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>"Were I a Roman Catholic, perhaps I should on this occasion vow to build a chapel to some saint; but as I am not, if I were to vow at all, it should be to buil
by inflatableDodo 7y ago
>"Were I a Roman Catholic, perhaps I should on this occasion vow to build a chapel to some saint; but as I am not, if I were to vow at all, it should be to build a lighthouse.” — Benjamin Franklin, July 1757
I had a look out of curiosity and cannot find any record of him subsequently building a lighthouse. He is a politician however and didn't actually say that he would vow, just if he were to vow. I did find out that he made money writing poetry about dead lighthouse keepers at the age of twelve however, just nothing about building any.
- Dylan16807 7y ago> He is a politician however and didn't actually say that he would vow, just if he were to vow. That's really harsh for a sentence that has the word perhaps in it! It's a perfectly ordinary hypothetical, not a misleading trickery of words.