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The Essays of Francis Bacon: Edited with Introduction and Notes
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First published January 1, 1597
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 234 reviews
October 5, 2018
Bacon was not an ordinary writer that we used to find and still do. He was exceptional with his abilities to convey ideas. Sometimes his logic might seem absurd to the readers. Sometimes the author's ideas might not make any sense at all. However, there are many things about his essays (and that's proven because we still discuss these) which sets him apart. Practical philosopher, he dealt more in ideas which could be 'useful' for the world rather than 'ideal'.
January 29, 2021
Both in his life and in his writings Bacon always showed the practical bias. He completely accepted the Renaissance idea that it is life on earth which is important and that all studies should be directed to improving that life. In his political attitude, which was almost Machiavellian, he separated his legal decisions from morality and ethical ideas; in his scientific writings he aimed to give mankind mastery over nature by discoveries and inventions; in his essays, he hoped to teach man mastery over the world in social and civil life. His essays are scientific, which make one of the most important figures in the philosophy of science.
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January 19, 2022Yaklaşık 20 günlük oldukça uzun bir okuma süresinin sonunda bitti. Daha çok nasihat verme kaygısıyla yazılmış metin, özellikle latince alıntılarla beni çok yordu. Bazı nasihatlerin hala geçerli olduğunun altını çizmekte fayda var. Mesela;
"Yetki taşıyan kimselerin başlıca dört kötü yönü vardır; oyalama, rüşvet, kabalık, yumuşaklık. Oyalamadan kaçınmak için, işi olanların seninle kolayca görüşmesini sağla, söz verdiğin zamanı unutma, elindeki bir işi sona erdir, zorunluluk olmadıkça birkaç işe birden el atma. Rüşvete gelince, hem kendine hem de adamlarına rüşveti yasak etmekle kalma, sana gelenlerin rüşvet önermesini de engelle. Dürüstlüğü benimsemek rüşvet almamayı gerektirir ama bu dürüstlüğü sözle de belli etmek, rüşvetten tiksindiğini açık açık söylemek rüşvetçilerin senden uzak durmasını sağlar. Rüşvet almaktan kaçındığın gibi, bu konuda bir kuşku uyandırmaktan da çekin. Düşüncelerini tutumunu değiştiren, ama bu değişikliğin nedenini açıkça söylemeyen kimsenin rüşvet yediğinden kuşkulanılır. Bundan dolayı, düşünceni davranışını değiştirdiğin zaman bunu açıkça söyle, seni böyle bir değişikliğe yönelten nedenleri herkese açıkla, gizlemeye yeltenme. Seninle içli dışlı bir uşak ya da gözdenin de gördüğü saygının nedeni anlaşılmıyorsa, çoğunlukla rüşvet işlerinde bir aracı olduğu düşünülür. Kabalığa gelince, gereksiz yere hoşnutsuzluk uyandırır; sertlik korku doğurur, kabalık ise kin doğurur. Yetkililerin uyarıları bile ağırbaşlı olmakla birlikte, kırıcı olmamalı. Yumuşaklığa gelince, bu rüşvetten de kötüdür, çünkü rüşvet ancak arasıra verilir, ama insan başkalarının üstelemelerine, budalaca ayartmalarına kanmaya alıştı mı bunun artık sonu gelmez." (s.60)
"Yetki taşıyan kimselerin başlıca dört kötü yönü vardır; oyalama, rüşvet, kabalık, yumuşaklık. Oyalamadan kaçınmak için, işi olanların seninle kolayca görüşmesini sağla, söz verdiğin zamanı unutma, elindeki bir işi sona erdir, zorunluluk olmadıkça birkaç işe birden el atma. Rüşvete gelince, hem kendine hem de adamlarına rüşveti yasak etmekle kalma, sana gelenlerin rüşvet önermesini de engelle. Dürüstlüğü benimsemek rüşvet almamayı gerektirir ama bu dürüstlüğü sözle de belli etmek, rüşvetten tiksindiğini açık açık söylemek rüşvetçilerin senden uzak durmasını sağlar. Rüşvet almaktan kaçındığın gibi, bu konuda bir kuşku uyandırmaktan da çekin. Düşüncelerini tutumunu değiştiren, ama bu değişikliğin nedenini açıkça söylemeyen kimsenin rüşvet yediğinden kuşkulanılır. Bundan dolayı, düşünceni davranışını değiştirdiğin zaman bunu açıkça söyle, seni böyle bir değişikliğe yönelten nedenleri herkese açıkla, gizlemeye yeltenme. Seninle içli dışlı bir uşak ya da gözdenin de gördüğü saygının nedeni anlaşılmıyorsa, çoğunlukla rüşvet işlerinde bir aracı olduğu düşünülür. Kabalığa gelince, gereksiz yere hoşnutsuzluk uyandırır; sertlik korku doğurur, kabalık ise kin doğurur. Yetkililerin uyarıları bile ağırbaşlı olmakla birlikte, kırıcı olmamalı. Yumuşaklığa gelince, bu rüşvetten de kötüdür, çünkü rüşvet ancak arasıra verilir, ama insan başkalarının üstelemelerine, budalaca ayartmalarına kanmaya alıştı mı bunun artık sonu gelmez." (s.60)
November 23, 2021
Bacon, an Elizabethan legal and government counselor and a scholar, wrote these enduring essays at the tail end of the 16th century. So of what practical use could they possibly be now at the start of the 21st century? From his essay “On Unity” there is this observation, “But it is greater blasphemy to personate God and bring Him in saying, I will descend and be like the prince of darkness.” You listening, Pat Robertson? Osama bin Laden? Or, from “On Suspicion,” this, “There is nothing that makes a man suspect much, more than to know little.” State school boards and their lobbyists in Kansas and Texas anyone?
Then there is just generally astute stuff: “A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.” Or, “The virtue of prosperity is temperance; the virtue of adversity is fortitude; which in morals is the more heroical virtue…for prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue.” Or, “This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge keeps his wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well.” Or, “He that questioneth much shall learn much.”
And if you were wondering how Shakespeare wrote all those plays without the education that Francis Bacon had: “A man that is young in years may be old in hours, if he has lost no time…the invention of young men is more lively than that of old, and imaginations stream into their minds better, and as if it were divinely inspired.” Shakespeare began his career young in years but old in hours as have many select others over the centuries who have managed to acquire a level of knowledge and understanding that seems beyond their years and formal education and couple it to an imagination that sees this rapidly assumed world fresh. Bacon didn’t write Shakespeare, Shakespeare did. But reading these essays you can see why some might think so, there is both wisdom and poetry in his prose. Bacon, old in hours and gone for many, many long years, endures because his work remains fresh and provocative and useful still.
Then there is just generally astute stuff: “A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.” Or, “The virtue of prosperity is temperance; the virtue of adversity is fortitude; which in morals is the more heroical virtue…for prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue.” Or, “This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge keeps his wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well.” Or, “He that questioneth much shall learn much.”
And if you were wondering how Shakespeare wrote all those plays without the education that Francis Bacon had: “A man that is young in years may be old in hours, if he has lost no time…the invention of young men is more lively than that of old, and imaginations stream into their minds better, and as if it were divinely inspired.” Shakespeare began his career young in years but old in hours as have many select others over the centuries who have managed to acquire a level of knowledge and understanding that seems beyond their years and formal education and couple it to an imagination that sees this rapidly assumed world fresh. Bacon didn’t write Shakespeare, Shakespeare did. But reading these essays you can see why some might think so, there is both wisdom and poetry in his prose. Bacon, old in hours and gone for many, many long years, endures because his work remains fresh and provocative and useful still.
March 16, 2018
Francis Bacon’ın "Seçme Aforizmalar"ının aksine okuyucuya daha kapsamlı ve bütün bir okuma sunan "Denemeler - Güvenilir Öğütler ya da Meselelerin Özü", Bacon’ın birçok konu hakkındaki görüşlerini aynı Montaigne gibi okuyucuya sunduğu oldukça önemli felsefe eserlerden biri. Montaigne kadar olmasa da onun bir tık altında bir deneme serisi okuma şansı bulduğumuz kitabın özellikle devlet ve bahçelere dair olmayan bölümleri fazlasıyla altı çizilesi. Bacon’ın hayatın etik, politik ve insancıl düzenine dair öğütlerini okurken ünlü filozofun Homeros, Plato, Aristoteles, Cicero, Seneca, Machiavelli, More ve Erasmus referansları neden eseri okumadan bu filozofları ve yazarları okumanın önemli olduğunu gösterir nitelikte. Baş ucunuza koymanız ve zaman zaman tekrardan incelemeniz gereken eserlerden biri. Tam notum: 4,5/5.
