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;[1] 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; but that would[2] be only in the less important arguments, and the meaner sort of books; else distilled books are like common distilled waters, flashy[3] things. 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[4] he doth not. Histories make men wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtile; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend. Abeunt studia in mores.[5] Nay there is no stond[6] or impediment in the wit, but may be wrought[7] out by fit studies:
- ↑ Curiously. Attentively.
- ↑ Would, for should.
- ↑ Flashy. Insipid; tasteless.
- ↑ That. What, that which.
- ↑ Studies develop into manners.
P. Ovidii Nasonis Heroides. Epistola XV. 83. Sappho Phaoni.
Sive abeunt studia in mores, artesque magistrae.
Note this thought and Bacon's own translation of it: "Abeunt studia in mores, studies have an influence and operation upon the manners of those conversant in them." Advancement of Learning, I. iii. 4. - ↑ Stond. Hindrance.
- ↑ Wrought. Worked. "What hath God wrought," the first telegram, was sent by Samuel Finley Breese Morse, inventor of the telegraph, from the rooms of the United States Supreme Court, in Washington, to Baltimore, May 24, 1844.
