The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral
Essayes: Religious Meditations. Places of Perswasion and Disswasion. Seene and Allowed (1597) was the first published book by the philosopher, statesman and jurist Francis Bacon. The Essays are written in a wide range of styles, from the plain and unadorned to the epigrammatic. They cover topics drawn from both public and private life, and in each case the essays cover their topics systematically from a number of different angles, weighing one argument against another. A much-enlarged second edition appeared in 1612 with 38 essays. Another, under the title Essayes or Counsels, Civill and Morall, was published in 1625 with more essays.
Of Truth
WHAT is truth? said jesting Pilate, and would not stay for an answer. Certainly there be, that de...
Of Death
MEN fear death, as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children, is incr...
Of Unity In Religion
RELIGION being the chief band of human society, it is a happy thing, when itself is well containe...
Of Revenge
REVENGE is a kind of wild justice; which the more man's nature runs to, the more ought law to wee...
Of Adversity
IT WAS an high speech of Seneca (after the manner of the Stoics), that the good things, which bel...
Of Simulation And Dissimulation
DISSIMULATION is but a faint kind of policy, or wisdom; for it asketh a strong wit, and a strong ...
Of Parents And Children
THE joys of parents are secret; and so are their griefs and fears. They cannot utter the one; nor...
Of Marriage And Single Life
HE THAT hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great ...
Of Envy
THERE be none of the affections, which have been noted to fascinate or bewitch, but love and envy...
Of Love
THE stage is more beholding to love, than the life of man. For as to the stage, love is ever matt...
Of Great Place
MEN in great place are thrice servants: servants of the sovereign or state; servants of fame; and...
Of Boldness
IT IS a trivial grammar-school text, but yet worthy a wise man's consideration. Question was aske...
Of Goodness and Goodness Of Nature
I TAKE goodness in this sense, the affecting of the weal of men, which is that the Grecians call ...
Of Nobility
WE WILL speak of nobility, first as a portion of an estate, then as a condition of particular per...
Of Seditions And Troubles
SHEPHERDS of people, had need know the calendars of tempests in state; which are commonly greates...
Of Atheism
I HAD rather believe all the fables in the Legend, and the Talmud, and the Alcoran, than that thi...
Of Superstition
IT WERE better to have no opinion of God at all, than such an opinion, as is unworthy of him. For...
Of Travel
TRAVEL, in the younger sort, is a part of education, in the elder, a part of experience. He that ...
Of Empire
IT IS a miserable state of mind, to have few things to desire, and many things to fear; and yet t...
Of Counsel
THE greatest trust, between man and man, is the trust of giving counsel. For in other confidences...
Of Delays
FORTUNE is like the market; where many times if you can stay a little, the price will fall. Again...
Of Cunning
WE TAKE cunning for a sinister or crooked wisdom. And certainly there is a great difference, betw...
Of Wisdom For A Man's Self
AN ANT is a wise creature for itself, but it is a shrewd thing, in an orchard or garden. And cert...
Of Innovations
AS THE births of living creatures, at first are ill-shapen, so are all innovations, which are the...
Of Dispatch
AFFECTED dispatch is one of the most dangerous things to business that can be. It is like that, w...
Of Seeming Wise
IT HATH been an opinion, that the French are wiser than they seem, and the Spaniards seem wiser t...
Of Friendship
IT HAD been hard for him that spake it to have put more truth and untruth together in few words, ...
Of Expense
RICHES are for spending, and spending for honor and good actions. Therefore extraordinary expense...
Of the True Greatness Of Kingdoms And Estates
THE speech of Themistocles the Athenian, which was haughty and arrogant, in taking so much to him...
Of Regiment Of Health
THERE is a wisdom in this; beyond the rules of physic: a man's own observation, what he finds goo...
Of Suspicion
SUSPICIONS amongst thoughts, are like bats amongst birds, they ever fly by twilight. Certainly th...
Of Discourse
SOME, in their discourse, desire rather commendation of wit, in being able to hold all arguments,...
Of Plantations
PLANTATIONS are amongst ancient, primitive, and heroical works. When the world was young, it bega...
Of Riches
I CANNOT call riches better than the baggage of virtue. The Roman word is better, impedimenta. Fo...
Of Prophecies
I MEAN not to speak of divine prophecies; nor of heathen oracles; nor of natural predictions; but...
Of Ambition
AMBITION is like choler; which is an humor that maketh men active, earnest, full of alacrity, and...
Of Masques And Triumphs
THESE things are but toys, to come amongst such serious observations. But yet, since princes will...
Of Nature In Men
NATURE is often hidden; sometimes overcome; seldom extinguished. Force, maketh nature more violen...
Of Custom And Education
MEN'S thoughts, are much according to their inclination; their discourse and speeches, according ...
Of Fortune
IT CANNOT be denied, but outward accidents conduce much to fortune; favor, opportunity, death of ...
Of Usury
MANY have made witty invectives against usury. They say that it is a pity, the devil should have ...
Of Youth And Age
A MAN that is young in years, may be old in hours, if he have lost no time. But that happeneth ra...
Of Beauty
VIRTUE is like a rich stone, best plain set; and surely virtue is best, in a body that is comely,...
Of Deformity
DEFORMED persons are commonly even with nature; for as nature hath done ill by them, so do they b...
Of Building
HOUSES are built to live in, and not to look on; therefore let use be preferred before uniformity...
Of Gardens
GOD Almighty first planted a garden. And indeed it is the purest of human pleasures. It is the gr...
Of Negotiating
IT IS generally better to deal by speech than by letter; and by the mediation of a third than by ...
Of Followers And Friends
COSTLY followers are not to be liked; lest while a man maketh his train longer, he make his wings...
Of Suitors
MANY ill matters and projects are undertaken; and private suits do putrefy the public good. Many ...
Of Studies
STUDIES serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight, is in priv...
Of Faction
MANY have an opinion not wise, that for a prince to govern his estate, or for a great person to g...
Of Ceremonies, And Respects
HE THAT is only real, had need have exceeding great parts of virtue; as the stone had need to be ...
Of Praise
PRAISE is the reflection of virtue; but it is as the glass or body, which giveth the reflection. ...
Of Vain-glory
IT WAS prettily devised of AEsop, The fly sat upon the axle-tree of the chariot wheel, and said, ...
Of Honor And Reputation
THE winning of honor, is but the revealing of a man's virtue and worth, without disadvantage. For...
Of Judicature
JUDGES ought to remember, that their office is jus dicere, and not jus dare; to interpret law, an...
Of Anger
TO SEEK to extinguish anger utterly, is but a bravery of the Stoics. We have better oracles: Be a...
Of Vicissitude Of Things
SOLOMON saith, There is no new thing upon the earth. So that as Plato had an imagination, That al...
Of Fame
THE poets make Fame a monster. They describe her in part finely and elegantly, and in part gravel...
A Glossary Of Archaic Words And Phrases
Abridgment: miniatureAbsurd: stupid, unpolishedAbuse: cheat, deceiveAculeate: stingingAdamant: lo...