Francis Bacon

"The Wisest, the Brightest and the Meanest of Mankind"

Francis Bacon was not only one of the greatest writers, but also a great English statesman, philosopher and politician. The great classical poet Alexander Pope regarded him as “the wisest, the brightest and the meanest of mankind”.

Bacon is the Father of English essay. His essays are famous for their wit and aphoristic style. Most of the lines from his essays have always been acclaimed as immortal quotes. For example, we may take the following lines that have become proverbs:

Revenge is a kind of wild justice; which the more man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out. Wives are young men's mistresses, companions for middle age, and old men's nurses.

In charity there is no excess.

Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider.

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.

Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.

As we peruse the above quotes, we are are amazed by the fervor of his genius, and his mind’s deep fertilizing force. Saintsbury rightly remarks that Bacon in his essays “dazzles and amuses”. The aphoristc quality of Bacon’s style has been universally praised.

Due to the qualities of proverbial expressions, Bacon has few rivals and no superiors in English. “Bacon’s prose style is an index of the emergence of modern world”(L.C.Knights).