Source identified
Read & copy the quotation
“Industry pays debts, while despair increaseth them.”
- Source
- The Way to Wealth
- Date
- 1758
- Local voice
- Authorial persona / framed maxim · Poor Richard maxim, repeated through Father Abraham
Meaning of “Industry pays debts, while despair increaseth them.”
Franklin contrasts productive effort with passive discouragement, presenting earned income and continued work as practical ways to reduce obligations.
Where does it come from?
The Way to Wealth / Poor Richard Improved, industry section; represented by Project Gutenberg #43855. Father Abraham is compiling maxims from Franklin’s earlier Almanacks.
Why the local voice matters
The Way to Wealth is framed as Father Abraham’s address compiling maxims Franklin had published through the Poor Richard / Richard Saunders persona. This record therefore preserves the framed authorial-persona layer instead of treating the maxim as unmediated Franklin narration.
