a letter directly to the reader. As I was reading it, I was shocked that it had taken me until my 40’s to read his story. For that matter, I am disappointed in the public school system for not making this required reading for every young person.

Franklin’s accomplishments and self-discipline at an early age was something that could greatly inspire other young people in their teens and twenties. I know that I could have benefitted from it back then! As Franklin writes, he “conceiv’d the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection.” However, realizing that this was a monumental task, he devised a system in which he would focus on one of his virtues each week, before moving to the next. He organized each of these virtues in order of how one effects the next. His virtues are as follows:

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. Tranquility -- 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 or Socrates.

Using his trade as a printer, Franklin created a personal journal where he could track his daily and weekly progress of self-examination as he attempted to perfect each of these moral virtues. Each evening he would reflect on his day, and mark the row representing the respective virtue whenever he felt he had transgressed. After reading Benjamin Franklin's autobiography, and seeing the page from his journal, pictured below, I learned that we had a few things in common: he was a vegetarian, and we both have issues with being orderly and keeping our mouths shut!

The way in which Benjamin Franklin pursued his Thirteen Virtues was not too dissimilar from the way Buddha approached the Noble Eightfold Path. In this regard, could the Thirteen Virtues be categorized in the same way that the Buddha bucketed the steps in the Noble Eightfold Path? Perhaps they would be done in this manner:

• Ethics:
• Silence
• Order
• Frugality
• Industry
• Sincerity
• Justice
• Chastity
• Concentration:
• Cleanliness
• Tranquility
• Moderation
• Wisdom:
• Temperence
• Resolution
• Humility

Or could the Noble Eightfold Path be organized as a daily journal as Franklin organized his Thirteen Virtues:

Whether one decides to live their life in accordance to the Buddha's Noble Eightfold Path, or by Benjamin Franklin's Thirteen Virtues, one would be on a great road to being an exemplary citizen in our global community.

I would urge anyone who has a passion to create the best version of themselves to read The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. You can order it in hardcover through Target.

If you want to take your journey to a more virtuous life one step further, check out this attractive Thirteen Virtues journal available at The Art Of Manliness.

What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below!