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Essays (Bacon)

Francis Bacon/1625 / Early Modern
KnowledgePowerPrudencePublic Life

Essays in the Empiricism tradition, oriented around knowledge and power.

Bacon's Essays, revised and expanded over several editions and reaching their mature form in 1625, distill practical counsel on truth, study, friendship, ambition, politics, and conduct. Their compressed style joins Renaissance moral reflection to the early modern habits of observation, prudence, and worldly judgment.

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Chapters

The structural skeleton of the work

Section 1

Essay I. OF TRUTH

8 excerpts

Top themes in this chapter

Truth7 excerptsHuman Nature2 excerptsLies2 excerptsCharity1 excerptCreation1 excerpt

Truth as Sovereign Good

But it is not the lie that passeth through the mind, but the lie that sinketh in, and settleth in it, that doth the hurt, such as we spake of before. But howsoever these things are thus in men's depraved judgments and affections, yet truth, which only doth judge itself, teacheth that the inquiry of truth, which is the love-making, or wooing of it, the knowledge of truth, which is the presence of it, and the belief of truth, which is the enjoying of it, is the sovereign good of human nature.

Section 2

Essay II. OF DEATH

5 excerpts

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Death5 excerptsComposure1 excerptCourage1 excerptFame1 excerptFear1 excerpt

Passions Conquer Death

It is worthy the observing, that there is no passion in the mind of man so weak, but it mates and masters the fear of death; and therefore death is no such terrible enemy when a man hath so many attendants about him that can win the combat of him. Revenge triumphs over death; love slights it; honor aspireth to it; grief flieth to it; fear preoccupateth it; nay, we read, after Otho the emperor had slain himself, pity (which is the tenderest of affections) provoked many to die out of mere compassion to their sovereign, and as the truest sort of followers.

Section 3

Essay III. OF UNITY IN RELIGION

6 excerpts

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Religion3 excerptsHypocrisy2 excerptsViolence2 excerptsAtheism1 excerptBlasphemy1 excerpt

False Peaces

There be also two false peaces, or unities; the one, when the peace is grounded but upon an implicit ignorance; for all colors will agree in the dark; the other, when it is pieced up upon a direct admission of contraries in fundamental points; for truth and falsehood, in such things, are like the iron and clay in the toes of Nebuchadnezzar's image; they may cleave, but they will not incorporate.

Section 5

Essay V. OF ADVERSITY

3 excerpts

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Adversity3 excerptsProsperity3 excerptsVirtue2 excerptsDivine Security1 excerptFortitude1 excerpt

Adversity as Greater Blessing

But to speak in a mean, the virtue of prosperity is temperance, the virtue of adversity is fortitude, which in morals is the more heroical virtue. Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament, adversity is the blessing of the New, which carrieth the greater benediction, and the clearer revelation of God's favor. Yet even in the Old Testament, if you listen to David's harp, you shall hear as many hearse-like airs as carols; and the pencil of the Holy Ghost hath labored more in describing the afflictions of Job than the felicities of Solomon. Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes; and adversity is not without comforts and hopes.

Section 6

Essay VI. OF SIMULATION AND DISSIMULATION

5 excerpts

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Dissimulation3 excerptsCunning1 excerptDeception1 excerptOpenness1 excerptPolitics1 excerpt

Reputation as Invisibility

Certainly, the ablest men that ever were, have had all an openness and frankness of dealing, and a name of certainty and veracity: but then they were like horses well managed, for they could tell passing well when to stop or turn; and at such times, when they thought the case indeed required dissimulation, if then they used it, it came to pass that the former opinion spread abroad, of their good faith and clearness of dealing, made them almost invisible.

Section 8

Essay VIII. OF MARRIAGE AND SINGLE LIFE

6 excerpts

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Marriage4 excerptsCharacter1 excerptCompassion1 excerptHuman Nature1 excerptHumanity1 excerpt

Hostages to Fortune

He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief. Certainly the best works, and of greatest merit for the public, have proceeded from the unmarried or childless men, which, both in affection and means, have married and endowed the public.

Section 9

Essay IX. OF ENVY

12 excerpts

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Envy11 excerptsComparison2 excerptsPower2 excerptsVirtue2 excerptsBusiness1 excerpt

Love and Envy's Fascination

There be none of the affections which have been noted to fascinate or bewitch, but love and envy. They both have vehement wishes; they frame themselves readily into imaginations and suggestions, and they come easily into the eye, especially upon the presence of the objects which are the points that conduce to fascination, if any such thing there be.

