LEARNING FROM FRANCIS BACON (PART ONE)

 

                   LEARNING FROM FRANCIS BACON

                                      (PART ONE)             

            Francis Bacon was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James. He laid emphasis on the importance of natural philosophy, guided by the scientific method.

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

For his education he joined Trinity College, Cambridge.  

            Among his writings are two famous books New Atlantis which describes an imaginary island in the pacific inhabited by scholars and scientists, and a book of  Essays first published with 10 essays in 1597. In the sub-title  of this book he called them ‘Counsels, civil and moral’. In all, there were three volumes with 59 essays.

            All the essays written by him are short , packed with practical wisdom in the form of pithy sayings or maxims sounding like proverbs.  

 

            Given below is their first instalment.                        

 

1.     Truth may perhaps come to the price of a pearl, that showeth best by day; but it will not rise to the price of a diamond  or carbuncle that showeth best in varied lights.

2.     There is no vice that doth so cover a man with shame as to be found false and perfidious; and therefore Montaigne  saith prettily : 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 man; for a lie faces God, and shrinks from man.

Note: Montaigne (1533-1592) was a French Renaissance philosopher. He is also best known for his book of Essays.

 

3.     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.

4.     Certainly , the contemplation of death, as the wages of sin and passage to another world , is holy and religious; but the fear of it, as a tribute due unto nature is weak.

5.     Death openth the gate to good fame, and extinguisheth envy.

6.     The quarrels and divisions about religion were evils unknown to the heathen.

Note: The word  heathen is used to denote  an uncivilized, non-religious, or irreligious person.

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G.R.Kanwal

15^th March 2026