14.03.2018
İstanbul, Türkiye
Alp Turgut
http://www.filmdoktoru.com/kitap-labo...
14.03.2018
İstanbul, Türkiye
Alp Turgut
http://www.filmdoktoru.com/kitap-labo...
December 26, 2012
This is a very good book, if not a great one. These essays lack the easy-going charm of Montaigne's and the locquacious eloquence of Emerson's. They ramble, and much of what they contain will hold little interest for the typical modern reader. And yet, they contain a great deal of wisdom, typically expressed as pithy epigrams amid these otherwise rambling discourses.
For instance:
"He that have wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief."
"There was never proud man thought so absurdly well of himself, as the lover doth of the person loved; and therefore it was well said that it is impossible to love, and to be wise."
"It is a strange desire, to seek power and to lose liberty: or to seek power over others, and to lose power over a man's self. The rising unto place is laborious; and by pains, men come to greater pains; and it is sometimes base; and by indignities, men come to dignities."
"It is true, that a little philosophy inclineth a man's mind to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion."
In reading Bacon, one feels as if one is sitting in an armchair with a brandy, listening to an old uncle who has seen and experienced much in life, telling stories and imparting his wisdom amid sundry digressions. He seems to have been a believing Christian, but he was impatient with the erudite ratiocination of the medieval "Schoolmen" and their idolization of Aristotle. He was practical and empirical in his thinking, and his ethical views show the influence of both the ancient philosopher--Plato, Aristotle and the Stoics--as well as the crafty and skeptical Machiavelli.
"Some books" he wrote " are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested." Surely this book is in the last category. It requires patience, but rewards the patient reader with mature wisdom.
For instance:
"He that have wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief."
"There was never proud man thought so absurdly well of himself, as the lover doth of the person loved; and therefore it was well said that it is impossible to love, and to be wise."
"It is a strange desire, to seek power and to lose liberty: or to seek power over others, and to lose power over a man's self. The rising unto place is laborious; and by pains, men come to greater pains; and it is sometimes base; and by indignities, men come to dignities."
"It is true, that a little philosophy inclineth a man's mind to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion."
In reading Bacon, one feels as if one is sitting in an armchair with a brandy, listening to an old uncle who has seen and experienced much in life, telling stories and imparting his wisdom amid sundry digressions. He seems to have been a believing Christian, but he was impatient with the erudite ratiocination of the medieval "Schoolmen" and their idolization of Aristotle. He was practical and empirical in his thinking, and his ethical views show the influence of both the ancient philosopher--Plato, Aristotle and the Stoics--as well as the crafty and skeptical Machiavelli.
"Some books" he wrote " are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested." Surely this book is in the last category. It requires patience, but rewards the patient reader with mature wisdom.
November 15, 2024
Büyük başlıklar.
Şişirilmiş yaklaşımlar.
Dişe dokunmayan eleştiriler.
İngiliz güzellemesi.
İnanmadığına inandırma çabası.
Saray’dan aşağıyı görmeye çalışmak.
Gümüş kaşık, Baron, Sir ve toprak sahibi.
Ağır dini ithamlar.
Vs...
Şişirilmiş yaklaşımlar.
Dişe dokunmayan eleştiriler.
İngiliz güzellemesi.
İnanmadığına inandırma çabası.
Saray’dan aşağıyı görmeye çalışmak.
Gümüş kaşık, Baron, Sir ve toprak sahibi.
Ağır dini ithamlar.
Vs...
July 29, 2012
This book has only stayed it's popularity due to establishment hubris. Just because Bacon was so influential to thinkers of his time, does not mean his essays provide much in to modern day intellectuals. I found these essays tiresome. It's merely his two cents about subjects in his contemporary time. Sure it may lead great insights historically speaking. As an observer of his own time he states plainly what he sees in his own society and how he finds flaw with the status quo, yet I don't find his observations even that wise or insightful. I really am puzzled how this man has continued his long journey as a centerpiece of study for our western scholars. This book was oh so boring and I am not easily bored. I gave three stars because he does deserve credit. Bacon was one of the first during his time to sit back and say, "Hey now, let's think this over, maybe we can do things better." And he gave rise to the scientific mindset of observing to learn. If not for that I would only give two on the basis that he writes well and does have coherent thoughts penned on his pages. Come on though people, he was a 16th/17th century Englishman, his opinions are not exactly to be revered above other thinkers of ANY time really....and y'know just to spite that fact, I'm demoting him back down to two stars like before.
March 4, 2013
It is extremely difficult to establish an opinion on Bacon's philosophy by indulging with his ramblings, which are at times profoundly astute and at times on the verge of vacuity. Among my favourites are the ones on atheism, studies, nature of men and cunning. Overall, I came to like Bacon's informal rhetoric but nothing in comparison to elegance of someone like Montaigne. To borrow from Bacon's himself, this is not the text to be chewed and digested but tasted in parts or whole.
May 4, 2010
This was another book that I listened to the LibriVox audio version of. I liked most of the essays, the only one that got a little weird to me was the one about gardens. Lots of philosophical thoughts about interesting topics and then, all of a sudden, which flowers he thinks should be in gardens during which months of the year.
February 11, 2019
1
God never wrought miracle to convince atheism, because his ordinary work convince it. it is true, that a little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men;s minds about to religion
God never wrought miracle to convince atheism, because his ordinary work convince it. it is true, that a little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men;s minds about to religion
September 13, 2021
Bacon’s essays without doubt produce a profound inkling on our minds. They are a fortune of insight into human nature and a storehouse of wisdom and ripe experience. These essays have proved to be one of the world’s epoch-making works.
One can broadly classify Bacon’s essays under three heads:
(1) Essays which concern man in his relations to the world and society, such as Of Great Place, Of Friendship, Of Parents and Children, Of Suitors and Of Seditions and Troubles.
(2) Essays which contend with man in his relations to himself, such as Of Studies, Of Ambition, and Of Revenge.
(3) Essays which contend with man in his relation to his Maker, such as Of Death, Of Unity In Religion, and Of Goodness And Goodness in Nature.
The essays of all these categories constitute a booklet of practical wisdom. It has been said that there has been no more vigorous tonic to wit and intellect. Bacon’s essays enclose inestimable guidelines for human conduct.
The essay, ‘Of Great Place’, for example, proposes the means by which men can rise to high places and warns those, who hold high positions, against the principal vices of authority. This essay contains sound advice for men in high positions.
The essay, ‘Of Studies’, tells us why we should study, how we should study, and what kinds of studies we should pursue.
Bacon’s political essays too, contain a lot of wisdom. The foremost among the essays of this category is ‘Of Seditions and Troubles’, much of which is valid even today.
All these essays divulge an intensity of surveillance, shrewdness of intellect, and breadth of worldly sense. They suggest luminous wisdom, a rational elevation, and a profound knowledge of the human nature.
Bacon impresses us also by the high regard he demonstrates for ethical principles. He highlights the worth of truth: “Certainly it is heaven upon earth to have a man’s mind move in charity, rest in providence, and turn upon the poles of truth” ; and “There is no vice that doth so cover a man with shame as to be found false and perfidious... “
Bacon harshly censures evil: “in place there is licence to do good and evil, whereof the latter is a curse.... But power to do good is the true and lawful end of aspiring.”
He urges people to develop their capacity for goodness and charity: “But in charity there is no excess; neither can angel or man come in danger by it.”
Next, Bacon impresses us by his style. We feel almost daunted by the learning and scholarship that he exhibits in his essays. He makes frequent allusions to historical, biblical, and literary personalities and events. Such allusions come to him unsurprisingly and almost without any labour on his part.
Case in point:
*The essay, Of Truth, contains references to Pilate, Lucian, Lucretius, Montaigne and others.
*The essay, Of Friendship, encloses references to Sulla, Pompey, Julius Caesar, Cicero, Septimius Severus, and more than a few others. Without a doubt, the variety and multiplicity of his illusions are astounding.
