Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight, is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of business. For expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs, come best from those that are learned. To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament, is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules, is the humor of a scholar. They perfect nature, and are perfected by experience: for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. Crafty men contemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them; for they teach not their own use; but that is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation. 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. Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others; but that would be only in the less important arguments, and the meaner sort of books; else distilled books are like common distilled waters, flashy things.
Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man. And therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit; and if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know that he doth not. Histories make men wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtle; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend. Abeunt studia in morse. Nay there is no stand or impediment in the wit, but may be wrought out by fit studies: like as diseases of the body may have appropriate exercises. Bowling is good for the stone and reins; shooting for the lungs and breast; gentle walking for the stomach; riding for the head; and the like. So if a man' s wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics; for in demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little, he must begin again. If his wit be not apt to distinguish or find differences, let him study the schoolmen; for they are cymini sectores. If he be not apt to beat over matters, and to call up one thing to prove and illustrate another, let him study the lawyers' cases. So every defect of the mind may have a special receipt.
读书可以怡情，可以博采，可以增智。读书的主要用途，就怡情而言，体现在独处幽居的时候；就博采而言，体现在交谈的时候；就增智而言，体现在判断处理事物的时候。专家学者能有条不紊地处理事情，辨析事物的微妙之处，而深思好学者能统筹策划，全盘考虑大小事务的计划安排。读书耗时过多是懒散；文采太过浮躁华丽是矫情；完全?规蹈矩则是学究怪僻。读书可以使人的性格趋于完美，而亲自体验则能补充完善书本知识：因为自身的资质犹如自然生长的植物，需要借助书本知识得以修整。要想把这种修整做得尽善尽美，就必须把书本知识与实践相结合。
手艺人鄙视读书，无知的人羡慕读书，明智的人学以致用。因为书本不会教人如何运用，学以致用的智慧不在书中，而在其外，全凭历体验才能获得。不要为了吹毛求疵而读书；不要尽信书中所言；不要只是从书中摘文引句，而应该思量斟酌。有些书浅尝即可，有些书吞食即可，只有少数的书需要细嚼慢咽地消化掉。也就是说，有些书只需摘选其部分内容来读，有些书只需粗略浏览，只有少数的书必须仔细认真地阅读。有些书可以请人代读，并取其所做的摘要，但只有那些题材不太重要或价值不高的书籍才适合这样做，否则从这类书中提炼的就像蒸馏水一样，寡μ无味。
阅读使人充实，交谈使人敏捷，写作使人严谨。因此，很少写作的人必须有很好的记性，很少与人交谈的人必须天生灵敏，读书不多的人必须非常狡猾得看起来没有知识也像有知识一样。历史使人明智，诗歌使人聪颖，数学使人精细，自然科学使人深沉，伦理学使人庄重，逻?和修辞学教人雄辩。读书可以陶冶性情，正如运动可以治疗生理疾病一样，适宜的读书可以治疗心理上的弊病。打保龄球有益于睾肾，射箭有益于胸肺，慢走有益于肠胃，骑马有益于大脑，如此等等。倘若是精神不集中的人，就让他学数学，因为在演算时稍一走神，就得重做；倘若是不善辨别异同的人，就让他学院哲学，因为那些哲学家都喜欢条分缕析；倘若是不善洞察事物、不善于推理的人，就让他研究律师的案卷。所以，智力上的种种瑕疵都有专门的处方来弥补。
论人间荣誉之虚渺
On the Instability of Human Glory
丹尼尔·笛福 / Daniel Defoe
丹尼尔·笛福（1660—1731），英国著名且极具影响力的小说家与散文家。除了作为高产作家外，他同时是商人、政客、密探、冒险家、编?、评论家等。他一生写了二百余部作品，其代表作《鲁滨逊漂流记》、《辛格顿船长》等一系列主要描写中下层社会青年航海或其他冒险的小说，在世界各地广为流传，同时也开创了英国现实主义小说之先河。
What then is the work of life? What the business of great men, that pass the stage of the world in seeming triumph as these men we call heroes have done? Is it to grow great in the mouth of fame and take up so many pages in history? Alas! That is no more than making a tale for the reading of posterity till it turns into fable and romance. Is it to furnish subjects to the poets, and live in their immortal rhymes as they call them? That is, in short, no more than to be hereafter turned into ballad and song and be sung by old women to quiet children, or at the corner of the street to gather crowds in aid of the pickpocket and the poor. Or is their business rather to add virtue and piety to their glory, which alone will pass them into eternity and make them truly immortal? What is glory without virtue? A great man without religion is no more than a great beast without a soul. What is honour without merit? And what can be called true merit but that which makes a person be a good man as well as a great man?
人生的工作是什么？那些伟大人物们，被我们称作英雄的人们，他们得意洋洋地走过了世界的舞台又做了些什么呢？难道就是要在众口盛传中变得伟大，以及在历史上占据许多篇章吗？唉！那只不过是编一个故事，供后人阅读，直到它变成了神话或传奇罢了。难道就是要供给诗人们以吟咏的题材，生活在他们那些所谓不朽的诗篇之中吗？说起来那只不过是在将来变为歌谣，由老奶奶唱给凝神静听的孩子，或由卖唱的在街角唱出，以吸引大批的听众，使扒手和穷人多了一个谋生机会而已。他们所应做的事情，是不是要为自己的荣耀添加上美德和虔诚呢？只有这两样东西才可以使他们进入永生，真正不朽！如果没有美德，荣耀又算什么呢？一个没有宗教信仰的伟人，和一只没有灵魂的巨兽又有什么区别？如果没有价值存在，荣誉又算什么呢？被称作真正有价值的东西，除了那种不仅把一个人造就成伟人，并且使他具有好人的本质之外，还有什么呢？
常 识
Common Sense
托马斯·潘恩 / Thomas Paine
托马斯·潘恩（1737—1809），英国散文家、政论家。出生于英格兰，才华出众，家境寒微，自学成才，学识广博，在自然科学和人文科学上都作过深入研究，渴望重建公平的社会秩序。37岁来到美国费城，深受富兰克林的赏识。本书所摘《常识》是他的成名作。其他代表作有《危机》、《理性时代》。文笔质朴，说理深入浅出，文风平易近人。