The voice of the people has about it something divine: for how otherwise can so many heads agree together as one? [Lat., Vox populi habet aliquid divinum: nam quomo do aliter tot capita in unum conspirare possint?]


Francis Bacon

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More Francis Bacon

Truth is the daughter of time, not of authority.
FRANCIS BACON
If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows he is a citizen of the world.
FRANCIS BACON
There is no comparison between that which is lost by not succeeding and that which is lost by not tr...
FRANCIS BACON
Of all virtues and dignities of the mind, goodness is the greatest, being the character of the Deity...
FRANCIS BACON
In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present.
FRANCIS BACON
Natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study; and studies themselves do giv...
FRANCIS BACON
Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor to console him...
FRANCIS BACON
If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts, but if he will content to begin with d...
FRANCIS BACON
Truth is so hard to tell, it sometimes needs fiction to make it plausible.
FRANCIS BACON
Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted... but to weigh and consider...
FRANCIS BACON
Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.
FRANCIS BACON
The root of all superstition is that men observe when a thing hits, but not when it misses.
FRANCIS BACON
Religion brought forth riches, and the daughter devoured the mother. [Lat., Religio peperit divit...
FRANCIS BACON
The greatest vicissitude of things amongst men, is the vicissitude of sects and religions.
FRANCIS BACON
There was never law, or set, or opinion did so much magnify goodness, as the Christian religion dot...
FRANCIS BACON
But no pleasure is comparable to the standing upon the vantage ground of Truth.
FRANCIS BACON
The general root of superstition is that men observe when things hit, and not when they miss, and co...
FRANCIS BACON
A little philosophy inclineth men's minds to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds ...
FRANCIS BACON
A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.
FRANCIS BACON
Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set.
FRANCIS BACON
Certainly virtue is like precious odours, most fragrant when they are incensed or crushed.
FRANCIS BACON
Nothing destroys authority so much as the unequal and untimely interchange of power, pressed too far...
FRANCIS BACON
One of the Seven was wont to say: "That laws were like cobwebs; where the small flies were caught,...
FRANCIS BACON
We cannot command nature except by obeying her.
FRANCIS BACON
Vain-glorious men are the scorn of the wise, the admiration of fools, the idols of paradise, and the...
FRANCIS BACON
Young men are fitter to invent than to judge; fitter for execution than for counsel; and fitter for...
FRANCIS BACON
Riches are a good handmaiden, but the worst mistress.
FRANCIS BACON
For knowledge, too, is itself a power. [Lat., Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est.]
FRANCIS BACON
Knowledge bloweth up, but charity buildeth up.
FRANCIS BACON
Knowledge and human power are synonymous, since the ignorance of the cause frustrates the effect.
FRANCIS BACON
For all knowledge and wonder (which is the seed of knowledge) is an impression of pleasure in itsel...
FRANCIS BACON
If we do not maintain Justice, Justice will not maintain us.
FRANCIS BACON
So that every wand or staff of empire is forsooth curved at top. [Lat., Adeo ut omnes imperii virg...
FRANCIS BACON
States are great engines moving slowly.
FRANCIS BACON
They that deny a God destroy man's nobility; for certainly man is of kin to the beasts by his body;...
FRANCIS BACON
Fame is like a river, that beareth up things light and swollen, and drowns things weighty and soli...
FRANCIS BACON
The desire of power in excess caused the angels to fall; the desire of knowledge in excess caused m...
FRANCIS BACON
If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin wit...
FRANCIS BACON
Some books should be tasted, some devoured, but only a few should be chewed and digested thoroughly.
FRANCIS BACON
The general root of superstition : namely, that men observe when things hit, and not when they miss;...
FRANCIS BACON
Wives are young men's mistresses; companions for middle age, and old men's nurses.
FRANCIS BACON
If money be not they servant, it will be thy master. The covetous man cannot so properly be said to ...
FRANCIS BACON
No man's fortune can be an end worthy of his being.
FRANCIS BACON
Money makes a good servant, but a bad master.
FRANCIS BACON
Money is like muck, not good except it be spread.
FRANCIS BACON
Be not penny-wise. Riches have wings. Sometimes they fly away of themselves, and sometimes they must...
FRANCIS BACON
To be free minded and cheerfully disposed at hours of meat and sleep and of exercise is one of the b...
FRANCIS BACON
Life, an age to the miserable, and a moment to the happy.
