Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Essay: "Of Revenge." Francis Bacon.

10-second review: It is better to pass over a wrong than to revenge it.


Quotes:

“Revenge is a kind of wild justice.”


“Certainly, in taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing over it, he is superior; for it is a prince’s part to pardon.”


“That which is past is gone, and irrevocable; and wise men have enough to do with things present and to come.”


Cosmus, duke of Florence: “You shall read…that we are commanded to forgive our enemies; but you never read that we are commanded to forgive our friends.”


Job: “Shall we take good at God’s hands, and not be content to take evil also?”


“…a man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well.”


Great Essays. Ed. Houston Peterson. New York: Pocket Books, Inc. 1954.

What is an essay? “They are all prefaces. A preface is nothing but a talk with the reader; and they [essays] do nothing else.” Charles Lamb.

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