“真正美德”富兰克林写道，存在于“服务人类、祖国、朋友、亲人的能力和愿望的结合；能力 … … 可以通过真正的学习获得或大大增强；事实上，也应该是所有学习的大目标和终点。
“True merit,” Franklin wrote, consists in “an inclination joined with an ability to serve mankind, one’s country, friends, and family; which ability is…to be acquired or greatly increased by true learning; and should, indeed, be the great aim and end of all learning.”