Benjamin Franklin — "To lengthen thy life lessen thy meals."
To lengthen thy life lessen thy meals.
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More from Benjamin Franklin
"The most important of all business is to be busy."
"He that waits upon fortune, is never sure of a dinner."
"The greatest invention of the 19th century was the discovery of the 18th century."
"Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man."
"Our opinions are not in our own power; they are formed and governed much by circumstances that are often as inexplicable as they are irresistible."
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
Eating less extends your life. Overconsumption shortens lifespan while moderation at the table promotes longevity. In modern terms, caloric restriction and mindful eating are linked to better health outcomes — overeating drives obesity, cardiovascular disease, and metabolic disorders that cut lives short. The logic is blunt and practical: what you put into your body, and how much, directly determines how long your body keeps functioning. Restraint is medicine; excess is slow poison.
Relevance to Benjamin Franklin
Franklin published this in Poor Richard's Almanack, his compendium of practical wisdom read across the colonies. Temperance headed his famous list of 13 virtues he spent decades cultivating. He personally suffered from gout — a disease directly linked to rich food and overindulgence — giving this advice real stakes. As an empiricist who tied cause to observable effect, he applied the same logic to diet that he applied to electricity: test, observe, conclude. Health was a recurring subject in his writing and philanthropy.
The era
Eighteenth-century colonial America saw rampant overindulgence among the affluent — gout was called the disease of kings. Medical knowledge was limited; humoural theory still dominated explanations of illness. Life expectancy at birth hovered around 35-40 years, though those surviving childhood often reached their sixties. Famine and feast cycles shaped how people related to food. Enlightenment thinkers were beginning applying rational observation to bodily health, making Franklin's dietary maxim a genuinely progressive statement grounded in emerging empirical thinking.
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