5 h 56 minAudiobook6 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What does ambition cost when money, friendship and power all make claims on your judgment?
In The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral, Francis Bacon turns a statesman's watchful eye on daily life. Truth, death, love, envy and friendship become subjects for short, concentrated thought. He knows courts and high office from within, and asks what helps people act wisely when their hopes, duties and desires pull in different directions.
The collection moves from the private mind to the government of kingdoms. Of Truth examines our uneasy relationship with honesty; Of Friendship considers companionship and judgment; Of Great Place weighs the demands of power. In Of Studies, Bacon turns to learning itself. His sentences pack advice into little space, offering ideas to test rather than a smooth argument to follow.
What you’ll discover
- Truth without easy comfort Begin with Of Truth and consider why people find honesty difficult to love.
- The weight of office Explore how public power binds a person to duty, reputation and constant business.
- Friendship and clear judgment Find a warmer side of Bacon in his thoughts on companionship, honesty and good sense.
- Learning with a purpose Let Of Studies sharpen your questions about what reading brings to thought and action.
- Money, ambition and restraint Examine property, spending and the pressures that make practical life a test of judgment.
Who will love it
For readers who love practical thought about truth, friendship and ambition, and anyone interested in dealing wisely with power, money and other people.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Truth is hard to love but worth it
- Meet death and misfortune without fear
- Love and family can weigh on ambition
- Friendship needs honesty and good judgement
- High office tests character and demands care
- Deal with people through wit, patience and timing
- Study, habit and education shape the mind
- Money is a good servant and a bad master
- States, change and the lasting use of Bacon
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Essays oder Ratschläge, staatsbürgerliche und moralische
by Francis Bacon · 1597
Bacon brings the court and council chamber into focus, revealing how power, friendship and ambition test character.
Challenging5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
What does a statesman learn over thirty years at the heart of power? Francis Bacon put it into essays.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Truth is hard to love but worth it
The book opens with Pilate asking what truth is and not waiting for an answer. Bacon says people dislike settling on a belief, and lies please us in ways plain facts do not. Daylight, he says, does not show the masks of the world as stately as candlelight does.
Yet he ranks the search for truth, the knowledge of it and the belief in it as the sovereign good of human nature. Lies are like base metal mixed into gold. They may make the coin work more easily, but they spoil it.
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What is Bacon's Essays about?
It is a collection of short pieces on how to live and act among others.
When did Francis Bacon write the Essays?
Bacon published the first ten essays in 1597, expanded the book to thirty-eight in 1612, and issued the final edition of fifty-eight in 1625. He revised and added to the work over most of his adult life.
Is Bacon's Essays hard to read?
The essays are short. Most readers find a single essay manageable in a few minutes.
The author
Francis Bacon
1561–1626 · English philosopher and essayist
Francis Bacon (1561–1626) was an English philosopher, writer, and statesman. He was born in London and lived in England. He served as Lord Chancellor from 1618 to 1621. His works include Essays (1597), The Advancement of Learning (1605), and Novum Organum (1620). New Atlantis appeared after his death, in 1627.
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