Wit and Wisdom from Poor Richard's Almanack — Benjamin Franklin

Franklin's Autobiography is one of the most famous works in American literature. He started it as a private collection of anecdotes for his son, but soon it was transformed into a work of history, both personal and national, revealing Franklin as the man who, as Herman Melville said, possessed deep worldly wisdom and polished Italian tact, gleaming under an air of Arcadian unaffectedness.