Short, pointed essays on everyday subjects like friendship, ambition, marriage, and revenge. One essay says some books are to be tasted, others swallowed, and a few chewed and digested.
186 pages 3h 36m reading time
A founding work of the English essay, still widely quoted.
Holds that success in life and politics takes practical judgment about people and power, and makes the case in short, pointed essays.
Argues that "studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability," so learning must be put to use.
Many of its lines became sayings, such as "Revenge is a kind of wild justice," and are quoted to this day.
Published to stop pirates
Bacon said he printed the essays because copies were circulating and someone planned to publish them without him.
Started with only ten
The first edition held just ten short essays, and by the 1625 edition Bacon had grown it to fifty-eight.
Borrowed a French word
Bacon borrowed the name "essay," a trial or attempt, from the French writer Montaigne, who had used it in 1580.
A bet on Latin
Late in life Bacon had the essays put into Latin, fearing English would not last as Latin would.
Francis Bacon 1597 CE