He shows an extraordinary command of the aphoristic style. Here are a few gems of thought expressed in a precise, epigrammatic manner
(1) “He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune.”
(2) “Unmarried men are best friends, best masters, best servants, but not always best subjects.”
(3) “It is a strange desire to seek power and to lose liberty or to seek power over others and to lose power over a man’s self.”
(4) “For in evil, the best condition is not to will, the second not to can.”
(5) “Those that want friends to open themselves unto are cannibals of their hearts.”
(6) “Revenge is a kind of wild justice.”
(7) “Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark.”
Coming to Bacon’s exercise of figures of speech, he compares truth to a naked and open daylight which does not show the masques and mummeries and triumphs of the world as half so splendid and beautiful as candle-lights show them. He contrasts deceit to an alloy in a coin of gold or silver. The alloy makes the metal work the better, but it lowers the worth of the metal. In the essay, ‘Of Friendship’, he writes “For a crowd is not company, and faces but a gallery of pictures, and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love.’
One of the fruits of companionship is compared by him to the pomegranate which is full of many kernels. In the essay, ‘Of Study’, he compares the synopsis of a book to common distilled water which has an unexciting flavour.
But, although Bacon is an amazing man in his essays, he cannot be said to be an appealing persona. Somehow he fails to magnetize us by any personal charm.
#In the first place, there is no personal disclosure in his essays. Essayists like Montaigne and Lamb are engaging predominantly because their essays are full of intimate personal revelations. They relentlessly give us peeps into their own nature, disposition, predilections, and so on. In other words, they establish an undeviating relationship with the reader. Bacon does no such thing. His essays are entirely distant. He talks about the whole world, and all the affairs of men, but never about himself. He never takes us into his sanctum sanatorium.
#Secondly, his essays have evidently been written with worldly success in view. They are empty of any moral idealism; it is the art of success among men that Bacon would have us cultivate. His adages are therefore prudential aphorisms. His wisdom is sophisticated wisdom, and it is even tinged with a certain cynicism. He does not shrivel from methods and devices which are perceptibly Machiavellian. We might even say that his guiding principle is suitability, while morality is a derivative consideration. His essays are the work of an opportunist. He writes an essay on the subject of truth, but approves of deceit because deceit can make truth more persuasive.
In the essay, ‘Of Great Place’, Bacon seems to fall for the use of dishonest techniques for attaining a high position: “All rising to great place is by a winding stair”. He even advises a man to put himself on the stronger side for the accomplishment of his ambition because impartiality will not pay in the initial stages.
In the essay, ‘Of Suitors’, he exposes himself by suggesting that if a patron wants to offer an appointment to the undeserving applicant, he may do so but he should take the precaution of not making any adverse comments on the character of the more deserving candidate. In another essay, he proposes the use of both dissimulation and simulation in order to safeguard confidentiality. He incontestably does not maintain an elevated or an elevating ideal in this essay.
#Finally, Bacon fails to endear himself to us due to his cold-heartedness and his want of sensation. He speaks of wife and children as hostages to fortune and as obstructions to big enterprises. He looks at a wife exclusively from the utilitarian point of view: “Wives are young men’s mistresses, companions for middle age, and old men’s nurses.”
Bacon’s view of camaraderie is utilitarian too. He values amity highly but for the most part for the gains to be obtained from it. His view of love is desolately below par. He calls love the product of folly He would like men never to link love with the solemn affairs and actions of life. He takes a comparatively gloomy view of love, disregarding the value of passion and the inspiration that love often provides.
A mammoth proportion of Bacon’s essays deals either with the ethical qualities of men, or with matters pertaining to the government of states. From the moral point of view, his essays seem to be the work of an opportunist. He admires truth, ethical as well as intellectual. “Clear and round dealing is the honour of man’s nature”, he says in the essay, ‘Of Truth’.
But in the same essay he compares mendacity to an alloy in gold and silver which, though it degrades the metal, makes it work the better.
In the essay, ‘Of Simulation and Dissimulation’, he says that both dissimulation and simulation are pleasing and essential in certain situations. From the moral point of view, Bacon does not aim at an elevated or exalted ideal. His maxims are prudential. He is supportive of a course of action that pays best. He censures slyness, not as a thing despicable and depraved, but as something imprudent.
The essay, ‘Of Friendship’, advocates a functional view of friendship. Bacon values friendship exceedingly, but principally for the fruits to be gathered from it. His conviction in religion, like his conviction in moral principles, is fundamentally prudential. Nor does he attach much importance to emotion and sentiment, as is clear from his essays, ‘Of Parents And Children’, ‘Of Marriage And Single Life’, and ‘Of Love’.
Bacon felt more tranquil in the character of a statesman than in that of a moralist. He shares some of his political attitudes with Machiavelli. Among the weightiest of his essays are those which treat of political issues. Nowhere does his perception show to better advantage than here. The essay, ‘Of Plantations’, contains sound principles. The essay, ‘Of Seditions and Troubles’, is incredibly matter-of-fact in its conduct of the subject.
In the essay, ‘Of the Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates’, he fittingly highlights the magnitude of military and naval power.
As one of the world’s epoch making books, Bacon’s essays have done much to shape and direct the character of many individuals.
But, of course, these essays are not the classified chat of a great author. Bacon is too dignified and his thoughts are too insightful for his essays to be thus regarded. Just here we discover the secret of Bacon’s inadequacy as an essayist to Montaigne or to Lamb.
The ideal essay implies certain nimbleness and simplicity, and a confidential relationship between the author and the reader.
What do we find in them, one might ask !
1) Bacon does not speak of trivialities. He has a taste for splendour and it appears in his treatment of various subjects.
2) In Montaigne and in Lamb, ‘subject’ is often unimportant, but is treated with feeling. In Bacon, the subject is always important and however unsystematic he may be in his treatment of it, he never wanders from its boundaries.
3) When he speaks of “masques and triumphs” (which he calls “toys”), he discusses them at nearly as great length, and with as strict an adherence to the theme, as when discussing truth or death or revenge or atheism.
The essays of Bacon are perhaps more important from the literary or the stylistic point of view. In writing his essays, Bacon did more than initiate a new literary form. He took one of the lengthiest steps ever taken in the expansion of an English prose style. It was a step which set that style upon the road which it travelled to the times of Addison and Swift. English prose was already, before Bacon, or autonomously of him, affluent and resonant.
Hooker, the last book of whose great masterpiece was published in the same year with Bacon’s earliest essays, still ranks as one of the greatest stylists in English. So does Sir Walter Raleigh who had written several things before that date. Both Hooker and Raleigh indisputably have magnificence and potency. But it cannot be said that they were masters of a style suited for all the purposes of prose. Bacon developed a style which, though not quite lithe and contemporary, was unparalleled for the elevated communication of thought.
Though a devoted Latinist and using a decidedly Latinized vocabulary, he saw that the vastness of English prose was being written in wobbly sentences of colossal length, and he discovered the value of petite, brusque, and firmly-knit sentences, unfamiliar in English. He rejected the complacency and congested imagery of the euphuists, but knew how to illumine his thought with well-placed figures, and to give to it a creative radiance and charisma.
Bacon’s essays have become a classic of the English language and they owe this position, not to their theme but to their style. Brevity of expression and epigrammatic succinctness are the most discernible attributes of this style.
Bacon possessed the authority of compressing into a few words a great body of thought. This concision of style is often attained by the evading of superfluous epithets and by the oversight of the ordinary joints and sinews of speech, such as conjunctions and other logical connections. Yet it is seldom carried to the length of obscurity, and Bacon’s pithiness is matched only by his articulacy and unambiguousness.
Bacon’s essays are also intermingled with quotations from an assortment of sources, particularly with quotations from Latin authors. His style impresses us by its epigrammatic quality and its use of vibrant figures of speech.
He shows himself to be a master of the thick, terse mariner of writing. No one has ever produced a greater number of closely packed and striking formulas, loaded with matter-of-fact astuteness. Many of them have become current as proverbs.
A classic in its own right!!
One can broadly classify Bacon’s essays under three heads:
(1) Essays which concern man in his relations to the world and society, such as Of Great Place, Of Friendship, Of Parents and Children, Of Suitors and Of Seditions and Troubles.
