Sir Francis Bacon

　　What is truth? said jesting Pilate; and would not stay for an answer. Certainly there be, that delight in giddiness; and count it a bondage, to fix a belief; affecting free-will in thinking, as well as in acting. And though the sects of philosophers of that kind be gone, yet there remain certain discoursing wits, which are of the same veins, though there be not so much blood in them, as was in these of the ancients. And though the sects of philosophers of that kind be gone, yet there remain certain discoursing wits, which are of the same veins, though there be not so much blood in them, as was in those of the ancients. But it is not only the difficulty and labour, which men take in finding out of truth, nor again, that when it is found, it imposes upon men’s thoughts, that doth bring lies in favour; but a natural, though corrupt love, of the lie itself. One of the later school of the Grecians, examineth the matter, and is at a stand, to think what should be in it, that men should love lies; where neither they make for pleasure, as with poets, nor for advantage, as with the merchant; but for the lie’s sake. But I cannot tell; this same truth, is a naked, and open day-light, that doth not show the masques, and mummeries, and triumphs, of the world, half so stately and daintily as candle-lights. Truth may perhaps come to the price of a pearl, that shows best by day; but it will not rise to the price of a diamond, or carbuncle, that shows best in varied lights. A mixture of a lie doth ever add pleasure. Does any man doubt, that if there were taken out of men’s minds, vain opinions, flattering hopes, false valuations, imaginations as one would, and the like, but it would leave the minds, of a number of men, poor shrunken things, full of melancholy and indisposition, and unpleasing to themselves? One of the fathers, in great severity, called poesy, vinum daemonum, because it filleth the imagination; and yet it is, but with the shadow of a lie. But it is not the lie, that passeth through the mind, but the lie that sinketh in, and settleth in it, that doth the hurt; such as we spake of before. But howsoever these things are thus, in men’s depraved judgments, and affections, yet truth, which only doth judge itself, teacheth, that the inquiry of truth, which is the love-making, or wooing of it; the knowledge of truth, which is the presence of it; and the belief of truth, which is the enjoying of it; is the sovereign good of human nature. The first creature of God, in the works of the days, was the light of the sense; the last, was the light of reason; and his Sabbath work, ever since, is the illumination of his spirit. First he breathed light, upon the face, of the matter or chaos; then he breathed light, into the face of man; and still he breatheth and inspireth light, into the face of his chosen. The poet, that beautified the sect, that was otherwise inferior to the rest, said yet excellently well: ‘it is a pleasure, to stand upon the shore, and to see ships tossed upon the sea; a pleasure to stand in the window of a castle, and to see a battle, and the adventures thereof below: but no pleasure is comparable to the standing upon the vantage ground of truth:’ (a hill not to be commanded, and where the air is always clear and serene;) ‘and to see the errors, and wanderings, and mists, and tempests, in the vale below;’ so always, that this prospect be with pity, and not with swelling, or pride. Certainly, it is heaven upon earth, to have a man’s mind move in charity, rest in providence, and turn upon the poles of truth.

　　To pass from theological, and philosophical truth, to the truth of civil business; it will be acknowledged, even by those that practise it not, that clear, and round dealing, is the honour of man’s nature; and that mixture of falsehood, is like alloy in coin of gold and silver, which may make the metal work the better, but it embaseth it. For these winding, and crooked courses, are the goings of the serpent; which goes basely upon the belly, and not upon the feet. There is no vice, that doth so cover a man with shame, as to be found false, and perfidious. And therefore Mountaigny saith prettily, when he enquired the reason, why the word of the lie should be such a disgrace, and such an odious charge? saith he, ‘If it be well weighed, to lay that a man lieth, is as much to say, as that he is brave towards God, and a coward towards men.’ For a lie faces God, and shrinks from man. Surely the wickedness of falsehoods, and breach of faith, cannot possibly be so highly expressed, as in that it shall be the last peal, to call the judgements of God upon the generations of men, it being foretold, that when Christ cometh, He shall not find faith upon the earth.

　　论真理（王佐良 译）

　　真理何物？皮拉多笑而问曰，未待人答，不顾而去。却有见异思迁之徒，以持见不变为束缚，而标榜思想与行动之自由意志。先哲一派曾持此见，虽已逝去，尚有二三散漫书生依附旧说，唯精力已大不如古人矣。固然，真理费力难求，求得之后不免限制思想，唯人之爱伪非坐此一因，盖由其天性中原有爱伪之劣念耳。希腊晚期学人审问此事，不解人为何喜爱伪说，既不能从中得乐，如诗人然，又不能从中获利，如商人然，则唯有爱伪之本体而已。余亦难言究竟，唯思真理犹如白日无遮之光，直照人世之歌舞庆典，不如烛光掩映，反能显其堂皇之美。真理之价，有似珍珠，白昼最见其长，而不如钻石，弱光始露其妙。言中有伪，常能更增其趣。盖人心如尽去其空论、妄念、误断、怪想，则仅余一萎缩之囊，囊中尽装怨声呻吟之类，本人见之亦不乐矣！事实如此，谁复疑之？昔有长老厉责诗歌，称之为魔鬼之酒，即因其扩展幻想，实则仅得伪之一影耳。为害最烈者并非飘略人心之伪，而系滞留人心之伪，前已言及。然不论人在堕落时有几许误断妄念，真理仍为人性之至善。盖真理者，唯真理始能判之，其所教者为求真理，即对之爱慕；为知真理，即得之于心；为信真理，即用之为乐。上帝创世时首创感觉之光，末创理智之光，此后安息而显圣灵。先以光照物质，分别混沌；次以光照人面，对其所选之人面更常耀不灭。古有诗人信非崇高，言则美善，曾有妙语云：“立岸上见浪催船行，一乐也；立城堡孔后看战斗进退，一乐也；然皆不足以比身居真理高地之乐也；真理之峰高不可及，可吸纯洁之气，可瞰谷下侧行、瞭徨、迷雾、风暴之变”。景象如此，但须临之以怜世之心，而不可妄自尊大也。人心果能行爱心，安天命，运转于真理之轴上，诚为世上天国矣。

　　如自神学哲学之真理转论社会事务，则人无论遵守与否，皆识一点，即公开正直之行为人性之荣，如掺伪则如金银币中掺杂，用时纵然方便，其值大贬矣。盖此类歪斜之行唯毒蛇始为，其因无公行之足，唯有暗爬之腹也。恶行之中，令人蒙羞最大者莫过于虚伪背信。谎言之为奇耻大辱也，蒙田探究真理，曾云：“如深究此事，指人说谎犹言此人对上帝勇而对人怯也，该说慌者敢于面对上帝，而畏避世人”。善哉此言。虚伪背信之恶，最有力之指责莫过于称之为向上帝鸣最后警钟，请来裁判无数世代之人，盖圣经早已预言，基督降世时，“世上已无信义可言矣”。