ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 



2OI 



speak truer than the nobility, be- 

 cause they speak with less danger. 



than merit, and given rather to 

 the vain and empty than to the 

 worthy and substantial. 



For PREPARATION Against 



The first occasion is the best 

 preparation. 



He who attempts great matters 

 with small means hopes for op- 

 portunity to keep him in heart. 



Slender provision buys wit, but 

 not fortune. 



For 



Pride is inconsistent even with 

 vice; and as poison expels poison, 

 so are many vices expelled by 

 pride. 



An easy nature is subject to 

 other men's vices, but a proud one 

 only to its own. 



Pride, if it rise from a contempt 

 of others to a contempt of itself, at 

 length becomes philosophy. 



Fortune is not to be fettered in 

 the chains of preparation. 



The interchange of preparation 

 and action are politic, but the 

 separation of them ostentatious 

 and unsuccessful. 



Great preparation is a prodigal 

 both of time and business. 



PRIDE Against 



Pride is the ivy of virtue. 



Other vices are only opposites 

 to virtues, but pride is even con- 

 tagious. 



Pride wants the best condition 

 of vice, concealment. 



A proud man, while he despises 

 others, neglects himself. 



For 



READINESS 



That is unseasonable wisdom 

 which is not ready. 



He who errs suddenly, suddenly 

 reforms his error. 



To be wise upon deliberation, 

 and not upon present occasion, is 

 no great matter. 



Against 



That knowledge is not deep 

 fetched which lies ready at hand. 



Wisdom is like a garment, 

 lightest when readiest. 



They whose counsels are not 

 ripened by deliberation have not 

 their prudence ripened by age. 



What is suddenly invented sud- 

 denly vanishes. 



For 



Private revenge is a kind of wild 

 justice. 



He who returns injury for injury 

 violates the law, not the person. 



The fear of private revenge is 

 useful, for laws are often asleep. 



REVENGE Against 



He who does the wrong is the 

 aggressor, but he who returns it 

 the protractor. 



The more prone men are to re- 

 venge, the more it should be 

 weeded out. 



A revengeful man may be slow 

 in time, though not in will. 



