200 



BACON 



For 



Custom goes in arithmetical, 

 but nature in geometrical pro- 

 gression. 



As laws are to custom in states, 

 so is nature to custom in particu- 

 lar persons. 



Custom against nature is a kind 

 of tyranny, but easily suppressed. 



NATURE Against 



Men think according to nature, 

 speak according to precept, but 

 act according to custom. 



Nature is a kind of school- 

 master; custom, a magistrate. 



For 



NOBILITY 



Where virtue is deeply im- 

 planted from the stock, there can 

 be no vice. 



Nobility is a laurel conferred by 

 time. 



If we reverence antiquity in 

 dead monuments, we should do it 

 much more in living ones. 



If we despise nobility in families, 

 what difference is there betwixt 

 men and brutes? 



Nobility shelters virtue from 

 envy and recommends it to favor. 



Against 



Nobility seldom springs from 

 virtue, and virtue seldomer from 

 nobility. 



Nobles oftener plead their an- 

 cestors for pardon than promo- 

 tion. 



New rising men are so indus- 

 trious as to make nobles seem like 

 statues. 



Nobles, like bad racers, look 

 back too often in the course. 



For 



POPULARITY 



Uniformity commonly pleases 

 wise men, yet it is a point of wis- 

 dom to humor the changeable 

 nature of fools. 



To honor the people is the way 

 to be honored. 



Men in place are usually awed 

 not by one man but the multitude. 



Against 



He who suits with fools may 

 himself be suspected. 



He who pleases the rabble is 

 commonly turbulent. 



No moderate counsels take with 

 the vulgar. 



To fawn on the people is the 

 basest flattery. 



For 



PRAISE 



Against 



Praise is the reflected ray of vir- 

 tue. 



Praise is honor obtained by free 

 voices. 



Many states confer honors, but 

 praise always proceeds from lib- 

 erty. 



The voice of the people hath 

 something of divine, else how 

 should so many become of one 

 mind? 



No wonder if the commonalty 



Fame makes a quick messenger 

 but a rash judge. 



What has a good man to do with 

 the breath of the vulgar ? 



Fame, like the river, buoys up 

 things light and swollen, but 

 drowns those that are weighty. 



Low virtues gain the praise of 

 the vulgar, ordinary ones astonish 

 them, but of the highest they have 

 no feeling. 



Praise is got by bravery more 



