Like strawberry wives, that laid two or three great strawberries at the mouth of their pot, and all the rest were little ones.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Bacon warns that superficial offerings or promises often mask a lack of substance in the rest.
- In plain terms
- People sometimes show off a few big things to hide that the rest are small.
- What can you take from it?
- Do not judge value by a few flashy examples.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Have you been misled by a few good samples?
- How do you test substance beyond surface examples?
Another view
The metaphor is obscure and relies on historical context not provided here.
More from Francis Bacon
Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper.
Permalink to quote #57 Sir Amice Pawlet, when he saw too much haste made in any matter, was wont to say. 'Stay a while, that we may make an end the sooner.'
Permalink to quote #59 Since my logic aims to teach and instruct the understanding, not that it may with the slender tendrils of the mind snatch at and lay hold of abstract notions (…
Permalink to quote #56
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