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Franklin was born in 1 706 as the tenth son of a soap maker named Josiah Franklin and his second wife, Bah Folder. Ben Franklin worked as an apprentice at his brothers newspaper, The New England Currant. After the newspaper got popular, Franklin sent in letters from a fake woman named Silence Dogwood, until his brother found out and scolded him. He ran away from his brother’s harsh torment in 1723. When Franklin left, he went to Philadelphia to work on his own printing business.
He eventually borrowed some money and began his own printing business, in which he worked diligently on his business. In 1730, Ben married his childhood sweetheart, Deborah Read. Together, the Franklins had their print shop, general goods store, and a book store, so one might say they were enterprising. In 1733, Franklin took the alias Richard Saunders, and created Poor Richards Almanac. This almanac not only included the weather reports, recipes and seed predictions like the others, but it also had witty aphorisms.
One of these aphorisms has meaning beyond just what it says: “A quiet conscience sleeps in thunder, but Rest and Guilt live far asunder. ” A simplistic meaning for this aphorism is: Someone who is without fault sleeps well, while one who has done wrong and regrets it will have restless nights. EVERYDAY USE There is not an abundance of times when this phrase is used in present day. There are those times when a man can sleep, because he is free from guilt and regrets. Then there have been many cases in which the same man may not be able to sleep because he has wronged another, and he knows he has one wrong.
These are examples of how it happens in daily life, although it is not normally said by people of this time period. RELEVANCY This quote has become almost irrelevant in today’s society. There is more than likely no normal person who knows this aphorism, let alone uses it. Even if a person is guilty or distraught, there is now medicine to help them sleep, so this quote is not useful. Most people today have regrets and have done wrong, but it really does not matter because of these medicines that make people sleep.