FRANCIS BACON SAID (PART FOUR)

 

FRANCIS BACON SAID

                                            (PART FOUR)

1.     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 or man come in danger by it.

2.     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. If he be compassionate towards the afflictions of others, it shows that his heart is like the noble tree that is wounded itself when it gives them balm.

3.     Common benefits are to be communicate with all; but peculiar benefits with choice. And beware how in making the portraiture thou breakest the pattern. For divinity maketh the love of ourselves the pattern; the love of our neighbours , but the portraiture. .Sell all thou hast, and give it to the poor and follow me: But sell not all thou hast, except thou come and follow me; that is, except thou have a vocation wherein thou mayest do as much good with little means as with great; for otherwise in feeding the streams thou driest the fountain.

4.       A great and potent nobility addeth majesty  to a monarch, but diminisheth power; and putteth life  and spirit into the people, and presseth their fortune.

5.     Nobility of birth commonly abateth industry; and he that is not industrious envieth him that is. Besides, noble persons cannot go much higher; and he that standeth at a stay when others rise, can hardly avoid motions of envy.

6.     There is a limit to suffering, but not to fear.

7.      The cord breaketh at the last by the weakest pull.

8.     The causes and motives of seditions are, innovation in religion’ taxes; alteration of laws and customs; breaking of privileges; general oppression; advancement of unworthy persons; strangers; dearths; disbanded soldiers; factions grow desperate; and whoever, in offending people, joineth and knitteth them in a common cause. The first remedy or prevention is to remove by all means possible that material cause of sedition, which is, want of poverty in the estate.

9.     Above all things, good policy is to be used that the treasure and monies in a state be not gathered into few hands. For otherwise a state may have a great stock, and yet starve.     

10.            Certainly, the politic and artificial nourishing and entertaining of hopes, and carrying men from hopes to hopes, is one of the best antidotes against the poison of discontentments.

                                                                 

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G.R. Kanwal

28 Occtober 2026

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FRANCIS BACON SAID (PART THREE)

 

FRANCIS BACON SAID

                       (PART THREE)

1.     The stage is more beholding to love, than the life of man. For as to the stage, love is ever matter of comedies, and now and then of tragedies; but in life it doth much mischief; sometimes like a siren, sometimes like a fury.

2.     Here is in man’s nature a secret inclination and motion towards love of others, which if it be not spent upon some one or a few, doth naturally spread itself towards many, and maketh men become humane and charitable; as it is seen sometimes in friars.

3.     Nuptial love maketh mankind; friendly love perfecteth it; but wanton love corrupteth and enbaseth it.

4.     Men in great place are thrice servants: servants of the sovereign or state; servants of fame; and servants of business. So as they have no freedom; neither in their persons, nor in their actions, nor in their times.

5.     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.

6.     When you are no longer what you have been, there is no reason for wishing to live.

7.     Certainly men in great fortunes are strangers to themselves, and while they are in the puzzle of business they have no time to tend their health either of body or mind.

8.     Death falls heavy upon him who dies too well known to others, but unknown to himself.

9.     If you have colleagues, respect them, and rather call them when they look to be called.

10.                         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.

11.                         This is well to be weighed; that boldness is ever blind; for it seeth not dangers and inconveniences. Therefore it is ill in counsel, good in execution; so that the right use of bold persons is, that they never command in chief, but be seconds, and under the direction of others.

12.                        In counsel it is good to see dangers; and in execution not to see them, except they be very great.

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G. R. Kanwal

27 October 2026

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FRANCIS BACON SAID (Part Two)

 

                FRANCIS BACON SAID

                                      (Part Two)

1.     Revenge is a kind of wild justice; which the more man’s nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out. Certainly, in taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over he is superior.

2.     You shall read that we are commanded to forgive our enemies; but you never read that we are commanded to forgive our friends.

3.     Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes; and adversity is not without comforts and hopes.

4.     The joys of parents are secret; and so are their griefs and fears. They cannot utter the one; nor they will not utter the other.

5.     Children sweeten labours; but they make misfortunes more bitter.

6.     The perpetuity by generation is common to beasts; but memory, merit. and noble works, are proper to men.   

7.     Unmarried friends are best friends, best masters, best servants; but not always best subjects; for they are light to run away; and almost all fugitives are of that condition.

