英文原文
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 proyning, 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 subtile; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend. Abeunt studia in mores.
Nay, there is no stond 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.
中文译文
学养可助娱乐，可添文采，可长才干。助娱乐主要表现在闭门独处之际，添文采主要表现在交际议论之时，长才干则表现在判断理事之中。有一技之长者可以一一处理、判断具体专门的事务，然而总体规划、全面运作则有赖于博学之士。
在学养上耗时过多是偷懒，利用学养添彩过头是矫饰，全凭学养的标准做判断则是学究的怪癖。学养可以完善天赋，而经验又可以完善学养，因为天赋犹如天然草木，需要学养的修剪；而学养的指示，如不受经验规范，则过于枝蔓。天性伶俐者鄙薄学养，土牛木马惊奇学养，惟有智者运用学养。因为学养并不传授自己的用法，而运用则是在学养之外、学养之上，靠留心观察所得的一种智慧。
读书时不可一味批驳，不可轻易相信，不可寻章摘句，而要推敲研究。有些书可以浅尝辄止，有些书可以囫囵吞下，少数书则要咀嚼消化。也就是说，有些书只需读其中的一些段落，有些书只需大体涉猎一遍。而少数的书则需通读、勤读、细读。有些书可以请人代读，再看看人家做的摘要，但这只限于主题不太重要和品味低下的书籍，否则浓缩过的书就像普通的蒸馏水，淡而无味。
阅读使人充实，讨论使人灵敏，写作使人严谨。因此，人如果懒于提笔，就必须长于记忆；如果不爱讨论，就需要十分机敏；如果不爱读书，就必须有随机应变的能力，方能显不知为有知。
历史使人明智；诗歌使人韶秀；数学使人缜密；科学使人深沉；伦理学使人庄重；逻辑修辞学使人善辩：“学养终成性格。”不仅如此，神智上的障碍皆可通过适当的学养来根治，恰如身体上的疾病，都有相应的运动来治愈。滚球有益于睾肾，射箭有益于胸肺，漫步有益于肠胃，骑马有益于头脑，如此等等，所以如果有人神思飘忽不定就让他去研究数学。因为在演算证明时稍一分心，他就必须从头再来。
如果有的人头脑缺乏辨析能力，那就让他研究经院哲学，因为经院哲学家个个是“剖毫析芒之辈”。如果他不善博闻强记、触类旁通，不善由此及彼进行论证，那就让他去研究律师的案例。所以心智上的缺陷都可以对症下药。