Quote of the Day: Death and Taxes

 

“Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

Thus wrote Benjamin Franklin, 229 years ago today, on November 13, 1789.  The recipient of his musings was one Jean-Baptiste Leroy, an eighteenth-century physicist and regular correspondent with Franklin.  Like Franklin, he was fascinated by the science of electricity, and in 1749, he was a co-constructer of the electrometer, a device for detecting and measuring electrical charges and voltages. Thank you M. Leroy.  I sing your praises every time I flip the circuit breaker, but then stick the little prongs of the pocket version of your invention into the outlet, or into the box, just to make absolutely sure I’m not going to send myself to kingdom come when I touch the bare wires.  (I do loathe electrical projects.  Messing with something I can’t see, which has the shocking power to send me instantly into the next world, fussels my boogie immensely.)

Although the death and taxes meme is most closely associated with Poor Richard, he didn’t originate it.  That honor belongs to Christopher Bullock, and his play from 1716, The Cobbler of Preston, a Musical Farce in Two Acts, in the form, “’tis impossible to be sure of any thing but Death and Taxes.”  I’ll confess I haven’t seen or read the thing, but can’t help wondering if one of the acts is “death” and the other one is “taxes,” and where the aspects of “farce” come in.  Neither seems particularly funny to me.  Sigh.  I suppose I’ll have to get busy and start ferreting around to see if I can find a copy.   That’s the trouble with these QOTD posts–start unraveling the knots, and you end up with loose threads, and in places you couldn’t possibly have anticipated.  Sort of like life.  Sometimes, it’s worth it, though.  Sort of like life, again.

The phrase was also used by Daniel Defoe (he of Robinson Crusoe fame) in The Political History of the Devil, a book written in 1726.  There, the sentence is “Things as certain as death and taxes can be more firmly believed.”  I’ve not read that one either (gosh, my bluestocking credibility, such as it is, is going down the drain on this one), but from what I can gather, it’s a refutation of Milton’s Paradise Lost, and a history of the world as it’s been affected by the participation of the devil, who, in the service of evil, has physically put his thumb on the scale time and time again.

One must assume that, unlike my poor self, Ben Franklin was familiar with one, or both, of these almost contemporaneous pieces of popular literature.  And that that’s where he acquired the phrase.

His particular turn on it does seem apt, though, in that he seems to be acknowledging the impermanence of almost all wordly things, and that he implies the possibility that, one day, the United States Constitution may fall victim to the affairs of men and the evanescence of time.  Very topical today, one might say.

And reminiscent of another of his famous remarks, that made to a curious lady when leaving Independence Hall at the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787:

Q: Well, Doctor, what have we got–a Republic or a Monarchy?
A: A Republic–if you can keep it.

Smart fellow, Old Ben.  Prescient, even.

 

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  1. Douglas Pratt Coolidge
    Douglas Pratt
    @DouglasPratt

    Thank you. Any post relating to my hero Dr. Franklin always cheers me.

    The “death and taxes” quote is one of the few cases where Franklin was actually improved upon, by Will Rogers, when he declared that death and taxes are sure things, but death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets.

    • #1
  2. Vectorman Inactive
    Vectorman
    @Vectorman

    She: That’s the trouble with these QOTD posts–start unraveling the knots, and you end up with loose threads, and in places you couldn’t possibly have anticipated. Sort of like life. Sometimes, it’s worth it, though.

    For some of us, if it wasn’t for the Quote of the Day and Group Writing, Ricochet Members (like me) would seldom submit an original post. And we wouldn’t have The Rest of the Story behind the original Ben Franklin quote in this case. Kudos!


    We have 8 openings on the Quote of the Day November Schedule. We’ve even include tips for finding great quotes. Join in the fun and sign up today!

    • #2
  3. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Ben Franklin was an amazing man–eccentric, creative and brilliant. Not such a good father, and loved to dally with the ladies, but still amazing. Thanks for the quote and the background. (I know about that unraveling of the QOTD . . . but you did a great job!)

    • #3
  4. Misthiocracy, Joke Pending Member
    Misthiocracy, Joke Pending
    @Misthiocracy

    Apropos of nothing – Here’s a link to the writings of Benjamin Franklin that are available at gutenberg.org:

    http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/92

    (His political writings are mostly in Vol 3. of the “complete works”, with a few other essays on political subjects also appearing at the end of Vol. 2.)

