DECEMBER. [1757] XII Month.

Franklin, Benjamin (1706 - 1790)

1 Would you be well receiv’d where’er you go,

2Remember each Man vanquish’d is a Foe:

3Resist not therefore to your utmost Might,

4But let the Weakest think he’s sometimes right;

5He, for each Triumph you shall thus decline,

6Shall give ten Opportunities to shine;

7He sees, since once you own’d him to excel,

8That ‘tis his Interest you should reason well.

Notes

8] Copied from Benjamin Stilling Fleet’s “An Essay on Conversation,” lines 455-62. Back to Line

Publication Notes

The Complete Poor Richard Almanacks, intro. Whitfield J. Bell, Jr., Vol. 2, 1748-1758 (Barre, Massachusetts: The Imprint Society, Inc., 1970): 352. PS 749 A3 1970 Robarts Library First published in 1757.

RPO poem Editors

Ian Lancashire