History records today as the birthday, in 1706, of Benjamin Franklin. The American statesman made plenty of history during his 84 years on earth, and his epigrams collected during a quarter century's publication of Poor Richard's Almanac could fill a bushel. Or could they? After all, Franklin, writing there as Richard Saunders, observed, "A word to the wise is enough, and many words won't fill a bushel." Today we pass along some further Franklinian advice for folks seeking wisdom.

Clearly, Franklin knew the power—and the limitations—of language. He wrote, "Words may shew a man's wit / but actions his meaning." What actions did Franklin advise? Many of us are familiar with his adage, "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise" but how many of us recall his meditative, "A little house well filled, a little field well tilled, and a little wife well willed, are great riches"?

With a house well-filled, a field well-tilled, and a wife well-willed, what more does a man need? According to Ben Franklin, "He that would live in peace and ease / Must not speak all he knows nor judge all he sees."

Though linked with Philadelphia (I have visited the Franklin Museum there), Ben was a born and bred Bostonian (his mother belonged to a Nantucket whaling family), who left Beantown to escape his abusive older brother to whom he was indentured. BTW, he never discovered electricity with that kite flight, just showed lightning and electricity were the same (and gave us the lightning rod, among other things).

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