Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/31

21 they did not foreſee the conſequences. Thus I involved them in difficulties from which they were unable to extricate themſelves, and ſometimes obtained victories, which neither my cauſe nor my arguments merited.

This method I continued to employ for ſome years; but I afterwards abandoned it by degrees, retaining only the habit of expreſſing myſelf with modeſt diffidence, and never making uſe, when I advanced any proportion which might be controverted, of the words certainly, undoubtedly, or any others that might give the appearance of being abſtinately attached to my opinion. I rather ſaid, I imagine, I ſuppoſe, or it appears to me, that ſuch a thing is ſo or ſo, for ſuch and ſuch reaſons; or it is ſo, if I am not miſtaken. This habit has, I think, been of conſiderable advantage to me, when I have had occaſion to impreſs my opinion on the minds of others, and perſuade them to the adoption of the meaſures I have ſuggeſted. And ſince the chief ends of converſation are, to inform or to be informed, to pleaſe or to perſuade, I could with that intelligent and well-meaning men would not themselves diminiſh the power they poſſeſs of being uſeful, by a poſitive and preſumptuous manner of expreſſing themſelves, which ſcarcely ever fails to diſguſt the hearer, and is only calculated to excite oppoſition, and defeat every purpoſe for which the faculty of ſpeech has been beſtowed upon man. In ſhort, if you wiſh to inform, a poſitive and dogmatical manner of advancing your opinion may provoke contradiction, and prevent your being heard with attention. On the other hand, if with a deſire of being informed, and of benefiting by the knowledge of others, you expreſs yourſelf as being ſtrongly attached to your own opinions,