Quotation
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“Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider.”
Francis Bacon · Empiricism · Renaissance · 1597; this form 1625
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What does it mean?
He names three bad uses of books and one use that reading is for: not to contradict, not to believe at once, and not to furnish talk, but to weigh and consider. A rival reading hears a ban on criticism, trust, and conversation, yet he is saying that none of those should replace judgement, not that they have no place at all. The sentence is his own English in the 1625 essay Of Studies. It is one of the surest lines in this library.
Did Francis Bacon really say this?
The library’s label is Well attested. Bacon's own English, from the 1625 essay Of Studies. The sentence is secure and needs no translator. It is one of the surest lines in the library.
Where it comes from
Essays, 'Of Studies' (1625 edition)
Approximate date: 1597; this form 1625.
How to use it
A student on the bus through Birmingham finishes a chapter of a set text and can say which use just happened: ammunition for a seminar, instant agreement, a line saved for the group chat, or an actual weighing. If it was one of the first three, one page read again in the fourth mode is the exercise the essay describes. The bus does not care which mode was used, and the essay does.
A mindset reading
Criticism, trust, and conversation all have a place in a reading life, and the target is the moment when one of them replaces consideration. A person who only weighs, and never speaks or trusts a teacher, has invented a further misuse the sentence does not praise. The discipline is the order of operations, not a ban on having a view.
Understand the philosophy
The Essays are pieces of counsel in a packed English style, written to be used by people who hold responsibilities. The key term is consideration, the weighing that reading is supposed to serve. Of Studies also says that reading makes a full person, conference a ready one, and writing an exact one, and those clauses belong with this sentence. The 1597 version is shorter, and this form is the 1625 enlargement in his own words.
- knowledge
- mind
FAQ
What does it mean?
He names three bad uses of books and one use that reading is for: not to contradict, not to believe at once, and not to furnish talk, but to weigh and consider. A rival reading hears a ban on criticism, trust, and conversation, yet he is saying that none of those should replace judgement, not that they have no place at all. The sentence is his own English in the 1625 essay Of Studies. It is one of the surest lines in this library.
Did Francis Bacon really say this?
Well attested. Bacon's own English, from the 1625 essay Of Studies. The sentence is secure and needs no translator. It is one of the surest lines in the library.
Which work is it in?
Essays, 'Of Studies' (1625 edition) Approximate date: 1597; this form 1625.