(2) Essays which contend with man in his relations to himself, such as Of Studies, Of Ambition, and Of Revenge.
(3) Essays which contend with man in his relation to his Maker, such as Of Death, Of Unity In Religion, and Of Goodness And Goodness in Nature.
The essays of all these categories constitute a booklet of practical wisdom. It has been said that there has been no more vigorous tonic to wit and intellect. Bacon’s essays enclose inestimable guidelines for human conduct.
The essay, ‘Of Great Place’, for example, proposes the means by which men can rise to high places and warns those, who hold high positions, against the principal vices of authority. This essay contains sound advice for men in high positions.
The essay, ‘Of Studies’, tells us why we should study, how we should study, and what kinds of studies we should pursue.
Bacon’s political essays too, contain a lot of wisdom. The foremost among the essays of this category is ‘Of Seditions and Troubles’, much of which is valid even today.
All these essays divulge an intensity of surveillance, shrewdness of intellect, and breadth of worldly sense. They suggest luminous wisdom, a rational elevation, and a profound knowledge of the human nature.
Bacon impresses us also by the high regard he demonstrates for ethical principles. He highlights the worth of truth: “Certainly it is heaven upon earth to have a man’s mind move in charity, rest in providence, and turn upon the poles of truth” ; and “There is no vice that doth so cover a man with shame as to be found false and perfidious... “
Bacon harshly censures evil: “in place there is licence to do good and evil, whereof the latter is a curse.... But power to do good is the true and lawful end of aspiring.”
He urges people to develop their capacity for goodness and charity: “But in charity there is no excess; neither can angel or man come in danger by it.”
Next, Bacon impresses us by his style. We feel almost daunted by the learning and scholarship that he exhibits in his essays. He makes frequent allusions to historical, biblical, and literary personalities and events. Such allusions come to him unsurprisingly and almost without any labour on his part.
Case in point:
*The essay, Of Truth, contains references to Pilate, Lucian, Lucretius, Montaigne and others.
*The essay, Of Friendship, encloses references to Sulla, Pompey, Julius Caesar, Cicero, Septimius Severus, and more than a few others. Without a doubt, the variety and multiplicity of his illusions are astounding.
He shows an extraordinary command of the aphoristic style. Here are a few gems of thought expressed in a precise, epigrammatic manner
(1) “He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune.”
(2) “Unmarried men are best friends, best masters, best servants, but not always best subjects.”
(3) “It is a strange desire to seek power and to lose liberty or to seek power over others and to lose power over a man’s self.”
(4) “For in evil, the best condition is not to will, the second not to can.”
(5) “Those that want friends to open themselves unto are cannibals of their hearts.”
(6) “Revenge is a kind of wild justice.”
(7) “Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark.”
Coming to Bacon’s exercise of figures of speech, he compares truth to a naked and open daylight which does not show the masques and mummeries and triumphs of the world as half so splendid and beautiful as candle-lights show them. He contrasts deceit to an alloy in a coin of gold or silver. The alloy makes the metal work the better, but it lowers the worth of the metal. In the essay, ‘Of Friendship’, he writes “For a crowd is not company, and faces but a gallery of pictures, and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love.’
One of the fruits of companionship is compared by him to the pomegranate which is full of many kernels. In the essay, ‘Of Study’, he compares the synopsis of a book to common distilled water which has an unexciting flavour.
But, although Bacon is an amazing man in his essays, he cannot be said to be an appealing persona. Somehow he fails to magnetize us by any personal charm.
#In the first place, there is no personal disclosure in his essays. Essayists like Montaigne and Lamb are engaging predominantly because their essays are full of intimate personal revelations. They relentlessly give us peeps into their own nature, disposition, predilections, and so on. In other words, they establish an undeviating relationship with the reader. Bacon does no such thing. His essays are entirely distant. He talks about the whole world, and all the affairs of men, but never about himself. He never takes us into his sanctum sanatorium.
#Secondly, his essays have evidently been written with worldly success in view. They are empty of any moral idealism; it is the art of success among men that Bacon would have us cultivate. His adages are therefore prudential aphorisms. His wisdom is sophisticated wisdom, and it is even tinged with a certain cynicism. He does not shrivel from methods and devices which are perceptibly Machiavellian. We might even say that his guiding principle is suitability, while morality is a derivative consideration. His essays are the work of an opportunist. He writes an essay on the subject of truth, but approves of deceit because deceit can make truth more persuasive.
In the essay, ‘Of Great Place’, Bacon seems to fall for the use of dishonest techniques for attaining a high position: “All rising to great place is by a winding stair”. He even advises a man to put himself on the stronger side for the accomplishment of his ambition because impartiality will not pay in the initial stages.
In the essay, ‘Of Suitors’, he exposes himself by suggesting that if a patron wants to offer an appointment to the undeserving applicant, he may do so but he should take the precaution of not making any adverse comments on the character of the more deserving candidate. In another essay, he proposes the use of both dissimulation and simulation in order to safeguard confidentiality. He incontestably does not maintain an elevated or an elevating ideal in this essay.
#Finally, Bacon fails to endear himself to us due to his cold-heartedness and his want of sensation. He speaks of wife and children as hostages to fortune and as obstructions to big enterprises. He looks at a wife exclusively from the utilitarian point of view: “Wives are young men’s mistresses, companions for middle age, and old men’s nurses.”
Bacon’s view of camaraderie is utilitarian too. He values amity highly but for the most part for the gains to be obtained from it. His view of love is desolately below par. He calls love the product of folly He would like men never to link love with the solemn affairs and actions of life. He takes a comparatively gloomy view of love, disregarding the value of passion and the inspiration that love often provides.
A mammoth proportion of Bacon’s essays deals either with the ethical qualities of men, or with matters pertaining to the government of states. From the moral point of view, his essays seem to be the work of an opportunist. He admires truth, ethical as well as intellectual. “Clear and round dealing is the honour of man’s nature”, he says in the essay, ‘Of Truth’.
But in the same essay he compares mendacity to an alloy in gold and silver which, though it degrades the metal, makes it work the better.
In the essay, ‘Of Simulation and Dissimulation’, he says that both dissimulation and simulation are pleasing and essential in certain situations. From the moral point of view, Bacon does not aim at an elevated or exalted ideal. His maxims are prudential. He is supportive of a course of action that pays best. He censures slyness, not as a thing despicable and depraved, but as something imprudent.
The essay, ‘Of Friendship’, advocates a functional view of friendship. Bacon values friendship exceedingly, but principally for the fruits to be gathered from it. His conviction in religion, like his conviction in moral principles, is fundamentally prudential. Nor does he attach much importance to emotion and sentiment, as is clear from his essays, ‘Of Parents And Children’, ‘Of Marriage And Single Life’, and ‘Of Love’.
Bacon felt more tranquil in the character of a statesman than in that of a moralist. He shares some of his political attitudes with Machiavelli. Among the weightiest of his essays are those which treat of political issues. Nowhere does his perception show to better advantage than here. The essay, ‘Of Plantations’, contains sound principles. The essay, ‘Of Seditions and Troubles’, is incredibly matter-of-fact in its conduct of the subject.
In the essay, ‘Of the Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates’, he fittingly highlights the magnitude of military and naval power.
As one of the world’s epoch making books, Bacon’s essays have done much to shape and direct the character of many individuals.
But, of course, these essays are not the classified chat of a great author. Bacon is too dignified and his thoughts are too insightful for his essays to be thus regarded. Just here we discover the secret of Bacon’s inadequacy as an essayist to Montaigne or to Lamb.
The ideal essay implies certain nimbleness and simplicity, and a confidential relationship between the author and the reader.
What do we find in them, one might ask !
1) Bacon does not speak of trivialities. He has a taste for splendour and it appears in his treatment of various subjects.
2) In Montaigne and in Lamb, ‘subject’ is often unimportant, but is treated with feeling. In Bacon, the subject is always important and however unsystematic he may be in his treatment of it, he never wanders from its boundaries.
3) When he speaks of “masques and triumphs” (which he calls “toys”), he discusses them at nearly as great length, and with as strict an adherence to the theme, as when discussing truth or death or revenge or atheism.
