OF STUDIES
Francis Bacon
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 and execute,and perhaps judge of particulars,one by one; but the general counsels,and the plots and marshalling of affairs,come best form those that are learned.
To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament,is affectation; to make judgement wholly by their rules,is the humour of a scholar.
They perfect nature,and are perfected by experience:for natural abilities are like natural plants,that need proyning (pruning) by study; 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 subtile; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend. Abeunt studia in morse.(Studeis go to make up a man’s character.-be-"unt-'stü-dE-"?-"in-'mO-"rAs)
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 the 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 differences,let him study the schoolmen; for they are cymini sectores.(Hair-splitters sim-mini sek-torr-es) 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' cases. So every defect of the mind may have a special receipt.
论读书
培根
读书足以怡情,足以傅彩,足以长才.其怡情也,最见于独处幽居之时；其傅彩也,最见于高谈阔论之中；其长才也,最见于处 世判事之际.
练达之士虽能分别处理细事或一一判别枝节,然纵观统筹,全局策划,则舍好学深思者莫属.读书费时过多易惰,文采藻饰太盛则矫,全凭条文断事乃学究故态.
读书补天然之不足,经验又补读书之不足,盖天生才干犹如自然花草,读书然后知如何修剪移接,而书中所示,如不以经验范之,则又大而无当.
有一技之长者鄙读书,无知者羡读书,唯明智之士用读书,然书并不以用处告人,用书之智不在书中,而在书外,全凭观察得之.
读书时不可存心诘难读者,不可尽信书上所言,亦不可只为寻章摘句,而应推敲细思.
书有可浅尝者,有可吞食者,少数则须咀嚼消化.换言之,有只需读其部分者,有只须大体涉猎者,少数则须全读,读时须全神贯注,孜孜不倦.书亦可请人代读,取其所作摘要,但只限题材较次或价值不高者,否则书经提炼犹如水经蒸馏,淡而无味.
读书使人充实,讨论使人机智,笔记使人准确.因此不常做笔记者须记忆力特强,不常讨论者须天生聪颖,不常读书者须欺世有术,始能无知而显有知.
读史使人明智,读诗使人灵秀,数学使人周密,科学使人深刻,伦理学使人庄重,逻辑修辞之学使人善辩；凡有所学,皆成性格.
人之才智但有滞碍,无不可读适当之书使之顺畅,一如身体百病,皆可借相宜之运动除之.滚球利睾肾,射箭利胸肺,慢步利肠胃,骑术利头脑,诸如此类.如智力不集中,可令读数学,盖演题需全神贯注,稍有分散即须重演；如不能辩异,可令读经院哲学,盖是辈皆吹毛求疵之人；如不善求同,不善以一物阐证另一物,可令读律师之案卷.如此头脑中凡有缺陷,皆有特效可医.--王佐良 译
这是著名的of studies,
