Twenty of Bacon's essays, ed. by F. Storr |
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able action affections ancient anger appear authority Bacon believe better body boldness Cæsar called Cambridge Certainly College common Compare counsel course cunning custom death derived desire discourse doth Edited English Essay express fall fear Fellow force fortune French friendship give Greek hands hath heart instance Italy judge language late Latin less light live look man's matter meaning metaphor mind move nature never Notice observation original pass persons present princes Probably question quoted reason reference rest rising saith sense sentence servants Shakspere shews side sometimes sort speak speech stand studies taken things thou thoughts true truth turn virtue whole wisdom wise word young youth
Popular passages
Page 2 - ... 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 4 - 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.
Page 2 - It is a pleasure to stand upon the shore and to see ships tossed upon the sea; a pleasure to stand in the window of a castle and to see a battle and the adventures thereof below; but no pleasure is comparable to the standing upon the vantage ground of truth (a hill not to be commanded, and where the air is always clear and serene), and to see the errors and wanderings and mists and tempests in the vale below; so always that this prospect be with pity, and not with swelling or pride.
Page 1 - One of the later school of the Grecians examineth the matter, and is at a stand to think what should be in it that men should love lies : where neither they make for pleasure, as with poets; nor for advantage, as with the merchant; but for the lie's sake.
Page 4 - REVENGE is a kind of wild justice; which the more man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out. For as for the first wrong, it doth but offend the law; but the revenge of that wrong putteth the law out of office.
Page 2 - ... (a hill not to be commanded, and where the air is always clear and serene), and to see the errors, and wanderings, and mists, and tempests, in the vale below :'' so always that this prospect be with pity, and not with swelling or pride.
Page 25 - The second fruit of friendship is healthful and sovereign for the understanding, as the first is for the affections; for friendship maketh indeed a fair day in the affections from storm and tempests, but it maketh daylight in the understanding, out of darkness and confusion of thoughts: neither is this to be understood only of faithful counsel, which a man receiveth from his friend; but before you come to that, certain it is, that whosoever hath his mind fraught with many thoughts, his wits and understanding...
Page 15 - ... as the place deserveth, but not long ; nay, when he stayeth in one city or town, let him change his lodging from one end and part of the town to another, which is a great adamant of acquaintance ; let him sequester himself from the company of his countrymen, and diet in such places where there is good company of the nation where he travelleth...
Page 35 - All practice is to discover, or to work. Men discover themselves in trust, in passion, at unawares ; and of necessity, when they would have somewhat done, and cannot find an apt pretext. If you would work any man, you must either know his nature and fashions, and so lead him ; or his ends, and so persuade him ; or his weakness and disadvantages, and so awe him ; or those that have interest in him, and so govern him.
Page xii - But little do men perceive what solitude is, and how far it extendeth. For a crowd is not company, and faces are but a gallery of pictures, and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love.
Bibliographic information
| Title | Twenty of Bacon's essays, ed. by F. Storr Engl. sch. classics |
| Author | Francis Bacon (visct. St. Albans.) |
| Editor | Francis Storr |
| Published | 1874 |
| Original from | Oxford University |
| Digitized | 22 Sep 2006 |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |