Quotes By Francis Bacon

A man must make his opportunity, as oft as find it.

A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion.

The best part of beauty is that which no picture can express.

Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed.

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

He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief.

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

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

Therefore if a man look sharply and attentively, he shall see Fortune; for though she be blind, yet she is not invisible.

By indignities men come to dignities.

Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set.

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.

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.

There is a wisdom in this beyond the rules of physic: a man's own observation what he finds good of and what he finds hurt of is the best physic to preserve health.

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

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.

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.

It is a strange desire, to seek power, and to lose liberty; or to seek power over others, and to lose power over a man's self.

God hangs the greatest weights upon the smallest wires.

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

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

God's first creature, which was light.

The momentous thing in human life is the art of winning the soul to good or evil.

Revenge is a kind of wild justice, which the more a man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out.

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.

Of all virtues and dignities of the mind, goodness is the greatest, being the character of the Deity; and without it, man is a busy, mischievous, wretched thing.

The worst men often give the best advice.

Studies serve for delight, for ornaments, and for ability.

A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.

Fame is like a river, that beareth up things light and swollen, and drowns things weighty and solid.