Section 10

Essay X. OF LOVE

3 excerpts

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Love3 excerptsHuman Nature2 excerptsCharity1 excerptFlattery1 excerptFolly1 excerpt

Love's Distorting Lens

It is a strange thing to note the excess of this passion, and how it braves the nature and value of things, by this, that the speaking in a perpetual hyperbole is comely in nothing but in love, neither is it merely in the phrase; for whereas it hath been well said, “That the arch flatterer, with whom all the petty flatterers have intelligence, is a man's self;” certainly, the lover is more; for 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.” Neither doth this weakness appear to others only, and not to the party loved, but to the loved most of all, except the love be reciprocal; for it is a true rule, that love is ever rewarded, either with the reciprocal, or with an inward and secret contempt; by how much the more men ought to beware of this passion, which loseth not only other things, but itself.

Section 12

Essay XII. OF BOLDNESS

5 excerpts

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Boldness5 excerptsRhetoric2 excerptsAbsurdity1 excerptCourage1 excerptDeception1 excerpt

Delivery Over Substance

A strange thing, that that part of an orator which is but superficial, and rather the virtue of a player, should be placed so high above those other noble parts of invention, elocution, and the rest; nay, almost alone, as if it were all in all. But the reason is plain. There is in human nature generally more of the fool than of the wise; and therefore, those faculties by which the foolish part of men's minds is taken are most potent.

Section 13

Essay XIII. OF GOODNESS, AND GOODNESS OF NATURE

7 excerpts

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Goodness4 excerptsCharity2 excerptsHuman Nature2 excerptsAltruism1 excerptDistribution1 excerpt

Goodness as Greatest Virtue

I take goodness in this sense, the affecting of the weal of men, which is that the Grecians call philanthropia; and the word humanity, as it is used, is a little too light to express it. Goodness I call the habit, and goodness of nature the inclination. This, of all virtues and dignities of the mind, is the greatest, being the character of the Deity; and without it man is a busy, mischievous, wretched thing, no better than a kind of vermin.

Section 16

Essay XVI. OF ATHEISM

4 excerpts

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Atheism4 excerptsBelief2 excerptsHuman Nature2 excerptsFaith1 excerptNobility1 excerpt

Philosophy's Double Edge

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. It is true, that a little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion; for while the mind of man looketh upon second causes scattered, it may sometimes rest in them, and go no further; but when it beholdeth the chain of them confederate, and linked together, it must needs fly to Providence and Deity. Nay, even that school which is most accused of atheism, doth most demonstrate religion: that is, the school of Leucippus, and Democritus, and Epicurus; for it is a thousand times more credible that four mutable elements, and one immutable fifth essence, duly and eternally placed, need no God, than that an army of infinite small portions, or seeds unplaced, should have produced this order and beauty without a divine marshal.

Section 17

Essay XVII. OF SUPERSTITION

4 excerpts

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Superstition4 excerptsAtheism2 excerptsReligion2 excerptsContumely1 excerptCorruption1 excerpt

Superstition the State Ravager

Atheism leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, to reputation, all which may be guides to an outward moral virtue, though religion were not; but superstition dismounts all these, and erecteth an absolute monarchy in the minds of men. Therefore atheism did never perturb states; for it makes men wary of themselves, as looking no further, and we see the times inclined to atheism (as the time of Augustus Cæsar) were civil times; but superstition hath been the confusion of many states, and bringeth in a new primum mobile, that ravisheth all the spheres of government.

Section 19

Essay XIX. OF EMPIRE

6 excerpts

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Kingship2 excerptsAuthority1 excerptBalance1 excerptDesire And Fear1 excerptDivine Right1 excerpt

Desire's Marshaling Absence

It is a miserable state of mind to have few things to desire, and many things to fear; and yet that commonly is the case of kings, who, being, at the highest, want matter of desire, which makes their minds more languishing; and have many representations of perils and shadows, which makes their minds the less clear; and this is one reason, also, of that effect which the Scripture speaketh of, “that the king's heart is inscrutable;” for multitude of jealousies, and lack of some predominant desire, that should marshal and put in order all the rest, maketh any man's heart hard to find or sound.

Section 25

Essay XXV. OF DISPATCH

6 excerpts

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Efficiency5 excerptsCommunication2 excerptsDispatch2 excerptsWisdom2 excerptsBusiness1 excerpt

Danger of Hasty Dispatch

Affected dispatch is one of the most dangerous things to business that can be; it is like that which the physicians call predigestion, or hasty digestion, which is sure to fill the body full of crudities, and secret seeds of diseases. Therefore, measure not dispatch by the times of sitting, but by the advancement of the business; and as in races, it is not the large stride, or high lift, that makes the speed, so in business, the keeping close to the matter, and not taking of it too much at once, procureth dispatch.

Section 26

Essay XXVI. OF SEEMING WISE

2 excerpts

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Pretense2 excerptsWisdom2 excerptsBusiness1 excerptJudgment1 excerptSuperficiality1 excerpt

Great Effort, Nothing

So certainly there are, in points of wisdom and sufficiency, that do nothing, or little very solemnly,—“magno conatu nugas.” It is a ridiculous thing, and fit for a satire to persons of judgment, to see what shifts these formalists have, and what prospectives to make superficies to seem body, that hath depth and bulk.

Section 27

Essay XXVII. OF FRIENDSHIP

14 excerpts

Top themes in this chapter

Friendship14 excerptsSocial Roles2 excerptsSolitude2 excerptsAdmonition1 excerptAuthenticity1 excerpt

Heart's Catharsis

A principal fruit of friendship is the ease and discharge of the fulness and swellings of the heart, which passions of all kinds do cause and induce. We know diseases of stoppings and suffocations are the most dangerous in the body, and it is not much otherwise in the mind. You may take sarza to open the liver, steel to open the spleen, flower of sulphur for the lungs, castoreum for the brain, but no receipt openeth the heart but a true friend, to whom you may impart griefs, joys, fears, hopes, suspicions, counsels, and whatsoever lieth upon the heart to oppress it, in a kind of civil shrift or confession.

Section 28

Essay XXVIII. OF EXPENSE

2 excerpts

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Estate Management1 excerptFinancial Discipline1 excerptFrugality1 excerptHabit1 excerptPrudence1 excerpt

Self-Audit as Cure

It is no baseness for the greatest to descend and look into their own estate. Some forbear it, not upon negligence alone, but doubting to bring themselves into melancholy, in respect they shall find it broken; but wounds cannot be cured without searching. He that cannot look into his own estate at all, had need both choose well those whom he employeth, and change them often; for new are more timorous, and less subtle.

Section 29

Essay XXIX. OF THE TRUE GREATNESS OF KINGDOMS AND ESTATES

7 excerpts

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Greatness2 excerptsMilitary Strength2 excerptsStatecraft2 excerptsWar2 excerptsAbility1 excerpt

War as Exercise

Nobody can be healthful without exercise, neither natural body nor politic; and, certainly, to a kingdom, or estate, a just and honorable war is the true exercise. A civil war, indeed, is like the heat of a fever; but a foreign war is like the heat of exercise, and serveth to keep the body in health; for, in a slothful peace, both courages will effeminate and manners corrupt.

Section 30

Essay XXX. OF REGIMEN OF HEALTH

3 excerpts

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Health3 excerptsAging1 excerptChange1 excerptEmotions1 excerptMind1 excerpt

Cheerful Moderation for Longevity

To be free-minded and cheerfully disposed at hours of meat, and of sleep, and of exercise, is one of the best precepts of long lasting. As for the passions and studies of the mind, avoid envy, anxious fears, anger fretting inwards, subtle and knotty inquisitions, joys, and exhilarations in excess, sadness not communicated. Entertain hopes, mirth rather than joy, variety of delights, rather than surfeit of them; wonder and admiration, and therefore novelties; studies that fill the mind with splendid and illustrious objects, as histories, fables, and contemplations of nature.

Section 33

Essay XXXIII. OF PLANTATIONS

1 excerpt

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Colonization1 excerptEthics1 excerpt

Plantation vs Extirpation

Plantations are amongst ancient, primitive, and heroical works. When the world was young, it begat more children; but now it is old, it begets fewer; for I may justly account new plantations to be the children of former kingdoms. I like a plantation in a pure soil; that is, where people are not displanted, to the end to plant in others; for else it is rather an extirpation than a plantation.

Section 34

Essay XXXIV. OF RICHES

6 excerpts

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Wealth4 excerptsCharity2 excerptsEthics2 excerptsHuman Nature1 excerptInheritance1 excerpt

Riches as Impedimenta

I cannot call riches better than the baggage of virtue; the Roman word is better, “impedimenta;” for as the baggage is to an army, so is riches to virtue; it cannot be spared nor left behind, but it hindereth the march; yea, and the care of it sometimes loseth or disturbeth the victory. Of great riches there is no real use, except it be in the distribution; the rest is but conceit.