    • #4
  5. She Member
    She
    @She

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    Ben Franklin was an amazing man–eccentric, creative and brilliant. Not such a good father, and loved to dally with the ladies, but still amazing. 

    Umm. Yeah.

    • #5
  6. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    Very good history lesson.

    • #6
  7. OkieSailor Member
    OkieSailor
    @OkieSailor

    She: I sing your praises every time I flip the circuit breaker, but then stick the little prongs of the pocket version of your invention into the outlet, or into the box, just to make absolutely sure I’m not going to send myself to kingdom come when I touch the bare wires.

    Not to hijack your thread ;-) But….One time at the tire plant I told a Maintence Man that an assembly machine that was acting strangely probably just had some stale electricity and he needed to flush it with fresh electricity. He asked how much I thought it needed so I said 3-4 gallons should be about enough. We were just messing with a Stupidvisor!!

    Well, anyway, if you know which parts are ‘hot’ you don’t need to be afraid of electrical devices, just respectful. I’ve worked on live outlets, etc. many times. Warning!! Not recommended by any Authority!! Do not try this at home!!
    Well, one time I was working on a washing machine and I kept getting shocked when I shouldn’t have. There are some tests that require the power to be on, you see. I figured out that the outlet had been wired backward, white to brass, black to ground side, a no-no. Most appliances will operate this way but it’s not safe. I knew the single mom I was working for didn’t have much income so I told her what the problem was but didn’t want to recommend that she call an electrician. So I told her I could fix it in 5 minutes but if anyone asked if I had done so she must say I had not!  Practicing Electicity without a License you see ;>)
    I can only tell this now that the Statute of Limitations has expired. I hope.

    • #7
  8. Matt Harris Member
    Matt Harris
    @MattHarris

    Douglas Pratt (View Comment):
    The “death and taxes” quote is one of the few cases where Franklin was actually improved upon, by Will Rogers, when he declared that death and taxes are sure things, but death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets.

    Well, until Obamacare. 

    • #8
  9. aardo vozz Member
    aardo vozz
    @aardovozz

    Matt Harris (View Comment):

    Douglas Pratt (View Comment):
    The “death and taxes” quote is one of the few cases where Franklin was actually improved upon, by Will Rogers, when he declared that death and taxes are sure things, but death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets.

    Well, until Obamacare.

    And several other times—1861, 1917, and 1941 to name a few.

    • #9
  10. Chris Campion Coolidge
    Chris Campion
    @ChrisCampion

    Death, sure.  Taxes?  Yep.  But what’s worse, and Dr. Spankin’ Ben Franklin did not perceive, was debt.

    At least not at these levels.  Which might mean we’re not going to get to keep it.

     

     

     

     

    • #10
  11. GLDIII Reagan
    GLDIII
    @GLDIII

    She: (I do loathe electrical projects. Messing with something I can’t see, which has the shocking power to send me instantly into the next world, fussels my boogie immensely.)

    Been watching The Great British Bake Off show as of late, as a passive diddling of time.  The highlighted expression, and so many others verbal expressions remind me that, as George Bernard Shaw noted, how we the Americans and the British are so divided by a common language.

    Yet I find myself positively amused by these little aphorisms and locutions, that I can just barely understand, yet seem so perfect in their deployment.

    Simply brilliant She, keep bring bang them on….

    • #11
  12. She Member
    She
    @She

    OkieSailor (View Comment):

    She: I sing your praises every time I flip the circuit breaker, but then stick the little prongs of the pocket version of your invention into the outlet, or into the box, just to make absolutely sure I’m not going to send myself to kingdom come when I touch the bare wires.

    Not to hijack your thread ;-) But….One time at the tire plant I told a Maintence Man that an assembly machine that was acting strangely probably just had some stale electricity and he needed to flush it with fresh electricity. He asked how much I thought it needed so I said 3-4 gallons should be about enough. We were just messing with a Stupidvisor!!

    Well, anyway, if you know which parts are ‘hot’ you don’t need to be afraid of electrical devices, just respectful.

    Yeah.  I’m very respectful.  Particularly inside the main breaker box.  Pretty happy with the subpanel, to which I can switch off all power.  But the top half of the main breaker box is where the service comes into the house, and it’s always live.  And hot.  Worrisome.

     

    • #12
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