A Ben Franklin quotation?

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Thanks Ken. The result of the search I performed yesterday was
similar. The earliest matches were in 1999 and 2000.

[ref] Date: 1999 November 22, Usenet discussion message, Newsgroup:
alt.quotations, From: techn... at webtv.net (Marci Wolcott), Subject: Re:
(OT)  Daniel's Razor, Was Re: Please Help ME, (Google Groups Search;
Accessed Ocotber 23, 2013)[/ref]

https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.quotations/me_4updshP0/3BgnvKA8o3MJ

[Begin excerpt]
"Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement,
achievement and success have no meaning."
                 Benjamin Franklin
[End excerpt]


Below is the same 2000 document Ken found. The link goes to fdlp.gov
which is the website of the Federal Depository Library Program, the
organization that created the newsletter.

[ref] Date of Newsletter: 2000 March 15,
Periodical Title: Administrative Notes: Newsletter of the Federal
Depository Library Program,
Volume: 21, Number: 5,
Article Title: The Role of the Government "Printing" Office in the
Digital Millennium; Remarks by Francis J. Buckley, Jr., Superintendent
of Documents, Before the National Federation of Abstracting and
Indexing Societies on February 21, 2000
Publisher: U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.[/ref]

http://fdlp.gov/home/repository/doc_view/969-administrative-notes-vol-21-no-05

[Begin excerpt]
The GPO staff members who are working on Ben’s page are quite immersed
in the life and times of Mr. Franklin. In fact, they have taken to
sharing a number of his quotations with me – one that is rather
appropriate for speechmaking is: “Speak little, do much,” from Poor
Richard’s Almanack (1755). Let me take Mr. Franklin’s advice; I will
speak for a short time today while bringing you up-to-speed on how
much we are doing in GPO in this electronic era.

Another quote from Mr. Franklin goes: "Without continual growth and
progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no
meaning."
[End excerpt]

Garson O'Toole


On Thu, Oct 24, 2013 at 7:13 AM, Ken Hirsch <kenhirsch at ftml.net> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Ken Hirsch <kenhirsch at FTML.NET>
> Subject:      Re: A Ben Franklin quotation?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Wed, Oct 23, 2013 at 11:24 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
>> From the H-OIEAHC at H-NET.MSU.EDU (Early America) list:
>>
>>  Along these lines, I wonder if anyone can identify the source of
>>> this curious quote attributed to Ben Franklin: "Without continual
>>> growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and
>>> success have no meaning."
>>
>>
>
> All of Franklin's writings are searchable at franklinpapers.org
>
> http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/framedVolumes.jsp
>
> I can't find anything similar to the alleged quote in that database.
>
> It doesn't sound 18th century to me, either.
>
> The earliest I have found it are (unverified) 1999 and 2000.
>
> http://www.valicenti.com/files/999.pdf#page=5 This PDF was created in 2004,
> but it was evidently written in 1999.
>
> From February 2000:
> http://www-personal.umich.edu/~graceyor/govdocs/adnotes/2000/210500/an2105g.txt
>
> Ken Hirsch
>
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