Years after Poor Richard’s Almanac stopped being published, critics of Franklin accused him of stealing these proverbs from other sources. “ God helps them that help themselves”, and “ tart words make no friends: a spoonful of honey will catch more flies than a gallon of vinegar”, and “ no pain, no gain”, and “ three may keep a secret if two of them are dead.” I’ve heard variations of all of these through my life and I’m sure you have too. Ever heard, “ early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise”? How about some variation of “ fish and visitors stink after three days”? Many of the proverbs published in Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac are still recognized, and used, today. Poor Richard’s Almanac was so popular that, as the story goes, Napoleon had it translated to Italian. It sold around 10,000 copies a year.įranklin’s humor and ability to “ spice the prosaic matter of the ordinary almanac” made his publication more popular than those around him. Poor Richard’s Almanac rose in popularity until it was the second-most purchased publication of its time, beat only the Bible, with sales rates landing somewhere around one almanac for every 100 colonists. In the end, that’s what made them so popular. He published jokes and conspiracies, like Leed’s supposed ghost.įranklin’s almanacs weren’t only to inform. Second, Franklin’s almanac also covered a wider range of topics than his rivals, including recipes, philosophical discussions, proverbs, anecdotes, mathematical puzzles, and serial-style stories that encouraged readers to purchase subsequent issues to find out what happened next.
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