Francis Bacon

Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god.

The way of fortune is like the milky way in the sky which is a number of smaller stars not seen asunder but giving light together so it is a number of little and scarce discerned virtues or rather faculties and customs that make men fortunate

If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers it shows he is a citizen of the world.

People have discovered that they can fool the devil; but they can't fool the neighbors.

Bashfulness is a great hindrance to a man, both in uttering his sentiments and in understanding what is proposed to him; 't is therefore good to press forward with discretion, both in discourse and company of the better sort.

Great hypocrite are the real atheists.

Houses are built to live in, and not to look on: therefore let use be preferred before uniformity.

Consistency is the foundation of virtue.

The correlative to loving our neighbors as ourselves is hating ourselves as we hate our neighbors.

Anger makes dull men witty, but it keeps them poor.

Silence is the virtue of fools.

Unmarried men are best friends best masters best servants but not always best subjects for they are light to run away and almost all fugitives are of that condition.

If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts, but if he will content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.

Nothing is pleasant that is not spiced with variety.

There is superstition in avoiding superstition.

Lies are sufficient to breed opinion, and opinion brings on substance.

Truth emerges more readily from error than from confusion.

A principal fruit of friendship, is the ease and discharge of the fullness and swellings of the heart, which passions of all kinds do cause and induce.

Nakedness is uncomely, as well in mind as body, and it addeth no small reverence to men's manners and actions if they be not altogether open. Therefore set it down: That a habit of secrecy is both politic and moral.

A cat will never drown if she sees the shore.

Fortune is like the market, where, many times, if you can stay a little, the price will fall.

We are much beholden to Machiavel and others, that write what men do, and not what they ought to do.

If you can talk about it why paint it

Certainly the best works, and of greatest merit for the public, have proceeded from the unmarried, or childless men.

If a man's wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics.

By indignities men come to dignities.

They are ill discoverers that think there is no land when they can see nothing but sea.

All colours will agree in the dark.

The master of superstition is the people, and in all superstition wise men follow fools, and arguments are fitted to practice in a reversed order.

When a man laughs at his troubles he loses a great many friends. They never forgive the loss of their prerogative.

Antiquities are history defaced, or some remnants of history which have casually escaped the shipwreck of time.

Nothing is more pleasant to the eye than green grass kept finely shorn.

A man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green.

Be not penny-wise. Riches have wings. Sometimes they fly away of themselves, and sometimes they must be set flying to bring in more.

The joys of parents are secret, and so are their grieves and fears.

The way of fortune is like the milkyway in the sky; which is a number of small stars, not seen asunder, but giving light together: so it is a number of little and scarce discerned virtues, or rather faculties and customs, that make men fortunate.

Certainly, in taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy, but in passing it over, he is superior; for it is a prince's part to pardon.

The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.

The universe must not be narrowed down to the limit of our understanding, but our understanding must be stretched and enlarged to take in the image of the universe as it is discovered.

Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased by tales, so is the other.

The cord breaketh at last by the weakest pull.

It is as hard and severe a thing to be a true politician as to be truly moral.

Be true to thyself, as thou be not false to others.

Truth is a good dog; but always beware of barking too close to the heels of an error, lest you get your brains kicked out.

As the births of living creatures are at first ill-shapen, so are all innovations, which are the births of time.

Envy is ever joined with the comparing of a mans self and where there is no comparison no envy.

Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom.

Seek ye first the good things of the mind, and the rest will either be supplied or its loss will not be felt.

Important families are like potatoes. The best parts are underground.

Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.

Imagination was given to man to compensate for what he is not; a sense of humour to console him for what he is.

God Almighty first planted a garden. And indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures.

No mans fortune can be an end worthy of his being.

I do not believe that any man fears to be dead, but only the stroke of death.

Friendship increases in visiting friends, but in visiting them seldom.

We rise to great heights by a winding staircase of small steps.

The human understanding is like a false mirror, which, receiving rays irregularly, distorts and discolours the nature of things by mingling its own nature with it.

God hangs the greatest weights upon the smallest wires.

Some books should be tasted some devoured but only a few should be chewed and digested thoroughly.

Young people are fitter to invent than to judge; fitter for execution than for counsel; and more fit for new projects than for settled business.

Money is like manure, of very little use except it be spread.

Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part of experience.

It is as natural to die as it is to be born.

I will never be an old man. To me, old age is always 15 years older than I am.

Judges must beware of hard constructions and strained inferences, for there is no worse torture than that of laws.

The fortune which nobody sees makes a person happy and unenvied.

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.

People usually think according to their inclinations, speak according to their learning and ingrained opinions, but generally act according to custom.

A healthy body is the guest-chamber of the soul; a sick, its prison.

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.

Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted... but to weigh and consider.

Choose the life that is most useful, and habit will make it the most agreeable.

Secrecy in suits goes a great way towards success.

Rebellions of the belly are the worst.

Life, an age to the miserable, and a moment to the happy.

The root of all superstition is that men observe when a thing hits, but not when it misses.

The place of justice is a hallowed place.

It is impossible to love and to be wise.

Nature is often hidden, sometimes overcome, seldom extinguished.

Nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise.

The genius, wit, and the spirit of a nation are discovered by their proverbs.

If we do not maintain justice, justice will not maintain us.

The quarrels and divisions about religion were evils unknown to the heathen. The reason was because the religion of the heathen consisted rather in rites and ceremonies than in any constant belief.

A healthy body is a guest chamber for the soul: a sick body is a prison.

There is as much difference between the counsel that a friend giveth, and that a man giveth himself, as there is between the counsel of a friend and of a flatterer. For there is no such flatterer as is a man's self.

Small amounts of philosophy lead to atheism, but larger amounts bring us back to God.

Next to religion, let your care be to promote justice.

It is natural to die as to be born.

God's first creature, which was light.

He that hath knowledge spareth his words.

Spouses are great impediments to great enterprises.

Good fame is like fire; when you have kindled you may easily preserve it; but if you extinguish it, you will not easily kindle it again.

The great end of life is not knowledge but action.

He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils for time is the greatest innovator.

Who ever is out of patience is out of possession of their soul.

Truth is a naked and open daylight, that doth not shew the masks and mummeries and triumphs of the world, half so stately and daintily as candlelights.

Cleanness of body was ever deemed to proceed from a due reverence to God.

Acorns were good until bread was found.

There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.

Friends are thieves of time.