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Quotation from Essays by Francis Bacon
“Doth 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”
Essays, Essay I, Of Truth (1625 text, modernized spelling (Project Gutenberg #575))
Bacon's observation that illusion sustains morale, a theme modern psychology has revisited as 'depressive realism' and positive illusions.
Citation: "Doth 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" — Francis Bacon, Essays, Essay I, Of Truth (1625 text, modernized spelling (Project Gutenberg #575)). (id essays-bacon-q2)
Portrait: Portrait of Francis Bacon., Paul van Somer I / Formerly attributed to Frans Pourbus the Younger, Public domain.
