Quotes from Edmund S. Morgan, Benjamin Franklin (Yale Nota Bene)
p. 25-26 “Obviously the man we want to know had something other than riches in mind when he retired from business. Given his interest in science – he was just beginning his electrical experiments – he could have devoted the rest of his life to it. But we already noted that he did not, nor did he consider his scientific work as important as the rest of the world did. His refusal to defend his views against criticism reflected not only an aversion to public controversy about them but also a conviction that scientific inquiry was not itself as worthy of anyone’s time and effort, not as useful, as public service.”
p. 26 “Twenty-eight years later, Thomas Jefferson expressed an opposite view of the relative merits of science and public service. In a letter to David Rittenhouse, a much lesser scientists than Franklin but widely respected his contemporaries as an astronomer, Jefferson expressed concern that Rittenhouse was squandering his time in public service in the Pennsylvania legislative assembly.”
Franklin flirting in France
p. 246-247 ‘Franklin liked to flirt, and here were ladies who enjoyed it as much as he did were seasoned practitioners of the art. They did not want avuncular advice like Polly Stevenson or Georgianna Shipley or Katy Greene. Instead, they piled him with extravagant declarations of love and affection, addressing him as mon cher Papa. He responded in kind, insisting as eloquently as he could in an unfamiliar language that his own love for them was not just fatherly.’
p. 247 ‘Franklin was careful to spice this professions of devotion with witty explanations that love could be infinitely divided without diminishing, just as “the sweet Sounds of the Forte Piano produc’d by your exquisite skill” could be heard by twenty people “without lessening that which you kindly intend for me.” Since she never allowed him more than kisses, there could be no lessening of his love for her if he gave some to twenty other “jolies femmes”. And so he doubtless did.’