Quick. What is Benjamin Franklin’s most famous wise saying?
You probably guessed, “A penny saved is a penny earned.”
This is a good guess, except Franklin scholars can’t find anywhere that Ben used these words.
What did appear in Poor Richard’s Almanac of 1737 was “A penny saved is two pence clear."
This seems to make a bit more sense.
Occasionally, one of Ben’s sayings makes no sense in the 21st century:
“A pin a day is a groat a year.”
Huh?
On the topic of almanacs, here’s a question: Why did our colonial forefathers buy an annual almanac?
No, no, no – not for weather predictions. No one took these annual predictions seriously.
Not even the most modern weather person can tell us in January if October will be rainy.
The real value of an almanac was found in the first 12 pages.
It was a calendar for the year.