Benjamin Franklin — "If you would be revenged of your enemy, govern yourself."
If you would be revenged of your enemy, govern yourself.
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More from Benjamin Franklin
"An old young man will be a young old man."
"To be rich is to have many servants, to be poor is to have many masters."
"Preparation is the burden of fools."
"Glass, China, and Reputation, are easily crack'd, and never well mended."
"A small leak will sink a great ship."
About Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
Polymath Founding Father, diplomat, and Poor Richard's Almanack author who helped draft the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Closely associated with John Adams (fellow Founder, Massachusetts statesman) and Thomas Jefferson (fellow Declaration drafter). For an intellectual contrast, see Thomas Hutchinson, last royal governor of colonial Massachusetts — Franklin leaked Hutchinson's loyalist correspondence to Boston in 1772 to inflame revolutionary sentiment — Hutchinson represented the colonial-aristocrat crown-loyalty that Franklin's revolution was organized to dismantle.
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Understanding this quote
What it means
The best revenge against an enemy is self-mastery. Rather than lashing out in anger or plotting retaliation, governing your own emotions and conduct leaves you composed, effective, and beyond reproach. Your enemy loses power over you when they cannot provoke rash behavior. True revenge isn't a strike against someone else — it's the discipline to rise above provocation, deny them satisfaction, and succeed entirely on your own terms.
Relevance to Benjamin Franklin
Franklin practiced this philosophy daily, tracking progress on 13 personal virtues — including temperance and tranquility — in a private ledger. As a colonial diplomat in London and Paris, he endured open condescension from British officials yet responded with patient shrewdness, ultimately outmaneuvering them politically. His Poor Richard's Almanack, where such maxims appeared, built his reputation because he modeled the self-governance he preached, transforming himself from a runaway apprentice into America's most respected statesman.
The era
In 18th-century colonial America, honor culture made personal revenge expected and even obligatory — public slights demanded public response, and dueling remained a legitimate means of settling disputes. Enlightenment thinkers, drawing on rediscovered Stoic philosophy, challenged this tradition by elevating reason over passion. Political life was volatile, factions fierce, and personal attacks routine. Franklin's aphorism offered a counter-cultural argument: disciplined self-governance was more powerful — and more devastating to enemies — than any act of retaliation.
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