8.     A single life doth well with churchmen; for charity will hardly water the ground where it must first a pool.

9.     Chaste women are often proud and forward, as presuming upon their merit of their chastity. It is one of the best bonds both of chastity and obedience and obedience in the wife, if she think her husband wise; which she will never do if she find him jealous.

10.                        Wives are young men’s mistresses; companions for middle age; and old men’s nurses. So as a man may have a quarrel to marry when he will. But yet he was reputed one of the wise men, that made answer to the question when a man should marry ?---A young man not yet, an elder man not at all.

11.                        A man that hath no virtue in himself, ever envieth virtue in others. For men’s minds will either feed upon their own good, or upon others’ evil; and who wanteth the one will prey upon the other; and whoso is out of hope to attain to another’s virtue, will seek to come at even hand by depressing another’s fortune.

12.                         Envy is a gadding passion, and walkeh the strees, and doth not keep home : All inquisitive persons are malevolent.

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G.R.Kanwal

26 October 2026    

 

 

 

 

FRANCIS BACON SAID (PART ONE)

 

          FRANCIS BACON SAID

                                      (PART ONE)

            Francis Bacon was an English philosopher, statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James 1.

           

            He was born on 22 January 1561 and died on 9 April 1626.

           

            Besides being an eminent jurist, he had a keen interest in scientific thinking which he popularized  among the intellectuals and  common people throughout his life.

           

            As a literary figure, he is known as the first essayist in English literature. He published the first edition of his essays in 1597, the second enlarged edition in 1612, and the final completed edition in 1625. The total number of  his published essays is fifty eight.

 

            Bacon’s essays are “celebrated for their intellectual weight, worldly wisdom, and distinct literary style.” As such, a good number of their contents   are quoted again and again.

 

            Here are some examples;

 

*Truth may perhaps come to the price of a pearl, that sheweth best by day ;  but it will not rise to the price of a diamond or carbuncle, that sheweth in varied lights. A mixture of a lie doth ever add pleasure.

 

*Quoting Montaigne, French writer (1533-1592) Bacon says:  If it be well weighed, to say that a man lieth, is as much to say that he is brave towards God and a coward towards men. For a lie faces God, and shrinks from man.

 

*Men fear death, as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other. The accompaniments of death frighten more than death itself.

 

*Revenge triumphs over death; Love slights it; honour aspireth to it ; grief  flieth to it ; fear pre-occupateth it.

 

*Religion being the chief band of human society, it is a happy thing when itself is well contained within the true band of unity. The quarrels and divisions about religion were evils unknown to the heathen. The reason was, because the religion of the heathen consisted rather in rites and ceremonies , than in any constant belief.

 

(TO BE CONTINUED)

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G. R. Kanwal

25 October 2026

SOME PRECIOUS THOUGHTS

 

                SOME PRECIOUS THOUGHTS

            A thought is an idea. Some of its synonyms are: notion, belief, concept, contemplation, musing, and reasoning.  

            Different thinkers have different thoughts though the subject is the same. You have one thought about beauty, I have another.

            For the English poet John Keats (1795-1831) a thing of beauty is a joy forever. Its loveliness increases, it never passes into nothingness, but always keeps a  bower quiet for us, and a restful sleep.  

            A dictionary defines beauty as the quality which gives pleasure to the senses.   

            Like beauty, many other subjects have a variety of interpretations according to minds of the authors that touch them.

            Given below are some precious thoughts on different subjects.

1.     Eminence. --  Every man ought to aim at eminence, not by pulling others down, but by raising himself; and enjoy the pleasures of his own superiority, whether imaginary or real, without interrupting others in the same felicity.---English autor Samuel Johnson (1709-84).

2.     Emotion. ---All loving emotions, like plants, shoot up most rapidly in the tempestuous atmosphere of life.---German humorist Jean Paul Richter (1763-1826).

3.     Empire.---As a general truth nothing is more opposed to the well-being and freedom of men, than vast empires.----French statesman                       Alexis Charles Henry De Tocqueville (1805-859)

4.     Employment.—Employment is nature’s physician, and is essential to human happiness.---German physican and philosopher Galen (130-200).

