Benjamin Franklin

I thought it was quite interesting to read about Franklin's attempts to better himself and live in accordance to thirteen virtues that were important to him. However, I found it more interesting that he at first only had twelve virtues and then as a sort-of after thought, added humility to his list. Humility is often viewed as one of the greatest virtues for anyone to have, so for someone to add it as an after thought in their life is curious. Reading about how he changed his appearance to look like he had humility by using different, more agreeable words and not contradicting people right off the bat was intriguing. As he said himself, he can't boast about acquiring the reality of humility, but had a "good deal of regard to the appearance of it". I don't know how many people would really try to go through the trouble of looking humble without ever really being humble, but apparently Franklin succeeded in this. I really enjoyed the last paragraph of this excerpt, though, and think that Franklin was spot on by his last sentence. He said that pride is the hardest natural passion to subdue, and "even if I could conceive that I had completely overcome it, I should probably be proud of my humility". This is such a true statement that many people have witnessed throughout history, because even those who are still humble seem to take some pride in it.