Francis Bacon Quotes - Page 2

Things alter for the worse spontaneously if they be not altered for the better designedly.

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

We are much beholden to Machiavelli and others, that write what men do, and not what they ought to do . For it is not possible to join serpentine wisdom with the columbine innocency, except men know exactly all the conditions of the serpent; his baseness and going upon his belly, his volubility and lubricity, his envy and sting, and the rest; that is, all forms and natures of evil. For without this, virtue lieth open and unfenced. Nay, an honest man can do no good upon those that are wicked, to reclaim them, without the help of the knowledge of evil.

by indignities men come to dignities

We see then how far the monuments of wit and learning are more durable than the monuments of power, or of the hands. For have not some books continued twenty-five hundred years or more, without the loss of a syllable or letter; during which time infinite palaces, temples, castles, and cities have been decayed and demolished?

Many a man's strength is in opposition and when he faileth he groweth out of use.

The general root of superstition : namely, that men observe when things hit, and not when they miss; and commit to memory the one, and forget and pass over the other.

Time is the author of authors.

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

Knowledge is power.

All rising to a great place is by a winding stair.

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.

Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtle; natural philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend.

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

We cannot command Nature except by obeying her.

The monuments of wit survive the monuments of power.

Reading maketh a full man; and writing an axact man. And, therefore, if a man write little, he need have a present wit; and if he read little, he need have much cunning to seem to know which he doth not.

Look upon good books; they are true friends, that will neither flatter nor dissemble: be you but true to yourself...and you shall need no other comfort nor counsel.

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

Crafty men condemn studies; Simple men admire them; And wise men use them: For they teach not their own use: but that is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation.

Money is a great servant but a bad master.

Great art is always a way of concentrating, reinventing what is called fact, what we know of our existence- a reconcentration… tearing away the veils, the attitudes people acquire of their time and earlier time. Really good artists tear down those veils

Reasoning draws a conclusion, but does not make the conclusion certain, unless the mind discovers it by the path of experience.

Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes and adversity is not without comforts and hopes.

A man dies as often as he loses his friends.

Truth emerges more readily from error than from confusion.

We gave ourselves for lost men, and prepared for death. Yet we did lift up our hearts and voices to God above, who "showeth His wonders in the deep".

Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper.

Anger makes dull men witty but it keeps them poor.

All rising to great places is by a winding stair.

Atheism is rather in the lip than in the heart of Man.

If in other sciences we should arrive at certainty without doubt and truth without error, it behooves us to place the foundations of knowledge in mathematics.

Those that lack friends to open themselves unto are cannibals of their own hearts.

The best preservative to keep the mind in health is the faithful admonition of a friend.

Nature cannot be commanded except by being obeyed.

I wonder why it is that the countries with the most nobles also have the most misery?

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

Hope is a good breakfast but it is a bad supper.

I would live to study not study to live.

The virtue of prosperity is temperance the virtue of adversity is fortitude.

Nothing is terrible except fear itself.

If a man looks sharply and attentively he shall see fortune for though she be blind yet she is not invisible.

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