EssaysJ. Alden, 1885 - 300 pages |
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affection alludes ancient arts better body cause certainly cloth coming common commonly counsel court custom danger death desire doth earth England envy especially evil factions fair fall fame favor fear follow force fortune garden give greater greatest ground hand hath heart Henry hold honor Italy judge judgment keep kind kings leaded least less light likewise live look maketh man's manner matter means men's mind nature never noted observation opinion pass persons pleasure princes reason religion respect rest riches rising Roman saith seen servants side sometimes sort speak speech stand sure thereof things thou thought tion true truth turn unto usury virtue wise
Popular passages
Page 179 - Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man. And therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit; and if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know that he doth not. Histories make men wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtle; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend.
Page 61 - I HAD rather believe all the fables in the " Legend," and the " Talmud," and the " Alcoran" than that this universal frame is without a mind.
Page 179 - Bowling is good for the stone and reins; shooting for the lungs and breast; gentle walking for the stomach; riding for the head; and the like. So if a man's wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics; for in demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little, he must begin again. If his wit be not apt to distinguish or find differences, let him study the schoolmen; for they are cymini sectores. If he be not apt to beat over matters, and to call up one thing to prove and illustrate another,...
Page 22 - Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes ; and Adversity is not without comforts and hopes. We see in needle-works and embroideries, it is more pleasing to have a lively work upon a sad and solemn ground, than to have a dark and melancholy work upon a lightsome ground : judge therefore of the pleasure of the heart by the pleasure of the eye. Certainly virtue is like precious odours, most fragrant when they are incensed or crushed: for Prosperity doth best discover vice, but Adversity doth...
Page 8 - ... in coin of gold and silver, which may make the metal work the better, but it embaseth it: for these winding and crooked courses are the goings of the serpent; which goeth basely upon the belly and not upon the feet. There is no vice that doth so cover a man with shame, as to be found false and perfidious...
Page 102 - Certainly, if a man would give it a hard phrase, those that want friends to open themselves unto, are cannibals of their own hearts: but one thing is most admirable, wherewith I will conclude this first fruit of friendship, which is, that this communicating of a man's self to his friend works two contrary effects, for it redoubleth joys, and cutteth griefs in...
Page 126 - It is a shameful and unblessed thing to take the scum of people, and wicked condemned men, to be the people with whom you plant; and not only so, but it spoileth the plantation; for they will ever live like rogues, and not fall to work, but be lazy, and do mischief, and spend victuals, and be quickly weary...
Page 48 - Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
Page 99 - ... no receipt openeth the heart but a true friend, to whom you may impart griefs, joys, fears, hopes, suspicions, counsels, and whatsoever lieth upon the heart to oppress it, in a kind of civil shrift or confession.
Page 11 - It is as natural to die as to be born; and to a little infant, perhaps, the one is as painful as the other. He that dies in an earnest pursuit, is like one that is wounded in hot blood ; who, for the time, scarce feels the hurt ; and therefore a mind fixed and bent upon somewhat that is good, doth avert the dolours of death ; but, above all, believe it, the sweetest canticle is, '' Nunc dimittis" when a man hath obtained worthy ends and expectations.
Bibliographic information
| Title | Essays |
| Author | Francis Bacon |
| Editor | Joseph Devey |
| Publisher | J. Alden, 1885 |
| Original from | Harvard University |
| Digitized | 10 May 2007 |
| Length | 300 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |