The Works of Francis Bacon, Lord Chancellor of England: With a Life of the Author, Volume 1Parry & McMillan, 1859 |
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action Advancement of Learning Æsop affection amongst ancient answered Apophthegmes Aristotle atheism Augustus Cæsar Bacon better body Buckingham Cæsar cause charge Cicero colour command commonly conceit counsel court death discourse divers divine doth duty edition envy error Essays Essex evil favour favourite fortune give goeth hath heart heat honour hope invention judge judgment Julius Cæsar justice kind king king's knowledge labours light likewise Lord Bacon lord chancellor lord keeper lordship majesty maketh man's matter means men's ment mind motion natural philosophy nature never noble Novum Organum observation opinion persons philosophy pleasure Pompey present princes queen reason received religion respect saith seemeth servants Sir Edward Coke Sir Henry Saville speak speech spirit Star Chamber Tacitus things thought tion true truth unto usury Vespasian virtue wherein whereof wise words
Popular passages
Page 11 - The first creature of God, in the works of the days, was the light of the sense; the last was the light of reason; and his sabbath work, ever since, is the illumination of his Spirit. First he breathed light upon the face of the matter or chaos; then he breathed light into the face of man; and still he breatheth and inspireth light into the face of his chosen.
Page xix - ... a couch, whereupon to rest a searching and restless spirit ; or a terrace, for a wandering and variable mind to walk up and down with a fair prospect ; or a tower of state, for a proud mind to raise itself upon ; or a fort or commanding ground, for strife and contention ; or a shop, for profit, or sale ; and not a rich storehouse, for the glory of the Creator, and the relief of man's estate.
Page 51 - 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...
Page 140 - The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, Before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, Or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth ; When there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, Before the hills was I brought forth : While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, Nor the highest part of the dust of the world.
Page 266 - The end of our foundation is the knowledge of causes, and secret motions of things; and the enlarging of the bounds of human empire, to the effecting of all things possible.
Page 55 - To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules, is the humour of a scholar. They perfect nature, and are perfected by experience...
Page 14 - Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes ; and adversity is not without comforts and hopes. We see in needleworks and embroideries it is more pleasing to have a lively work upon a sad and solemn ground, than to have a dark and melancholy work upon a lightsome ground. Judge, therefore, of the pleasure of the heart by the pleasure of the eye. Certainly, virtue is like precious odours, most fragrant when they are incensed or crushed. For prosperity doth best discover vice; but adversity doth...
Page 55 - Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man. And therefore if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit; and if he read little, he had need have much cunning to seem to know that he doth not. Histories make men wise, poets witty, the mathematics subtile, natural philosophy deep, moral grave, logic and rhetoric able to contend.
Page xxv - Yet there happened in my time one noble speaker, who was full of gravity in his speaking. His language (where he could spare or pass by a jest) was nobly censorious. No man ever spake more neatly, more pressly, more weightily, or suffered less emptiness, less idleness, in what he uttered. No member of his speech but consisted of his own graces. His hearers could not cough, or look aside from him, without loss. He commanded where he spoke ; and had his judges angry and pleased at his devotion.
Page 171 - For the wit and mind of man, if it work upon matter, which is the contemplation of the creatures of God, worketh according to the stuff, and is limited thereby; but if it work upon itself, as the spider worketh his web, then it is endless, and brings forth indeed cobwebs of learning, admirable for the fineness of thread and work, but of no substance or profit.