FRANCIS BACON
Without friends the world is but a wilderness. There is no man that imparteth his joys to his friend...
FRANCIS BACON
The worst solitude is to have no real friendships.
FRANCIS BACON
For a crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk but a tinkling cymbal,...
FRANCIS BACON
Nuptial love makes mankind; friendly love perfects it; but wanton love corrupts and debases it.
FRANCIS BACON
All of our actions take their hue from the complexion of the heart, as landscapes their variety from...
FRANCIS BACON
It was prettily devised of Aesop, The fly sat on the axle tree of the chariot wheel and said, what ...
FRANCIS BACON
There be three things which make a nation great and prosperous: a fertile soil, busy workshops, easy...
FRANCIS BACON
Ask counsel of both timesof the ancient time what is best, and of the latter time what is fittest.
FRANCIS BACON
Croesus said to Cambyses; That peace was better than war; because in peace the sons did bury their f...
FRANCIS BACON
Nay, number itself in armies importeth not much, where the people is of weak courage; for, as Virgil...
FRANCIS BACON
He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune, for they are impediments to great ent...
FRANCIS BACON
Discern of the coming on of years, and think not to do the same things still; for age will not be de...
FRANCIS BACON
Men of age object too much, consult too long, adventure too little, repent too soon, and seldom driv...
FRANCIS BACON
Old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read.
FRANCIS BACON
I do not believe that any man fears to be dead, but only the stroke of death.
FRANCIS BACON
It is as natural to die as to be born; and to a little infant, perhaps, the one is as painful as the...
FRANCIS BACON
Silence is the virtue of fools.
FRANCIS BACON
Believing that I was born for the service of mankind, and regarding the care of the commonwealth as ...
FRANCIS BACON
People of great position are servants times three, servants of their country, servants of fame, and ...
FRANCIS BACON
Science is but an image of the truth.
FRANCIS BACON
The general root of superstition is that men observe when things hit, and not when they miss; and co...
FRANCIS BACON
Fortitude is the marshal of thought, the armor of the will, and the fort of reason.
FRANCIS BACON
Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god.
FRANCIS BACON
A man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well.
FRANCIS BACON
Revenge is a kind of wild justice, which the more a man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed...
FRANCIS BACON
The mould of a man's fortune is in his own hands.
FRANCIS BACON
Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discou...
FRANCIS BACON
Read not to contradict and confute, not to believe and take for granted, not to find talk and discou...
FRANCIS BACON
I hold every man a debtor to his profession.
FRANCIS BACON
He that will not apply new remedies, must expect new evils: for Time is the greatest innovator: and ...
FRANCIS BACON
Write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable.
FRANCIS BACON
All colors will agree in the dark.
FRANCIS BACON
Nothing destroys authority more than the unequal and untimely interchange of power stretched too far...
FRANCIS BACON
It is a strange desire, to seek power and lose liberty, or to seek power over others and to lose pow...
FRANCIS BACON
It is as hard and severe a thing to be a true politician as to be truly moral.
FRANCIS BACON
In thinking, if a person begins with certainties, they shall end in doubts, but if they can begin wi...
FRANCIS BACON
Philosophers make imaginary laws for imaginary commonwealths, and their discourses are as the stars,...
FRANCIS BACON
We are much beholden to Machiavel and others, that write what men do, and not what they ought to do.
FRANCIS BACON
Who ever is out of patience is out of possession of their soul.
FRANCIS BACON
Antiquities are history defaced, or some remnants of history which have casually escaped the shipwre...
FRANCIS BACON
The joys of parents are secret, and so are their grieves and fears.
FRANCIS BACON
Riches are a good hand maiden, but a poor mistress.
FRANCIS BACON
The fortune which nobody sees makes a person happy and unenvied.
FRANCIS BACON
The best armor is to keep out of gunshot.
FRANCIS BACON
Certainly virtue is like precious odors, most fragrant when they are incensed, or crushed: for prosp...
FRANCIS BACON
Nothing is pleasant that is not spiced with variety.
FRANCIS BACON
Of great wealth there is no real use, except in its distribution, the rest is just conceit.
FRANCIS BACON
Truth arises more readily from error than from confusion.
FRANCIS BACON
What is truth? said jesting Pilate; and would not stay for an answer.
FRANCIS BACON
It is a pleasure to stand upon the shore, and to see ships tost upon the sea: a pleasure to stand in...