The essays of Bacon are perhaps more important from the literary or the stylistic point of view. In writing his essays, Bacon did more than initiate a new literary form. He took one of the lengthiest steps ever taken in the expansion of an English prose style. It was a step which set that style upon the road which it travelled to the times of Addison and Swift. English prose was already, before Bacon, or autonomously of him, affluent and resonant.
Hooker, the last book of whose great masterpiece was published in the same year with Bacon’s earliest essays, still ranks as one of the greatest stylists in English. So does Sir Walter Raleigh who had written several things before that date. Both Hooker and Raleigh indisputably have magnificence and potency. But it cannot be said that they were masters of a style suited for all the purposes of prose. Bacon developed a style which, though not quite lithe and contemporary, was unparalleled for the elevated communication of thought.
Though a devoted Latinist and using a decidedly Latinized vocabulary, he saw that the vastness of English prose was being written in wobbly sentences of colossal length, and he discovered the value of petite, brusque, and firmly-knit sentences, unfamiliar in English. He rejected the complacency and congested imagery of the euphuists, but knew how to illumine his thought with well-placed figures, and to give to it a creative radiance and charisma.
Bacon’s essays have become a classic of the English language and they owe this position, not to their theme but to their style. Brevity of expression and epigrammatic succinctness are the most discernible attributes of this style.
Bacon possessed the authority of compressing into a few words a great body of thought. This concision of style is often attained by the evading of superfluous epithets and by the oversight of the ordinary joints and sinews of speech, such as conjunctions and other logical connections. Yet it is seldom carried to the length of obscurity, and Bacon’s pithiness is matched only by his articulacy and unambiguousness.
Bacon’s essays are also intermingled with quotations from an assortment of sources, particularly with quotations from Latin authors. His style impresses us by its epigrammatic quality and its use of vibrant figures of speech.
He shows himself to be a master of the thick, terse mariner of writing. No one has ever produced a greater number of closely packed and striking formulas, loaded with matter-of-fact astuteness. Many of them have become current as proverbs.
A classic in its own right!!
May 8, 2020
" Histories make men wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtile; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend. " - Francis Bacon
ষোড়শ দশকের ইংরেজ দার্শনিক, আইনজ্ঞ ফ্রান্সিস বেকনের প্রবন্ধমালা চিরায়ত গ্রন্থসমূহের অন্তর্ভুক্ত। ছোট্ট প্রবন্ধগুলো চিন্তারাজ্যকে দারুণভাবে নাড়া দেয়।
বেকন সাহেব আদর্শবাদী মানুষ। তাঁর লেখাগুলোর মূল সুর সৌন্দর্যবোধ, ন্যায়পরাযণতা এবং সাধুতা। মানবহৃদয়ের শুভাশুভবোধকে জাগ্রত করা এবং নিত্যদিন অনুশীলনের ওপর জোর দিয়েছেন। তাঁর লেখার বড় বৈশিষ্ট্য অল্প কথায় গুরুগম্ভীর মতামতকে উপস্থাপন ভঙ্গি।
বেকন যথেষ্ট গোঁড়া মানুষ ছিলেন৷ ঈশ্বরে অবিশ্বাসী এবং অ-খ্রিস্টানদের প্রতি বেকনের মনোভাব ইতিবাচক নয় এবং সেই প্রকাশভঙ্গি অনেক আক্রমণাত্মক। অবশ্য মনে রাখা ভালো প্রবন্ধগুলো কমপক্ষে পাঁচশ বছর আগে লেখা।
খুব কঠিন ইংরেজিতে লেখা। আমার মতো সাধারণ পাঠকের জন্য হজম করা কষ্টসাধ্য। তবু বেকনের প্রবন্ধগুলো একবার নয়, বারবার পড়ার মতো। নিঃসন্দেহে ভাবনার জগতকে নতুন কিছু দেবে ফ্রান্সিস বেকনের প্রবন্ধগুলো।
ষোড়শ দশকের ইংরেজ দার্শনিক, আইনজ্ঞ ফ্রান্সিস বেকনের প্রবন্ধমালা চিরায়ত গ্রন্থসমূহের অন্তর্ভুক্ত। ছোট্ট প্রবন্ধগুলো চিন্তারাজ্যকে দারুণভাবে নাড়া দেয়।
বেকন সাহেব আদর্শবাদী মানুষ। তাঁর লেখাগুলোর মূল সুর সৌন্দর্যবোধ, ন্যায়পরাযণতা এবং সাধুতা। মানবহৃদয়ের শুভাশুভবোধকে জাগ্রত করা এবং নিত্যদিন অনুশীলনের ওপর জোর দিয়েছেন। তাঁর লেখার বড় বৈশিষ্ট্য অল্প কথায় গুরুগম্ভীর মতামতকে উপস্থাপন ভঙ্গি।
বেকন যথেষ্ট গোঁড়া মানুষ ছিলেন৷ ঈশ্বরে অবিশ্বাসী এবং অ-খ্রিস্টানদের প্রতি বেকনের মনোভাব ইতিবাচক নয় এবং সেই প্রকাশভঙ্গি অনেক আক্রমণাত্মক। অবশ্য মনে রাখা ভালো প্রবন্ধগুলো কমপক্ষে পাঁচশ বছর আগে লেখা।
খুব কঠিন ইংরেজিতে লেখা। আমার মতো সাধারণ পাঠকের জন্য হজম করা কষ্টসাধ্য। তবু বেকনের প্রবন্ধগুলো একবার নয়, বারবার পড়ার মতো। নিঃসন্দেহে ভাবনার জগতকে নতুন কিছু দেবে ফ্রান্সিস বেকনের প্রবন্ধগুলো।
March 10, 2020
Francis Bacon, the historian, a political and moral thinker, a scientific thinker and a philosophical thinker, whom Alexander Pope described as "the wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind," was the foremost English prose writer. In reality, as Douglas Bush opined Francis was "the theoretical and practical leader of the anti-Ciceronian movement in England."
He is best known for his Essays and is indeed the father of English essays. He imported in English prose 'a new sense of precision and clarity' which remained hitherto unknown as well as for "Sheer mass of intellect he remains till now the greatest" of English essayists.
While writing these Essays Bacon was influenced by various sources:
First of all Bacon was greatly influenced by Bible. To illustrate his precepts Bacon often quoted from Vulgate, the Latin version of the Bible. It is interesting to note that though the English version of the Bible, which is considered the most-Authorised Version, was published in 1611, just a year before the Second Edition of his Essays was published, Bacon nowhere quoted from this authorised version.
Instead, wherever he found parallel situation in the Latin, edition of the Bible, the Vulgate, he not only recurrently quoted from that but also allowed his own thought to be governed by that.
Of course in some places he took the freedom to change the context and this in due course resulted some misquotes or mistranslations when he referred to the Bible.
Not only the Bible, the Greek and Roman history, the Greek and Roman mythology, the Greek and Roman literature, especially the works of Greek and Roman historians and philosophers similarly had influenced his ideas. Of course, like all the Renaissance scholars Bacon too was more au fait with the Latin authorities than the Greeks.
The moral writers of classical antiquity like Seneca and Lucian, biographers like Plutarch and Suetonus, historians like Livyan Tacitus, critics like Cicero and Pliny, Philosophers like Plato and Aristotle"-all delighted him most and often tried to recast their ideas in his own works.
The Essays of Francis Bacon were published in three successive editions, in 1597, in 1612 and in 1625 respectively. Bacon himself had described his essays as "dispersed meditations", as "brief notes set down rather significantly than curiously", as "a receptacle for detached thoughts." It is true, most of his essays are mere note books, simply jotted down to get good ideas or some quickly and briefly noted observations, lest they are forgotten. Some of his earlier essays, read like maxims, mere strings of sentences, not developed and linked together. Bacon, however, never swung away from his central theme; neither had he ever included any irrelevant matter.
Yet Bacon's essays are not "well-knit" compositions having systematic development or evolvement of one thought or idea to the other. He puts his ideas together almost at random as they occurred yet making no digression from the central subject without making any detailed discussion of the subject he simply went on jotting down his ideas and thoughts into black and white lines. What is more interesting is that for the sake of brevity and condensation he often left out the most essential conjunctions and several other logical connections, and this he made intentionally.
