Benjamin Franklin's Virtues Checklist: What Actually Belongs on It

Search around for a "Benjamin Franklin virtues checklist" and you'll find several versions that don't quite match each other — a virtue reworded, one dropped entirely, the order shuffled. Franklin's actual list, from his own Autobiography, is fixed and specific. Here it is in full, plus how the checklist mechanism actually worked — which is not what most people assume.

Key Takeaways

• Franklin's checklist has exactly 13 items, each with specific original wording
• Chastity is the virtue most often quietly dropped from modernized versions
• The checklist tracked failures, not completions — a blank box was the goal
• He gave one virtue strict attention per week, not all 13 equally
• Using it as a daily to-do list to "complete" misreads how it worked

Franklin's Real Checklist

From the Autobiography, in his original order:

1. Temperance — "Eat not to dullness. Drink not to elevation."
2. Silence — "Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself. Avoid trifling conversation."
3. Order — "Let all your things have their places. Let each part of your business have its time."
4. Resolution — "Resolve to perform what you ought. Perform without fail what you resolve."
5. Frugality — "Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself: i.e. waste nothing."
6. Industry — "Lose no time. Be always employed in something useful. Cut off all unnecessary actions."
7. Sincerity — "Use no hurtful deceit. Think innocently and justly; and, if you speak, speak accordingly."
8. Justice — "Wrong none, by doing injuries or omitting the benefits that are your duty."
9. Moderation — "Avoid extremes. Forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve."
10. Cleanliness — "Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes or habitation."
11. Tranquility — "Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable."
12. Chastity — "Rarely use venery but for health or offspring; never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation."
13. Humility — "Imitate Jesus and Socrates."

For the reasoning behind this exact order, see our breakdown of why Temperance comes first and Humility last.

Where Other Checklists Go Wrong

Quietly dropping Chastity

It's the virtue most often cut from modernized "Franklin checklist" content, presumably for comfort. Franklin included it deliberately and wrote about struggling with it more than almost any other — leaving it out isn't a small edit, it's a different list.

Rewording the precepts

Some sources paraphrase Franklin's 18th-century phrasing into modern language. That can make it more readable, but it also drifts from what he actually wrote — the original wording above is worth reading at least once before you modernize it yourself.

Treating it as a daily to-do list

This is the biggest misunderstanding. A modern "checklist" usually means checking off things you did. Franklin's worked in reverse — he marked a dot for each virtue he failed that day. A page with no dots was a good day. The goal was fewer marks over time, not more checkmarks.

How to Use a Checklist Correctly

1. Write out (or print) all 13, in the order above
2. Pick one to give "strict attention" this week
3. Each evening, mark any virtue — not just this week's — that you fell short on
4. At week's end, count the marks and decide whether to stay or rotate

This pairs directly with the weekly review habit — the checklist alone doesn't do much without a scheduled moment to actually look at it.