202 



BACON 



For 



RICHES 



Against 



They despise riches who despair 

 of them. 



Envy at riches has made virtue 

 a goddess. 



Whilst philosophers dispute 

 whether all things should be re- 

 ferred to virtue or pleasure, let us 

 be collecting the instruments of 

 both. 



Riches turn virtue into a com- 

 mon good. 



The command of other advan- 

 tages are particular, but that of 

 riches universal. 



Great riches are attended either 

 with care, trouble, or fame, but no 

 use. 



What an imaginary value is set 

 upon stones and other curiosities, 

 that riches may seem to be of some 

 service. 



Many who imagine all things 

 may be bought by their riches, 

 forget they have sold themselves. 



Riches are the baggage of vir- 

 tue, necessary though cumber- 

 some. 



Riches are a good servant but a 

 bad master. 



For 



SUPERSTITION 



Against 



They who err out of zeal, though 

 they are not to be approved, 

 should yet be pitied. 



Mediocrity belongs to morality, 

 extremes to divinity. 



A superstitious man is a reli- 

 gious formalist. 



I should sooner believe all the 

 fables and absurdities of any reli- 

 gion than that the universal frame 

 is without a deity. 



As an ape appears the more de- 

 formed for his resemblance to 

 man, so the similitude of supersti- 

 tion to religion makes it the more 

 odious. 



What affectation is in civil mat- 

 ters such is superstition in divine. 



It were better to have no belief 

 of a God that such a one as dis- 

 honors him. 



It was not the school of Epi- 

 curus, but the Stoics, that dis- 

 turbed the states, of old. 



The real atheists are hypocrites, 

 who deal continually in holy 

 things without feeling. 



For 



SUSPICION 



Distrust is the sinew of pru- 

 dence, and suspicion a strength- 

 ener of the understanding. 



That sincerity is justly suspected 

 which suspicion weakens. 



Suspicion breaks a frail in- 

 tegrity, but confirms a strong one. 



Against 



Suspicion breaks the bonds of 

 trust. 



To be overrun with suspicion 

 is a kind of political madness. 



For TACITURNITY Against 



From a silent man all things are 

 concealed, because he returns 

 nothing but silence. 



Nothing is concealed from a 

 silent man, for all is safely de- 

 posited with him. 