FRANCIS BACON
Truth is a naked and open daylight
FRANCIS BACON
Young people are fitter to invent than to judge; fitter for execution than for counsel; and more fit...
FRANCIS BACON
There is a difference between happiness and wisdom: he that thinks himself the happiest man is reall...
FRANCIS BACON
Certainly the best works, and of greatest merit for the public, have proceeded from the unmarried, o...
FRANCIS BACON
If a man's wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics.
FRANCIS BACON
Riches are for spending.
FRANCIS BACON
For it is not possible to join serpentine wisdom with columbine innocency, except men know exactly a...
FRANCIS BACON
None of the affections have been noted to fascinate and bewitch but envy.
FRANCIS BACON
God has placed no limits to the exercise of the intellect he has given us, on this side of the grave...
FRANCIS BACON
It is not what we eat but what we digest that makes us strong; not what we gain but what we save tha...
FRANCIS BACON
As the births of living creatures, at first, are ill-shapen: so are all Innovations, which are the b...
FRANCIS BACON
Imagination was given man to compensate for what he is not, and a sense of humor to console him for ...
FRANCIS BACON
Our humanity is a poor thing, except for the divinity that stirs within us.
FRANCIS BACON
Opportunity makes a thief.
FRANCIS BACON
Nakedness is uncomely, as well in mind as body, and it addeth no small reverence to men's manners an...
FRANCIS BACON
The subtlety of nature is greater many times over than the subtlety of the senses and understanding.
FRANCIS BACON
Nature is commanded by obeying her.
FRANCIS BACON
This is the foundation of all. We are not to imagine or suppose, but to discover, what nature...
FRANCIS BACON
The French are wiser than they seem, and the Spaniards seem wiser than they are.
FRANCIS BACON
Mysteries are due to secrecy.
FRANCIS BACON
Suspicions that the mind, of itself, gathers, are but buzzes; but suspicions that are artificially n...
FRANCIS BACON
In contemplation, if a man begins with certainties he shall end in doubts; but if he be content to b...
FRANCIS BACON
Philosophy when superficially studied, excites doubt, when thoroughly explored, it dispels it.
FRANCIS BACON
Suspicion amongst thoughts are like bats amongst birds, they never fly by twilight.
FRANCIS BACON
There is nothing makes a man suspect much, more than to know little, and therefore men should remedy...
FRANCIS BACON
If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin wit...
FRANCIS BACON
Cure the disease and kill the patient.
FRANCIS BACON
Many a man's strength is in opposition, and when he faileth, he grows out of use.
FRANCIS BACON
They are ill discoverers that think there is no land when they see nothing but sea.
FRANCIS BACON
The great advantages of simulation and dissimulation are three. First to lay asleep opposition and t...
FRANCIS BACON
Lies are sufficient to breed opinion, and opinion brings on substance.
FRANCIS BACON
A graceful and pleasing figure is a perpetual letter of recommendation.
FRANCIS BACON
Discretion of speech is more than eloquence; and to speak agreeably to him with whom we deal is more...
FRANCIS BACON
They that deny a God destroy man's nobility; for certainly man is of kin to the beasts by his body; ...
FRANCIS BACON
God hangs the greatest weights upon the smallest wires.
FRANCIS BACON
If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows he is a citizen of the world, and that his...
FRANCIS BACON
God almighty first planted a garden: and, indeed, it is the purest of human pleasure.
FRANCIS BACON
Therefore if a man look sharply and attentively, he shall see Fortune; for though she be blind, yet ...
FRANCIS BACON
Hope is a good breakfast but a bad supper.
FRANCIS BACON
The person is a poor judge who by an action can be disgraced more in failing than they can be honore...
FRANCIS BACON
Houses are built to live in, and not to look on: therefore let use be preferred before uniformity.
FRANCIS BACON
It is the true office of history to represent the events themselves, together with the counsels, and...
FRANCIS BACON
Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtle; natural philosophy, deep; moral, gra...
FRANCIS BACON
For my name and memory I leave to men's charitable speeches, and to foreign nations and the next age...
FRANCIS BACON
A healthy body is a guest chamber for the soul: a sick body is a prison.
FRANCIS BACON
Studies perfect nature and are perfected still by experience.
FRANCIS BACON
Studies serve for delight, for ornaments, and for ability.
FRANCIS BACON
I would live to study, and not study to live.
