Idea Ripper // ArchiveCards: 1555 [Live] | Updated: 2026-10-14
Card #c1046IR // #c1046Synthesis

"'No,' said the smith, 'turn on, turn on; we shall have it bright by-and-by; as yet, it is only speckled.' 'Yes,' says the man, 'but I think I like a speckled ax best.'"

— In our words · Source: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (Benjamin Franklin)

[Use when]

You are about to lower a standard and call it a preference.

[Why it matters]

Order was the virtue he could not master. He tells the ax story against himself: the man tired of turning the wheel and called the half-done job his preference. Franklin says something "that pretended to be reason" made him the same offer.

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