Of Studies

Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of business. For expert men can execute and perhaps judge of particulars one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs, come best from those that are learned. 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 humor of a scholar. They prefer nature, and are perfected by experience; for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by studies; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. Crafty men contemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them; for they teach not their own use; but that is a wisdom without them and above them, won by observation. Read not to 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; 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 be only in the less important arguments and the meaner sort of books; else distilled books are, like common distilled waters, flashy 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 he doth not. Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtle; natural philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend. Abeunt studia in mores. Nay, there is no stand or impediment in the wit, but may be wrought out by fit studies, like as diseases of the body may have appropriate exercises. Bowling is good for the stone and reins, shooting for the lungs and breast; gentle walking for the stomach, riding for the head and the like. So, if a man's wit be wandering, let him study mathematics; for in demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little, he must begin again. If his wit be not apt to distinguish or find difference, let him study the schoolmen, for they are cymini sectores. If he be not apt to beat over matters, and to call up one thing to prove and illustrate another, let him study the lawyers' case. So every defect of the mind may have a special receipt.

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論讀書

讀書足以怡情，足以博.彩，足以長才。其怡情也，最見于獨處幽居之時；其博.彩也，最見于高談闊論之中；其長才也，最見于處世判事之際。練達之士雖能分別處理細事或一一判別枝節(jié)，然縱觀統(tǒng)籌、全局策劃，則舍好學(xué)深思者莫屬。讀書費時過多易惰，文采藻飾太盛則矯，全憑條文斷事乃學(xué)究故態(tài)。讀書補天然之不足，經(jīng)驗又補讀書之不足，蓋天生才干猶如自然花草，讀書然后知如何修剪移接；而書中所示，如不以經(jīng)驗范之，則又大而.無當(dāng)。有一技之長者鄙讀書，無知者羨讀書，唯明智之士用讀書，然書并不以用處告人，用書之智不在書中，而在書外，全憑觀察得之。讀書時不可存心詰難作者，不可盡信書上所言，亦不可只為尋章摘句，而應(yīng)推敲細思。書有可淺.嘗者，有可吞.食者，少數(shù)則須咀嚼消化。換言之，有只須讀其部分者，有只須大體涉獵者，少數(shù)則須全讀，讀時須全神貫注，孜孜不倦。書亦可請人代讀，取其所作摘要，但只限題材較次或價值不高者，否則書經(jīng)提煉猶如水經(jīng)蒸餾、淡而無味矣。
讀書使人充實，討論使人機智，筆記使人準確。因此不常作筆記者須記憶特強，不常討論者須天生聰穎，不常讀書者須欺.世有.術(shù)，始能無知而顯有知。讀史使人明智，讀詩使人靈秀，數(shù)學(xué)使人周密，科學(xué)使人深刻，倫理學(xué)使人莊重，邏輯修辭之學(xué)使人善辯：凡有所學(xué)，皆成性格。人之才智但有滯礙，無不可讀適當(dāng)之書使之順暢，一如身體百病，皆可借相宜之運動除之。滾.球.利.鎬.腎，射.箭.利.胸.肺，慢步利腸胃，騎術(shù)利頭腦，諸如此類。如智力不集中，可令讀數(shù)學(xué)，蓋演題須全神貫注，稍有分散即須重演；如不能辨異，可令讀經(jīng)院哲學(xué)，蓋是輩皆吹毛求疵之人；如不善求同，不善以一物闡證另一物，可令讀律.師之案卷。如此頭腦中凡有缺陷，皆有特藥可醫(yī)。

賞析

這篇隨筆最初不過是幾條札記，后經(jīng)擴充，定稿于1625年。這里，培根討論了讀書的目的和功用，分析了世人對讀書的不同態(tài)度，介紹了讀書的各種方法。

這篇隨筆亮點有二：一是培根精煉地運用了分析和歸納總結(jié)法，如“讀史使人明智，讀詩使人靈秀，數(shù)學(xué)使人周密，科學(xué)使人深刻，倫理學(xué)使人莊重，邏輯修辭之學(xué)使人善辯”，一系列言簡意賅、形式整齊的短句之后的歸納總結(jié)“凡有所學(xué)，皆成性格”，使人感到順理成章、水到渠成；二是精彩的比喻，如“天生才干猶如自然花草”、“書經(jīng)提煉猶如水經(jīng)蒸餾”等類比，形象、生動、易于理解。總之，這篇英國文學(xué)精品之作，字里行間處處都閃爍著智慧的光芒。