The result was that his essays remained brief in length and full of crisp, short and pithy in expression sentences, mere jottings of undeveloped ideas. He condensed the sentences so much so that one could easily write a paragraph to develop what Bacon said in only one sentence. Hugh Walker was absolutely right when he said that Bacon's essays read like running analysis of paragraphs. He never treated the subject fully but merely expressed his ideas in few lines, nay, words, and swiftly passed on to the next idea and expressed that with equally terse terms.
That Bacon's essays read like a wonderful string of aphorism and maxims can best be illustrated by his essay "Of Studies".
Bacon started his essay with the statement: "Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight, is in privateness and retiring, for ornament, is in discourse, and for ability, is in the judgement and disposition of business."
Thus Bacon told us that studies serve three purposes: it delights us, it add to our ability, it makes man's personality charming. He told us not to make great shows of studies, because meaningless vain studies may develop our natural qualities but cannot develop our natural faculties. If studies do not improve wisdom it is absolutely meaningless, useless.
There are different kinds of books but are all they equally worthy? No, surely not. Some of the books must be read hurriedly and there are some books which must be read thoroughly with great patience.
These books are no doubt important books. And what should we do with the unimportant books? They are just to be read in summaries. He wrote: "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.
Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others." Why should we read some books with so much care and diligence? He answered himself and said "distilled books are like common distilled" waters, flashy things."
Different people think differently of studies. Bacon wrote: "Crafty men condemn studies; simple men admire them; and wise men use them; for they teach not their own use, but that is wisdom without them and above them, won by observation."
Truly people with less education dislike studies as something useless while the simple men admire studies. It is only the wise men who can make the best use of studies.
Bacon warned us that we must learn how to make a proper use of our studies. We must not read to oppose the ideas of others neither should we take what we read as granted or believe in them blindly, for should we study for mere discussion or tea-table talk. Rather we must use our studies to judge things properly and to consider them in proper light. Greater learning develops the inner faculties or qualities of human being. Through reading a man becomes well informed. Conversations increase his ready wit and help him to reply quickly to any question. It is writing only that makes him accurate and to the point in his knowledge. How wonderfully Bacon expressed his idea when he wrote-"Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man." Then Bacon pointed out the importance and utility of different subjects, like history which makes man wise, poetry that makes man witty, mathematics- a subtle philosopher, ethics -a grave man... logic and rhetoric to make discussions skilfully."
The very feeling of satiety is driven away by the peculiar style that Bacon followed in writing his Essays and this has enhanced the reader's interest to read his essays.
Bacon's style is essentially anti-Ciceronian and modelled on Tacitus and Lipsius. In fact Bacon's contemporaries like Hooker or Lyly were fond of following the highly organised and ornate "Ciceronian" style which Bacon disliked and hence drew his style as a reaction against them. "In its lack of organisation and its directness it approaches conversational informality."
The lack of connectiveness in Bacon's prose-style keeps the readers on the tip-toe of expectation and excitement. Lily made excessive ornamentation; Hooker's prolixity and Sidney's profusion of colour and music virtually satiates us. But we are never satiated with Bacon as we have the impression that Bacon hold back much more than what he told us.
We never felt Bacon repetitive. Bacon was a dedicated reader of the Book of Proverbs in the Bible in particular and of the Bible in general. This made his approach proverbial. He munificently punctuated his essays with quotations of apposite proverbs' mainly from the Bible and from several other European countries like France, Spain and Italy. Frequent use of the figures of speech, predominantly similes and metaphors enriched his style and made him unparalleled.
This collection is a stroke of genius, and a must read for every student of English.
He is best known for his Essays and is indeed the father of English essays. He imported in English prose 'a new sense of precision and clarity' which remained hitherto unknown as well as for "Sheer mass of intellect he remains till now the greatest" of English essayists.
While writing these Essays Bacon was influenced by various sources:
First of all Bacon was greatly influenced by Bible. To illustrate his precepts Bacon often quoted from Vulgate, the Latin version of the Bible. It is interesting to note that though the English version of the Bible, which is considered the most-Authorised Version, was published in 1611, just a year before the Second Edition of his Essays was published, Bacon nowhere quoted from this authorised version.
Instead, wherever he found parallel situation in the Latin, edition of the Bible, the Vulgate, he not only recurrently quoted from that but also allowed his own thought to be governed by that.
Of course in some places he took the freedom to change the context and this in due course resulted some misquotes or mistranslations when he referred to the Bible.
Not only the Bible, the Greek and Roman history, the Greek and Roman mythology, the Greek and Roman literature, especially the works of Greek and Roman historians and philosophers similarly had influenced his ideas. Of course, like all the Renaissance scholars Bacon too was more au fait with the Latin authorities than the Greeks.
The moral writers of classical antiquity like Seneca and Lucian, biographers like Plutarch and Suetonus, historians like Livyan Tacitus, critics like Cicero and Pliny, Philosophers like Plato and Aristotle"-all delighted him most and often tried to recast their ideas in his own works.
The Essays of Francis Bacon were published in three successive editions, in 1597, in 1612 and in 1625 respectively. Bacon himself had described his essays as "dispersed meditations", as "brief notes set down rather significantly than curiously", as "a receptacle for detached thoughts." It is true, most of his essays are mere note books, simply jotted down to get good ideas or some quickly and briefly noted observations, lest they are forgotten. Some of his earlier essays, read like maxims, mere strings of sentences, not developed and linked together. Bacon, however, never swung away from his central theme; neither had he ever included any irrelevant matter.
Yet Bacon's essays are not "well-knit" compositions having systematic development or evolvement of one thought or idea to the other. He puts his ideas together almost at random as they occurred yet making no digression from the central subject without making any detailed discussion of the subject he simply went on jotting down his ideas and thoughts into black and white lines. What is more interesting is that for the sake of brevity and condensation he often left out the most essential conjunctions and several other logical connections, and this he made intentionally.
The result was that his essays remained brief in length and full of crisp, short and pithy in expression sentences, mere jottings of undeveloped ideas. He condensed the sentences so much so that one could easily write a paragraph to develop what Bacon said in only one sentence. Hugh Walker was absolutely right when he said that Bacon's essays read like running analysis of paragraphs. He never treated the subject fully but merely expressed his ideas in few lines, nay, words, and swiftly passed on to the next idea and expressed that with equally terse terms.
That Bacon's essays read like a wonderful string of aphorism and maxims can best be illustrated by his essay "Of Studies".
Bacon started his essay with the statement: "Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight, is in privateness and retiring, for ornament, is in discourse, and for ability, is in the judgement and disposition of business."
Thus Bacon told us that studies serve three purposes: it delights us, it add to our ability, it makes man's personality charming. He told us not to make great shows of studies, because meaningless vain studies may develop our natural qualities but cannot develop our natural faculties. If studies do not improve wisdom it is absolutely meaningless, useless.
There are different kinds of books but are all they equally worthy? No, surely not. Some of the books must be read hurriedly and there are some books which must be read thoroughly with great patience.
These books are no doubt important books. And what should we do with the unimportant books? They are just to be read in summaries. He wrote: "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.
Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others." Why should we read some books with so much care and diligence? He answered himself and said "distilled books are like common distilled" waters, flashy things."
Different people think differently of studies. Bacon wrote: "Crafty men condemn studies; simple men admire them; and wise men use them; for they teach not their own use, but that is wisdom without them and above them, won by observation."
Truly people with less education dislike studies as something useless while the simple men admire studies. It is only the wise men who can make the best use of studies.
Bacon warned us that we must learn how to make a proper use of our studies. We must not read to oppose the ideas of others neither should we take what we read as granted or believe in them blindly, for should we study for mere discussion or tea-table talk. Rather we must use our studies to judge things properly and to consider them in proper light. Greater learning develops the inner faculties or qualities of human being. Through reading a man becomes well informed. Conversations increase his ready wit and help him to reply quickly to any question. It is writing only that makes him accurate and to the point in his knowledge. How wonderfully Bacon expressed his idea when he wrote-"Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man." Then Bacon pointed out the importance and utility of different subjects, like history which makes man wise, poetry that makes man witty, mathematics- a subtle philosopher, ethics -a grave man... logic and rhetoric to make discussions skilfully."
The very feeling of satiety is driven away by the peculiar style that Bacon followed in writing his Essays and this has enhanced the reader's interest to read his essays.
