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.
論讀書(shū)
培根
讀書(shū)足以怡情,足以傅彩,足以長(zhǎng)才.其怡情也,最見(jiàn)于獨(dú)處幽居之時(shí)；其傅彩也,最見(jiàn)于高談闊論之中；其長(zhǎng)才也,最見(jiàn)于處 世判事之際.
練達(dá)之士雖能分別處理細(xì)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(shū)費(fèi)時(shí)過(guò)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(shū)補(bǔ)天然之不足,經(jīng)驗(yàn)又補(bǔ)讀書(shū)之不足,蓋天生才干猶如自然花草,讀書(shū)然后知如何修剪移接,而書(shū)中所示,如不以經(jīng)驗(yàn)范之,則又大而無(wú)當(dāng).
有一技之長(zhǎng)者鄙讀書(shū),無(wú)知者羨讀書(shū),唯明智之士用讀書(shū),然書(shū)并不以用處告人,用書(shū)之智不在書(shū)中,而在書(shū)外,全憑觀察得之.
讀書(shū)時(shí)不可存心詰難讀者,不可盡信書(shū)上所言,亦不可只為尋章摘句,而應(yīng)推敲細(xì)思.
書(shū)有可淺嘗者,有可吞食者,少數(shù)則須咀嚼消化.換言之,有只需讀其部分者,有只須大體涉獵者,少數(shù)則須全讀,讀時(shí)須全神貫注,孜孜不倦.書(shū)亦可請(qǐng)人代讀,取其所作摘要,但只限題材較次或價(jià)值不高者,否則書(shū)經(jīng)提煉猶如水經(jīng)蒸餾,淡而無(wú)味.
讀書(shū)使人充實(shí),討論使人機(jī)智,筆記使人準(zhǔn)確.因此不常做筆記者須記憶力特強(qiáng),不常討論者須天生聰穎,不常讀書(shū)者須欺世有術(shù),始能無(wú)知而顯有知.
讀史使人明智,讀詩(shī)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(wú)不可讀適當(dāng)之書(shū)使之順暢,一如身體百病,皆可借相宜之運(yùn)動(dòng)除之.滾球利睪腎,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),蓋演題需全神貫注,稍有分散即須重演；如不能辯異,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,皆有特效可醫(yī).--王佐良　譯
這是著名的of studies,