“ As the births of living creatures, at first are ill-shapen, so are all innovations, which are the births of time. ”
Francis Bacon, The Essays of Francis Bacon (1597). copy citation
| Author | Francis Bacon |
|---|---|
| Source | The Essays of Francis Bacon |
| Topic | time weakness innovation frailty |
| Date | 1597 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/575/575-h/575-h.htm |
Context
“And whereas they have, all their times, sacrificed to themselves, they become in the end, themselves sacrifices to the inconstancy of fortune, whose wings they thought, by their self-wisdom, to have pinioned.
Of Innovations AS THE births of living creatures, at first are ill-shapen, so are all innovations, which are the births of time. Yet notwithstanding, as those that first bring honor into their family, are commonly more worthy than most that succeed, so the first precedent (if it be good) is seldom attained by imitation. For ill, to man's nature, as it stands perverted, hath a natural motion, strongest in continuance; but good, as a forced motion, strongest at first.” source
Of Innovations AS THE births of living creatures, at first are ill-shapen, so are all innovations, which are the births of time. Yet notwithstanding, as those that first bring honor into their family, are commonly more worthy than most that succeed, so the first precedent (if it be good) is seldom attained by imitation. For ill, to man's nature, as it stands perverted, hath a natural motion, strongest in continuance; but good, as a forced motion, strongest at first.” source
Meaning and analysis
