Now Reading: Franklin’s ladder: gold, diamonds, virtue
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Franklin’s ladder: gold, diamonds, virtue
Benjamin Franklin, the American founding father, ranked virtue above gold and diamonds in Poor Richard's Almanack, a saying that still resonates. The Times of India reports that Franklin, who built his fortune…
The Story in Brief
Benjamin Franklin, the American founding father, ranked virtue above gold and diamonds in Poor Richard's Almanack, a saying that still resonates. The Times of India reports that Franklin, who built his fortune from a printer's apprenticeship, saw virtue as the only wealth that cannot be mined, bought, or inherited.
Franklin's ladder places unpurchasable character at the top, a view echoed by ancient Stoics and modern research on trust. The paper notes Franklin's own success rested on a deliberate project of self-improvement, listing thirteen virtues he tracked for years.
The Indian Opinion
The Times of India's inspirational framing risks turning Franklin into a self-help guru, smoothing over the contradictions of a slave-owning founding father preaching virtue. The quote's real edge is uncomfortable: Franklin knew character paid, and he worked it like a trade. The test is not to admire the proverb but to apply its question honestly. When a shortcut costs integrity, is the material gain actually rarer or harder to replace than the trust lost? That is the only rung that matters, and it cannot be borrowed from an almanack.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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