Francis Bacon - The Essays 1601
OF DISPATCH
Affected dispatch is one
of the most dangerous
things to business that can be.
It is like that,
which the physicians call predigestion, or hasty digestion;
which is sure to
fill the body full of crudities,
and secret seeds of diseases.
Therefore measure not dispatch,
by the times of sitting,
but by the advancement of the business.
And as in races
it is not the
large stride or high
lift that makes the speed; so in business,
the keeping close to the matter,
and not taking of
it too much at once, procureth dispatch.
It is the care of some,
only to come off
speedily for the time;
or to contrive some
false periods of business,
because they may seem men of dispatch.
But it is one thing,
to abbreviate by contracting,
another by cutting off.
And business so handled,
at several sittings or meetings,
goeth commonly backward and
forward in an unsteady manner.
I knew a wise
man that had it for a byword,
when he saw men
hasten to a conclusion, Stay a little,
that we may make
an end the sooner.
On the other side,
true dispatch is a rich thing.
For time is the measure of business,
as money is of wares;
and business is bought
at a dear hand,
where there is small dispatch.
The Spartans and Spaniards
have been noted to
be of small dispatch;
Mi venga la muerte de Spagna;
Let my death come from Spain;
for then it will
be sure to be long in coming.
Give good hearing to those,
that give the first information in business;
and rather direct them in the beginning,
than interrupt them in
the continuance of their speeches;
for he that is
put out of his own order,
will go forward and backward,
and be more tedious,
while he waits upon his memory,
than he could have been,
if he had gone
on in his own course.
But sometimes it is seen,
that the moderator is more troublesome, than the actor.
Iterations are commonly loss of time.
But there is no
such gain of time,
as to iterate often
the state of the question;
for it chaseth away
many a frivolous speech,
as it is coming forth.
Long and curious speeches,
are as fit for dispatch,
as a robe or mantle,
with a long train, is for race. Prefaces and passages, and excusations,
and other speeches of
reference to the person,
are great wastes of time;
and though they seem
to proceed of modesty, they are bravery.
Yet beware of being too material,
when there is any
impediment or obstruction in men's wills; for pre-occupation
of mind ever requireth preface of speech;
like a fomentation to
make the unguent enter. Above all things, order, and distribution,
and singling out of parts,
is the life of dispatch;
so as the distribution
be not too subtle:
for he that doth not divide,
will never enter well into business;
and he that divideth too much,
will never come out of it clearly. To choose time,
is to save time;
and an unseasonable motion,
is but beating the air.
There be three parts of business; the preparation,
the debate or examination, and the perfection. Whereof,
if you look for dispatch,
let the middle only
be the work of many,
and the first and
last the work of few.
The proceeding upon somewhat conceived in writing,
doth for the most part facilitate dispatch:
for though it should be wholly rejected,
yet that negative is
more pregnant of direction, than an indefinite;
as ashes are more generative than dust.
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