Quotes from book
Essays

Name: Essays
Author: Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon

Essayes: Religious Meditations. Places of Perswasion and Disswasion. Seene and Allowed 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. While the original edition included 10 essays, a much-enlarged second edition appeared in 1612 with 38. Another, under the title Essayes or Counsels, Civill and Morall, was published in 1625 with 58 essays. Translations into French and Italian appeared during Bacon's lifetime.

“Chiefly the mold of a man's fortune is in his own hands.”

Francis Bacon book Essays

Of Fortune
Essays (1625)

“Young men are fitter to invent than to judge, fitter for execution than for counsel, and fitter for new projects than for settled business.”

Francis Bacon book Essays

Of Youth and Age
Essays (1625)

“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.”

Francis Bacon book Essays

Of Studies
Essays (1625)

“For it is a true rule, that love is ever rewarded either with the reciproque, or with an inward and secret contempt.”

Francis Bacon book Essays

Of Love
Essays (1625)

“Be angry, but sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your anger. Anger must be limited and confined, both in race and in time.”

Francis Bacon book Essays

Of Anger
Essays (1625)
Context: To seek to extinguish anger utterly, is but a bravery of the Stoics. We have better oracles: Be angry, but sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your anger. Anger must be limited and confined, both in race and in time.

“God never wrought miracle, to convince atheism, because his ordinary works convince it. A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion.”

Francis Bacon book Essays

Of Atheism; in the original archaic English this read: I HAD rather beleeve all the Fables in the Legend, and the Talmud, and the Alcoran, then that this universall Frame, is without a Minde. And therefore, God never wrought Miracle, to convince Atheisme, because his Ordinary Works convince it. It is true, that a little Philosophy inclineth Mans Minde to Atheisme; But depth in Philosophy, bringeth Mens Mindes about to Religion.
Essays (1625)
Context: I had rather believe all the fables in the legends and the Talmud and the Alcoran, than that this universal frame is without a mind. And therefore, God never wrought miracle, to convince atheism, because his ordinary works convince it. A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion.

“Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other.”

Francis Bacon book Essays

Of Death
Essays (1625)

“Houses are built to live in, not to look on; therefore, let use be preferred before uniformity, except where both may be had.”

Francis Bacon book Essays

Of Building
Essays (1625)

“Truth is a naked and open daylight, that doth not shew the masks and mummeries and triumphs of the world, half so stately and daintily as candlelights.”

Francis Bacon book Essays

Of Truth
Essays (1625)

“A wise man will make more opportunities, than he finds.”

Francis Bacon book Essays

Of Ceremonies and Respect
Essays (1625)
Variant: Wise men make more opportunities than they find.
Source: The Essays

“There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.”

Francis Bacon book Essays

Of Beauty
Essays (1625)

“The remedy is worse than the disease.”

Francis Bacon book Essays

Of Seditions and Troubles
Essays (1625)

“A crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love.”

Francis Bacon book Essays

Of Friendship
Essays (1625)

“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.”

Francis Bacon book Essays

Essays (1625)
Context: Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.

Of Studies

“In taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior.”

Francis Bacon book Essays

Of Revenge
Essays (1625)
Variant: Certainly, in taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior; for it is a prince's part to pardon.