357 Total Quotes
Francis Bacon Quotes
Seek ye first the good things of the mind, and the rest will either be supplied or its loss will not be felt.
Discretion of speech is more than eloquence; and to speak agreeably to him with whom we deal is more than to speak in good words or in good order.
Croesus said to Cambyses; That peace was better than war; because in peace the sons did bury their fathers, but in wars the fathers did bury their sons
It cannot be denied that outward accidents conduce much to fortune, favor, opportunity, death of others, occasion fitting virtue; but chiefly, the mold of a man's fortune is in his own hands
Out of monuments, names, words, proverbs, traditions, private records and evidences, fragments of stories, passages of books, and the like, we do save and recover somewhat from the deluge of time
Young men are fitter to invent than to judge, fitter for execution than for counsel, and fitter for new projects than for settled business.
Natural abilities are like natural plants; they need pruning by study
Natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience.
There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.
The desire of power in excess caused the angels to fall; the desire of knowledge in excess caused man to fall.
If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts: but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.
Friendship increases in visiting friends, but in visiting them seldom.
In taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior
Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtile; natural philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend.
When a man laughs at his troubles he loses a great many friends. They never forgive the loss of their prerogative.
It's not what we eat but what we digest that makes us strong; not what we gain but what we save that makes us rich; not what we read but what we remember that makes us learned; and not what we profess but what we practice that gives us integrity.
Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part of experience.
But men must know, that in this theatre of man's life it is reserved only for God and angels to be lookers-on.
He that gives good advice, builds with one hand; he that gives good counsel and example, builds with both; but he that gives good admonition and bad example, builds with one hand and pulls down with the other.
Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtle; natural philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend.
There is in human nature generally more of the fool than of the wise