If I were a greater man I would have an actual list of "rules and virtues to live by". However I am not that organized or disciplined, but I do like the idea of it. Benjamin Franklin, a the age of 20, create a list of 13 virtues that he religiously (attempted) to follow for his entire life. He carried them with him and even kept a log of how he well he was adhering to them. I'm not even close to being that Great, but I would like to be. So I thought this blog would be a good place for me to start listing and organizing my own set of life-rules.

#1. Honesty
The older I get, the more I realize that the old saying, "honesty is the best policy", is true. If nothing else it is simpler. Lies can quickly become complicated; it is a burden to have to remember them as to not get caught in the lie some point later in life. It's simpler to always tell the truth. When in doubt tell the truth. The only exception to this rule is when telling a lie would spare someone else's feeling; and in this case it would be preferable to say nothing than to lie.


"Honesty is the best policy." ~Benjamin Franklin

"No man has a good enough memory to make a successful liar." ~Abraham Lincoln

"If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything." ~Mark Twain

"Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom." ~Thomas Jefferson

"People who are brutally honest get more satisfaction out of the brutality than out of the honesty." ~Richard J. Needham