LESSON XLV

STUDIES

Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief
use for delight is in privateness; for ornament, in discourse; and for
ability in the judgment and disposition of business.

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.

Crafty men contemn studies; simple men admire them; and wise men use
them. Read not to contradict and confute, or to believe and take for
granted, or 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 makes a full man; conference, a ready man; and writing, an
exact man.