When you incline to have new clothes, look first well over the old ones, and see if you cannot shift with them another year, either by scouring, mending, or even patching if necessary. Remember, a patch on your coat, and money in your pocket, is better and more creditable, than a writ on your back, and no money to take it off.
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"Anger is never without a Reason, but seldom with a good One."
"He that best understands the world, best understands his own business."
"I should have no objection to a repetition of the same life from its beginning, only asking the advantages authors have in a second edition to correct some faults of the first."
"Save a penny every year and you shall die a millionaire."
"Vessels large may venture more, but little boats should keep near shore."
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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Before buying new clothes, examine what you already own—clean, mend, or patch them to last another year. Financial security matters more than appearances: a patched coat with savings in your pocket beats fashionable clothes purchased on debt. A 'writ on your back' meant a legal debt summons from creditors. Owing money you cannot repay is more shameful than wearing worn clothing. Frugality preserves dignity; debt destroys it.
Franklin grew up in a large, modest Boston household and built his fortune through disciplined thrift as a printer and businessman. He published Poor Richard's Almanack for 25 years, packed with exactly these practical financial maxims. His autobiography carefully documents his habit of tracking expenses and resisting luxury. This quote embodies his core conviction that true creditworthiness and social standing come from financial prudence, not material display—a principle he consistently practiced and preached.
In colonial and early American society, debtors' prisons were real and common—unpaid debts could trigger legal writs and literal imprisonment. Clothing was expensive, often handmade or imported, representing a major household expenditure. Consumer goods were becoming more accessible through merchants, but credit was treacherous without modern bankruptcy protections. Against rising consumerism, Puritan-rooted frugality remained a moral and civic virtue. Debt wasn't merely financial ruin—it meant social disgrace and potential loss of personal freedom.
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