Hope everyone had a wonderful, and enjoyable week. Here is an excerpt from the late, great publisher, Benjamin Franklin. This excerpt is from his autobiography:
 |
Benjamin Franklin
Portrait by Jean-Baptiste Greuze 1777
(courtesy commons.wikimedia.org) |
"I continued this (Socratic) method some few years, but gradually left it, retaining only the habit of expressing myself in terms of modest diffidence, never using, when I advanced anything that may possibly be disputed, the words
certainly, undoubtedly, or any others that give the air of positiveness to an opinion; but rather say,
I conceive or
apprehend a thing to be so and so;
It appears to me, or,
I should not think it, so or so, for such and such reasons; or,
I imagine it to be so; or,
It is so, if I am not mistaken. This habit, I believe, has been of great advantage to me when I have had occasion to inculcate my opinions and persuade men into measures that I have been from time to time engaged in promoting. And as the chief ends of conversation are to
inform or to
be informed, to
please or to
persuade, I wish well-meaning and sensible men would not lessen their power of doing good by a positive assuming manner that seldom fails to disgust, tends to create opposition, and to defeat most of those purposes for which speech was given to us. In fact, if you wish to instruct others, a positive dogmatical manner in advancing your sentiments may occasion opposition and prevent candid attention. If you desire instruction and improvement from others, you should not at the same time express yourself fixed in your present opinions. Modest and sensible men, who do not love disputation, will leave you undisturbed in the possession of you errors. In adopting such a manner, you can seldom expect to please your hearers or obtain the concurrence you desire.
demopublican.org is here to promote public awareness of the need for world peace.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.