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Personal finance advice from Benjamin Franklin

One of the earliest personal finance books can be considered "The way to wealth", a 19 page introduction to Poor Richard's Almanac, filled with advice to work hard, be thrifty, avoid debt and don't spend your money on so-called luxuries. 

Poor Richard's Almanack, which Benjamin Franklin began publishing in 1732, and went on to publish for 25 years, was created for the purpose of promoting his printing business. Poor Richard presented himself as a slightly dull, but often funny, country fellow who believed in hard work and simple living.

Some of the personal finance nuggets gleaned from the book have circulated for years, but perhaps without people being aware that they stem from the same source:

- But dost thou love life, then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of;

- The sleeping fox catches no poultry, and that there will be sleeping enough in the grave;

- Here you are all got together at this sale of fineries, and knickknacks. You call them goods; but, if you do not take care, they will prove evils to some of you;

- Buy what you don't need, and before long you shalt sell thy necessaries;

- A ploughman on his legs is higher than a gentleman on his knees;

- Always taking out ofthe pot, and never putting in, one soon comes to the bottom;

- It is easier to suppress the first desire, than to satisfy all that follow it;

- Think what you do when you run  into debt; you give to another power over your liberty;

- The second vice is lying, the first is running in debt;

- It is hard for an empty bag to stand upright;

- For age and want save while you may, No morning sun lasts a whole day.

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