In Bejamin Franklin’s Autobiography he writes frequently of different ideals that he tries to encompass while encouraging fellow Americans to do the same. One of the values that Franklin writes about to a large extent is “industry.” Industry as a value is a theme that runs throughout the autobiography but he first explicitly writes about it when he mentions his father recounting the following proverb: “Seest thou a man diligent in his calling, he shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men.” While he says that following this advice literally led him to meet several kings in his lifetime he also “considered industry as a means of obtaining wealth and distinction…”
One of the ways to Franklin tries to sell the ideal of industry is through humor. When he uses the proverb saying that industry can lead a man to stand before kings he makes a cheeky joke that says while following a proverb won’t always literally lead you down its path he actually ended up meeting 5 kings and dined with another.
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