Bacon's style is essentially anti-Ciceronian and modelled on Tacitus and Lipsius. In fact Bacon's contemporaries like Hooker or Lyly were fond of following the highly organised and ornate "Ciceronian" style which Bacon disliked and hence drew his style as a reaction against them. "In its lack of organisation and its directness it approaches conversational informality."
The lack of connectiveness in Bacon's prose-style keeps the readers on the tip-toe of expectation and excitement. Lily made excessive ornamentation; Hooker's prolixity and Sidney's profusion of colour and music virtually satiates us. But we are never satiated with Bacon as we have the impression that Bacon hold back much more than what he told us.
We never felt Bacon repetitive. Bacon was a dedicated reader of the Book of Proverbs in the Bible in particular and of the Bible in general. This made his approach proverbial. He munificently punctuated his essays with quotations of apposite proverbs' mainly from the Bible and from several other European countries like France, Spain and Italy. Frequent use of the figures of speech, predominantly similes and metaphors enriched his style and made him unparalleled.
This collection is a stroke of genius, and a must read for every student of English.
Read
February 24, 2023“Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider”
So true Mr. Bacon. Now, please, let me share my opinion of your essays on goodreads.
These were very great page-long essays on every topic under the sun ranging from youth and old age to how to build a good house. It was a slow read for me but what else can you expect from the man who wrote Hamlet?
So true Mr. Bacon. Now, please, let me share my opinion of your essays on goodreads.
These were very great page-long essays on every topic under the sun ranging from youth and old age to how to build a good house. It was a slow read for me but what else can you expect from the man who wrote Hamlet?
September 13, 2025
Місцями доволі цікаво, місцями нудно, місцями дуже несучасно. Можливо найбільш мене вразив один з пасажів у есеї "про велич королівств і держав", де Бейкон (чи Бекон?) каже що треба плекати й формувати піхоту, бо "піхота - основа війська". Скільки років пройшло, а хіба щось помінялось?
April 17, 2017
Sir Francis Bacon was one of the greatest legal minds of the Elizabethan Era. His works are a great overview of the era's thinking and philosophical theoretical framework. His essays were probably the beginnings of methodology for scientific inquiry, leading Voltaire to refer to Sir Francis Bacon as the "father of scientific method". Bacon's rejection of metaphysics gained favour with enlightened authors in the 18th century, including, perhaps of greater importance, Thomas Jefferson who largely authored the US declaration of Independence.
Bacon himself had an interesting life. And one that was enmeshed to the Court of Queen Elizabeth I and its gossips and historic moments. He shows in this piece a large influence by Seneca and Tacitus. Along with Machiavelli. And thus we can see in this man, who became the Attorney General of King James I, one of the Western Jurisprudence founders. And one that brought in the importance of Greek thinkers to the Common Law.
I think this book is difficult to read. The many latin references make it a dry read but understandable for an intellectual work of the 16th Century. I give it 4 stars.
Bacon himself had an interesting life. And one that was enmeshed to the Court of Queen Elizabeth I and its gossips and historic moments. He shows in this piece a large influence by Seneca and Tacitus. Along with Machiavelli. And thus we can see in this man, who became the Attorney General of King James I, one of the Western Jurisprudence founders. And one that brought in the importance of Greek thinkers to the Common Law.
I think this book is difficult to read. The many latin references make it a dry read but understandable for an intellectual work of the 16th Century. I give it 4 stars.
March 11, 2021
Less revealing than near-contemporary Montaigne's much livelier essays about the "subject of himself," yet nevertheless written with care, concision, and the insight of someone who has occupied a variety of high offices and suffered a number of reversals owing to faction, connivance, personal avarice, etc. Some of the material is of little more than historical interest ("Of Plantations," "Of Masques and Triumphs," "Of Gardens"), but even those sections are colorful. Other pieces ("Of Truth," "Of Parents and Children," "Of Wisdom," "Of Friendship, "Of Marriage and the Single Life," with "Of Cunning" as the real standout) are timeless, and pack a great deal of content into 700-1000 words (don't worry: it's slow going, owing to Bacon's obsession with precision and his at times dated albeit fascinating diction). The cheap-as-free Dover edition, which I believe is the edition listed here, has a decent intro from one "Oliphant Smeaton" (what a moniker!) and a glossary + Latin translations at the back of the book.
November 23, 2023
Recomendo a todos, em especial o ensaio On Fortuna. On Plantations é histórico dada a influência sobre os Estados Unidos. On Gardens é ainda útil aos paisagistas pela insistência do jardim ter encantos em todas as épocas do ano. On usury é a exceção à regra de que o filósofo é mal economista, sendo um dos primeiros filósofos a reconhecer a justeza dos juros. Enfim, onde não é "spot on", a leitura se paga pelo estilo.
December 9, 2009
In 'Essays', Francis Bacon focuses on a range of topics of a philosophical nature encompassing Truth, Death, Religion, Atheism, Travel, the Supernatural, Council, Envy, etc.
On Council he says, 'the greatest trust between man and man is the trust of giving council'.
Of Envy he speaks of envy being 'an affection to both facinate and bewitch' he goes on to speak of it 'coming easily to the eye especially upon the presence of the object'.
On Atheism he speaks about 'this universal frame' possessing a mind.
The text is logical and pragmatic in nature.
On Council he says, 'the greatest trust between man and man is the trust of giving council'.
Of Envy he speaks of envy being 'an affection to both facinate and bewitch' he goes on to speak of it 'coming easily to the eye especially upon the presence of the object'.
On Atheism he speaks about 'this universal frame' possessing a mind.
The text is logical and pragmatic in nature.
Want to read
February 1, 2014I admit defeat and I do so with a pinch of pain and regret. So much wisdom in those pages and yet not appealing in taste enough for me to finish it.
The prose is way too complex and hard for a noob (I can sense the purists twitching at that word) like me to understand. Not worth the effort. Maybe an edition with superb annotation and notes would do the trick but until then I rest this book in the darkest corner of my book shelf with as much reverence and respect I can offer it until that day when my patience would allow me the inspiration to absorb what Bacon has to say.
The prose is way too complex and hard for a noob (I can sense the purists twitching at that word) like me to understand. Not worth the effort. Maybe an edition with superb annotation and notes would do the trick but until then I rest this book in the darkest corner of my book shelf with as much reverence and respect I can offer it until that day when my patience would allow me the inspiration to absorb what Bacon has to say.
September 6, 2014
A good book --- it was a compendium of the best wisdom of a sophisticated 17th Century man on a wide variety of topics such as government, negotiations, and diplomacy. Thomas Jefferson, also a great genius, listed Sir Francis Bacon, the author of "The Essays", as one of the three men he most admired, and, in his public service and political acts, one can see Bacon's influence one they read this book.
March 16, 2015
Conventional wisdom says that if it was written more than 300 years ago, it really cannot tell us much. Not so! Bacon’s essays are as fresh and pointed today as when written. There is much wisdom and life lessons contained in these 58 essays. Add to that, they are fairly short and to the point.
May 12, 2022
Started this one a while back so was mostly a matter of polishing off the last 50 pages or so but here we are with Bacon and I’m pleased. Sacrilegious it may be, but I find he scans better on the page than Montaigne. Probably due to translation but FB is very attentive to his sentences which are precise and aphoristic.
nice
nice
January 16, 2020
Bacon does a great job of using wit, Religious Mythology, and Greek Mythology to illuminate his truth. I particularly like his essay of Atheism---this even shows hints of the Divine by the so-called non-believer
Want to read
February 13, 2023[according to Will Durant “taken 4 or 5 at a time they are the finest nourishment in English”]
December 20, 2025
The completed Essays of Sir Francis Bacon were published a year before his death in 1626. He was extremely intelligent and influential, having served both queens and kings in his lifetime. I read somewhere that above the entryway to his manorhouse was the Latin phrase, Mediocria Firma, the Middle Way is Sure. A phrase that seems to evince a practical philosophy which likely kept him alive and trusted in various capacities of state throughout his life.
Bacon’s essays are short and varying, comprising 58 differing topics ranging from subjects such as how to create a princely garden to the pitfalls of praise. He quotes ancient philosophers like Seneca quite a bit. I enjoyed his take on almost everything.
”The desire of power in excess, caused the angels to fall; the desire of knowledge in excess, caused man to fall: but in charity there is no excess; neither can angel, nor man, come in danger by it.”