Section 35

Essay XXXV. OF PROPHECIES

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Section 36

Essay XXXVI. OF AMBITION

3 excerpts

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Ambition3 excerptsHuman Nature1 excerptMerit1 excerptPolitical Strategy1 excerptPolitics1 excerpt

Ambition as Choler

Ambition is like choler, which is a humor that maketh men active, earnest, full of alacrity, and stirring, if it be not stopped; but if it be stopped, and cannot have its way, it becometh adust, and thereby malign and venomous. So ambitious men, if they find the way open for their rising, and still get forward, they are rather busy than dangerous; but if they be checked in their desires, they become secretly discontent, and look upon men and matters with an evil eye, and are best pleased when things go backward; which is the worst property in a servant of a prince or state.

Section 37

Essay XXXVII. OF MASQUES AND TRIUMPHS

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Section 39

Essay XXXIX. OF CUSTOM AND EDUCATION

3 excerpts

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Custom3 excerptsEducation1 excerptGovernment1 excerptHabit1 excerptHypocrisy1 excerpt

Custom's Social Exaltation

But if the force of custom, simple and separate, be great, the force of custom, copulate and conjoined and collegiate, is far greater; for there example teacheth, company comforteth, emulation quickeneth, glory raiseth; so as in such places the force of custom is in his exaltation. Certainly, the great multiplication of virtues upon human nature resteth upon societies well ordained and disciplined; for commonwealths and good governments do nourish virtue grown, but do not much mend the seeds; but the misery is, that the most effectual means are now applied to the ends least to be desired.

Section 41

Essay XLI. OF USURY

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Section 42

Essay XLII. OF YOUTH AND AGE

4 excerpts

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Wisdom3 excerptsYouth And Age3 excerptsBusiness2 excerptsAge1 excerptCreativity1 excerpt

Inventing vs Judging

On the other side, heat and vivacity in age is an excellent composition for business. Young men are fitter to invent than to judge, fitter for execution than for counsel, and fitter for new projects than for settled business; for the experience of age, in things that fall within the compass of it, directeth them; but in new things abuseth them.

Section 44

Essay XLIV. OF DEFORMITY

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Section 46

Essay XLVI. OF GARDENS

2 excerpts

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Nature2 excerptsAesthetics1 excerptCivilization1 excerptGardening1 excerptHuman Pleasure1 excerpt

The Purest Pleasure

God Almighty first planted a garden; and, indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures; it is the greatest refreshment to the spirits of man; without which buildings and palaces are but gross handyworks; and a man shall ever see, that, when ages grow to civility and elegancy, men come to build stately, sooner than to garden finely; as if gardening were the greater perfection.

Section 47

Essay XLVII. OF NEGOTIATING

1 excerpt

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Manipulation1 excerptPsychology1 excerptStrategy1 excerpt

Understanding to Influence

All practice is to discover, or to work. Men discover themselves in trust, in passion, at unawares; and, of necessity, when they would have somewhat done, and cannot find an apt pretext. If you would work any man, you must either know his nature and fashions, and so lead him; or his ends, and so persuade him; or his weakness and disadvantages, and so awe him; or those that have interest in him, and so govern him.

Section 52

Essay LII. OF CEREMONIES AND RESPECTS

2 excerpts

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Behavior1 excerptBusiness1 excerptFocus1 excerptOpportunity1 excerptPrudence1 excerpt

Make vs Find Opportunities

It is loss, also, in business, to be too full of respects, or to be too curious in observing times and opportunities. Solomon saith, “He that considereth the wind shall not sow, and he that looketh to the clouds shall not reap.” 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.

Section 54

Essay LIV. OF VAINGLORY

4 excerpts

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Vainglory2 excerptsAction Vs Talk1 excerptEvaluation1 excerptLies1 excerptModesty1 excerpt

Fly on the Axle

It was prettily devised of Æsop, the fly sat upon the axle-tree of the chariot-wheel, and said, “What a dust do I raise!” So are there some vain persons, that, whatsoever goeth alone, or moveth upon greater means, if they have never so little hand in it, they think it is they that carry it. They that are glorious, must needs be factious; for all bravery stands upon comparisons. They must needs be violent, to make good their own vaunts; neither can they be secret, and therefore not effectual; but, according to the French proverb, “Beaucoup de bruit, peu de fruit;”—“much bruit, little fruit.”

Section 55

Essay LV. OF HONOR AND REPUTATION

3 excerpts

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Honor3 excerptsEnvy1 excerptHumility1 excerptPrudence1 excerptReputation1 excerpt

Honor's Real Worth

The winning of honor is but the revealing of a man's virtue and worth without disadvantage; for some in their actions do woo and affect honor and reputation; which sort of men are commonly much talked of, but inwardly little admired; and some, contrariwise, darken their virtue in the show of it, so as they be undervalued in opinion.