Part 1, youthful reading of Xenophon
Adopts Socratic method after reading Xenophon's Memorabilia.
Read in Books4Free →Socratic Method and the Habit of Modest Speech
From The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin
Franklin recounts adopting Socrates's method of humble inquiry, abandoning direct contradiction and dogmatic words like 'certainly' in favor of 'I conceive' or 'it appears to me'—a rhetorical practice he credits with much of his persuasive success.
Part 2, under Humility
Forbids himself dogmatic expression; one of the most quoted passages on rhetoric and persuasion.
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