Bacon’s essays are short and varying, comprising 58 differing topics ranging from subjects such as how to create a princely garden to the pitfalls of praise. He quotes ancient philosophers like Seneca quite a bit. I enjoyed his take on almost everything.
”If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows he is a citizen of the world, and that his heart is no island, cut off from other lands, but a continent, that joins to them”.
April 21, 2021
Üçte birini filan okuyup bıraktım. Bana kattığı hiçbir şey olmadı. Montaigne'in denemeleri ile bunu kıyaslamak bile anlamsız. Rahmetli dedem kuru bir üslupla bana nasihatlarda bulunuyor gibi bir şey. Ne ilginç bir alıntı, ne hoş bir anekdot... Hiçbir şey yok. Hz Muhammet'in "(Hira) dağı bana gelmezse ben ona giderim" lafına dair Bacon'ın yaptığı istihza dışında aklımda da hiçbir şey kalmadı.
July 25, 2012
I'd been meaning to tackle Bacon's Essays for years; they're listed among the "100 Significant Books" in Good Reading; this edition has been in my household since before I was born, the better to mark up and highlight, since it's hardly pristine. Bacon's essays didn't impress at first. For one, so many of the best lines in the early essays are quotes from classical sources (almost all in Latin, so it's a good thing my edition provided translations within brackets.) But also reading the short provided biography provided lots of reasons for cynicism. Bacon was stripped of high office for bribery, and never had any children, and knowing that made me look upon such essays as "On Truth," "Of Great Place" (where he speaks of avoiding even the suspicion of bribery) and "Of Parents and Children" with a jaundiced eye. That last essay and his take on "Of Marriage and Single Life" and "Of Love" made me feel Bacon's was a cold heart, that only went pitter patter with ambition. (His essay "Of Friendship," one of my favorites in the collection ameliorated that impression a great deal.) At the same time, his life story just underlined that here was a shrewd politician, and that lends all the more interest to essays on power and statesmanship such as "Of Seditions and Troubles," "Of Empire," "Of Counsel" and "On Cunning." Some of his insights certainly still seemed current:
Princes have need, in tender matters and ticklish times, to beware what they say; especially in these short speeches, which fly abroad like darts, and are thought to be hot out of their secret intentions - Of Seditions and Troubles
For their merchants; they are the gate-vein [that distributes nourishment to the body] and if they flourish not, a kingdom may have good limbs, but will have empty veins, and nourish little. Taxes and imposts upon them do seldom good to the king's revenue; for that that he wins in the hundred he loses in the shire; the particular rates being increased, but the total bulk of trading rather decreased. - Of Empire
Besides essays mentioned above, two of my favorites were "Of Travel" (his advice on how to make the most of foreign travel is still relevant) and "Of Studies" with this famous passage:
Read not to contradict, and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider. 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
Besides which, just look in any index of a book of quotations. The essays influence on literature, thinking and common phrases is prodigious, making this a must-read. Just make sure you get an edition like mine that translates the Latin phrases and provides some definition of period words in handy footnotes and you're all set. (One that regularizes the capitalizations and spellings are a help as well for enjoyment and comprehension.) They're short--ranging from only a few hundred to a few thousand words--mostly on that short end of that spectrum, and despite the period language I found them, if not easy, then not difficult reads. I certainly found Bacon far more lively and accessible reading than such descendents as Thoreau and Emerson.
Princes have need, in tender matters and ticklish times, to beware what they say; especially in these short speeches, which fly abroad like darts, and are thought to be hot out of their secret intentions - Of Seditions and Troubles
For their merchants; they are the gate-vein [that distributes nourishment to the body] and if they flourish not, a kingdom may have good limbs, but will have empty veins, and nourish little. Taxes and imposts upon them do seldom good to the king's revenue; for that that he wins in the hundred he loses in the shire; the particular rates being increased, but the total bulk of trading rather decreased. - Of Empire
Besides essays mentioned above, two of my favorites were "Of Travel" (his advice on how to make the most of foreign travel is still relevant) and "Of Studies" with this famous passage:
Read not to contradict, and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider. 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
Besides which, just look in any index of a book of quotations. The essays influence on literature, thinking and common phrases is prodigious, making this a must-read. Just make sure you get an edition like mine that translates the Latin phrases and provides some definition of period words in handy footnotes and you're all set. (One that regularizes the capitalizations and spellings are a help as well for enjoyment and comprehension.) They're short--ranging from only a few hundred to a few thousand words--mostly on that short end of that spectrum, and despite the period language I found them, if not easy, then not difficult reads. I certainly found Bacon far more lively and accessible reading than such descendents as Thoreau and Emerson.
February 13, 2018
In the introduction, Pitcher draws a distinction with Cicero by saying, “where Cicero had devised his system for judicial oratory, Bacon wanted to take in everything. All topics were to be studied and prepared beforehand, in the form of a debate, with the case ‘exaggerated both ways with the utmost force of wit, and urged unfairly, as it were, and quite beyond the truth.’” Each of the essays is wonderful. Bacon is amongst the most quotable writers of all time, much like Cicero. While the time and place of many of the essays has long past, the wisdom that can be extracted by statements included in them is timeless. My favorites are the following:
From “Of Great Place” – “Use the memory of thy predecessor fairly and tenderly; for if thou dost not, it is a debt will sure be paid when thou art gone. If thou have colleagues, respect them, and rather call them when they look not for it, than exclude them when they have reason to look to be called. Be not too sensible or too remembering of thy place in conversation and private answers to suitors; but let it rather be said, When he sits in place, he is another man.” (93)
From “Of Atheism” – “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. And therefore God never wrought miracle to convince atheism, because his ordinary works convince it.” (108)
From “Of Delays” – “Fortune is like the market; where many times, if you can stay a little, the price will fall.” (125)
From “Of Expense” – “A man ought warily to begin charges which once begun will continue; but in matters that return not he may be more magnificent.” (146)
From Virgil’s Eclogues – “It never troubles a wolf how many the sheep be.” (148)
From “Of Beauty” – Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set” (189)
From “Of Beauty” – “Beauty is as summer fruits, which are easy to corrupt, and cannot last; and for the most part it makes a dissolute youth, and an age a little out of countenance: but yet certainly again, if it light well, it maketh virtues shine, and vices blush.” (190)
From “Of Studies” – “Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider.” (209)
From “Of Ceremonies and Respects” – “A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds. Men’s behavior should be like their apparel, not too strait or point device, but free for exercise or motion.” (214)
“Money is like manure, its only good if you spread it around.”
“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.”
“Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand and melting like a snowflake.”
“A Man must make his opportunity,as oft as find it.”
“The virtue of prosperity is temperance, the virtue of adversity is fortitude.”
See my other reviews here!
From “Of Great Place” – “Use the memory of thy predecessor fairly and tenderly; for if thou dost not, it is a debt will sure be paid when thou art gone. If thou have colleagues, respect them, and rather call them when they look not for it, than exclude them when they have reason to look to be called. Be not too sensible or too remembering of thy place in conversation and private answers to suitors; but let it rather be said, When he sits in place, he is another man.” (93)
From “Of Atheism” – “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. And therefore God never wrought miracle to convince atheism, because his ordinary works convince it.” (108)
From “Of Delays” – “Fortune is like the market; where many times, if you can stay a little, the price will fall.” (125)
From “Of Expense” – “A man ought warily to begin charges which once begun will continue; but in matters that return not he may be more magnificent.” (146)
From Virgil’s Eclogues – “It never troubles a wolf how many the sheep be.” (148)
From “Of Beauty” – Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set” (189)
From “Of Beauty” – “Beauty is as summer fruits, which are easy to corrupt, and cannot last; and for the most part it makes a dissolute youth, and an age a little out of countenance: but yet certainly again, if it light well, it maketh virtues shine, and vices blush.” (190)
From “Of Studies” – “Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider.” (209)
From “Of Ceremonies and Respects” – “A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds. Men’s behavior should be like their apparel, not too strait or point device, but free for exercise or motion.” (214)
“Money is like manure, its only good if you spread it around.”
“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.”
“Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand and melting like a snowflake.”
“A Man must make his opportunity,as oft as find it.”
“The virtue of prosperity is temperance, the virtue of adversity is fortitude.”
See my other reviews here!
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