FRANCIS BACON
Judges ought to be more learned than witty, more reverent than plausible, and more advised than conf...
FRANCIS BACON
For knowledge itself is power.
FRANCIS BACON
Knowledge and human power are synonymous.
FRANCIS BACON
Next to religion, let your care be to promote justice.
FRANCIS BACON
The place of justice is a hallowed place.
FRANCIS BACON
If we do not maintain Justice, Justice will not maintain us.
FRANCIS BACON
Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased...
FRANCIS BACON
It is a miserable state of mind to have few things to desire and many things to fear.
FRANCIS BACON
Fortune is like the market, where, many times, if you can stay a little, the price will fall.
FRANCIS BACON
Ill Fortune never crushed that man whom good fortune deceived not.
FRANCIS BACON
He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great ent...
FRANCIS BACON
Fame is like a river, that beareth up things light and swollen, and drowns things weighty and solid.
FRANCIS BACON
Good fame is like fire; when you have kindled you may easily preserve it; but if you extinguish it, ...
FRANCIS BACON
Men on their side must force themselves for a while to lay their notions by and begin to familiarize...
FRANCIS BACON
Who questions much, shall learn much, and retain much.
FRANCIS BACON
A sudden bold and unexpected question doth many times surprise a man and lay him open.
FRANCIS BACON
A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.
FRANCIS BACON
Choose the life that is most useful, and habit will make it the most agreeable.
FRANCIS BACON
In charity there is no excess.
FRANCIS BACON
That things are changed, and that nothing really perishes, and that the sum of matter remains exactl...
FRANCIS BACON
If we begin with certainties, we shall end in doubts; but if we begin with doubts, and are patient i...
FRANCIS BACON
Boldness is ever blind, for it sees not dangers and inconveniences whence it is bad in council thoug...
FRANCIS BACON
The poets did well to conjoin music and medicine, because the office of medicine is but to tune the ...
FRANCIS BACON
Images also help me find and realise ideas. I look at hundreds of very different, contrasting images...
FRANCIS BACON
In every great time there is some one idea at work which is more powerful than any other, and which ...
FRANCIS BACON
Pictures and shapes are but secondary objects and please or displease only in the memory.
FRANCIS BACON
Prosperity discovers vice, adversity discovers virtue.
FRANCIS BACON
The best part of beauty is that which no picture can express.
FRANCIS BACON
There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.
FRANCIS BACON
Small amounts of philosophy lead to atheism, but larger amounts bring us back to God.
FRANCIS BACON
Atheism is rather in the lip than in the heart of man.
FRANCIS BACON
It is true, that a little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringe...
FRANCIS BACON
I had rather believe all the Fables in the Legend, and the Talmud, and the Alcoran, than that this u...
FRANCIS BACON
Atheism leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, to reputation; all of which...
FRANCIS BACON
Anger makes dull men witty -- but it keeps them poor.
FRANCIS BACON
He that gives good advice builds with one hand; he that gives good counsel and example builds with b...
FRANCIS BACON
There is as much difference between the counsel that a friend giveth, and that a man giveth himself,...
FRANCIS BACON
Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes; adversity not without many comforts and hopes.
FRANCIS BACON
They that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils.
FRANCIS BACON
Natural abilities are like natural plants; they need pruning by study.
FRANCIS BACON
People usually think according to their inclinations, speak according to their learning and ingraine...
FRANCIS BACON
God's first creature, which was light.
FRANCIS BACON
Speech of yourself ought to be seldom and well chosen.
FRANCIS BACON
Look to make your course regular, that men may know beforehand what they may expect.
FRANCIS BACON
The genius, wit, and the spirit of a nation are discovered by their proverbs.
FRANCIS BACON
A good conscience is a continual feast.
FRANCIS BACON
The wisdom of our ancestors.
FRANCIS BACON
Custom is the principle magistrate of man's life.
FRANCIS BACON
Men commonly think according to their inclinations, speak according to their learning and imbibed op...
FRANCIS BACON
Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.
FRANCIS BACON
Boldness is a child of ignorance.
FRANCIS BACON
Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament; Adversity is the blessing of the New.
FRANCIS BACON
All authority must be out of a man's self, turned . . . either upon an art, or upon a man. - ...
FRANCIS BACON
The World's a bubble, and the Life of Man less than a span: In his conception wretched, from the w...
FRANCIS BACON