The Thirteen Virtues and Project of Moral Perfection

From The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin
Franklin's systematic self-improvement scheme in which he listed thirteen virtues, kept a daily chart marking faults, and attempted to make each habitual one week at a time. This is the most famous and anthologized section of the Autobiography.
Part 2 (written at Passy, 1784)

Franklin introduces the 'bold and arduous Project of arriving at moral Perfection' and lists the thirteen virtues with their precepts.

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Part 2, on Order

Famous admission that Order was the virtue he could never master, illustrated by the 'speckled axe' anecdote.

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Part 2, on Humility

The thirteenth virtue, added at a Quaker friend's suggestion: 'Imitate Jesus and Socrates.' Franklin admits he could never conquer pride itself.

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