5.     Emptiness.---Four things are grievously empty: a head without brains, a wit without judgment, a heart without honesty, and a purse without money.---English bishop J.B. Earle (1601-1665).

6.     Emulation.---Emulation is a noble passion.----It is enterprising, but just           withal.---It keeps within the terms of honour, and makes the contest for glory just and generous; striving to excel, not by depressing others, but by raising itself.---English poet and dramatist Fancis Beaumont (1584-1616)

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G. R. Kanwal

24 October 2026

 

           

 

 

 

PROSPERITY

 

PROSPERITY      

            Prosperity is defined as the state of well-being, and successful, especially in making money.

            According to a broader definition: prosperity is more than just financial wealth. It’s about a sense of well-being, thriving, good fortune, and favour, and   is tied to a feeling of success and a positive life experience.

            A prosperous country is defined as a nation that is rich, financially stable, and economically successful. Moreover, it is politically and socially strong and has a high standard of life with latest healthcare systems and educational facilities. In such a country, no section of society is known as financially backward and thus entitled to freebies.

            Some synonyms of prosperity are:

Good fortune, success, abundance, affluence, ease, plenty, wealth, riches, and life of luxury.

            Its antonyms are: poverty, destitution, misfortune, depression, stagnation, backwardness, and adversity.

            Look at some  famous proverbs:

*Prosperity makes friends, adversity tries them.

*Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to

 poverty.

*The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it.

*Wealth from empty schemes disappears, wealth from work grows over time.

*Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth.           

 

Given below are some relevant quotes:

1.     That  fortitude which has encountered no dangers, that prudence which has surmounted no difficulties, that integrity which has been attacked by no temptation, can at best be considered but as gold not yet brought to the test, of which therefore the true value cannot be assigned,--English author Samuel Johnson (1709-84).

2.     Everything in the world may be endured, except continual prosperity.---German poet, dramatist, and philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1742-1832).

3.     Prosperity is the touchstone of virtue; for it is less difficult to bear misfortunes, than to remain uncorrupted by pleasure,---Roman historian Tacitus (55-120).

4.     The good things which belong to prosperity may be wished; but the good things which belong to adversity are to be admired.---Roman stoic philosopher Seneca (4 B. C. ---65 A.D.)

5.     He that swells in prosperity will be sure to shrink in adversity.---English clergy Caleb C. Colton (1780-1832).    

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G. R. Kanwal

23 October 2026

TODAY IS TODAY

 

                                TODAY IS TODAY

            ‘Today Is Today’.  It is not an exact repetition of yesterday. The present is not a re-enactment of the past. The world is subject to evolution. It is not stagnant, but dynamic. It leaves behind the present infrastructure and generates a new one to meet the challenges of the new times.

            There were no so many countries in the past, nor so huge population.

            In my childhood which commenced in the thirties of the preceding century, there were no smart phones, no computers, no televisions, no weapons like nuclear bombs, and not even so many media  of communication.

            The dictum history repeats itself is not outright true.

            To brood over the past is sheer wastage of time. To say that every present day discovery or invention is not new and that it existed in  the remote past is not Biblical truth.

            The wonders of the past were different from those  of today and those which will appear in the future will also be unprecedented.

            The English poet and philanthropist Adelaide Anne Procter (1825-1864) says in her poem ‘NOW’ :

             Rise ! if the Past detains you,

            Her sunshine and storms forget ;

            No chains so unworthy to hold you

            As hose of a vain regret :

            Sad or bright, she is lifeless ever,

            Cast her phantom arms away,

            Nor look back, save to learn the lesson

            Of a nobler strife Today.

  

            And further:

            Rise from your dreams of the Future—

            Of gaining some hard-fought field ;

            Of storming some airy fortress,

            Or bidding some giant yield :

 

            Your future has deeds of glory,

            Of honour (God grant it may !)

            But your arm will never be stronger,

            Or the need so great as Today.

             

Finally this most relevant quote “Modern digital tools, artificial intelligence, and global interconnectedness create speeds and scales of change that have no historical precedent.”

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G.R.Kanwal

22 October 2026