Francis Bacon

It is natural to die as to be born.

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 subtlety of nature is greater many times over than the subtlety of the senses and understanding.

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

Suspicions that the mind, of itself, gathers, are but buzzes; but suspicions that are artificially nourished and put into men’s heads by the tales and whisperings of others, have stings.

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

The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.

For every why he had a wherefore.

Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.

Avarice is generally the last passion of those lives of which the first part has been squandered in pleasure, and the second devoted to ambition. He that sinks under the fatigue of getting wealth, lulls his age with the milder business of saving it.

If you miss the present moment, you miss your appointment with life. That is very serious!

The way to keep your health is to eat what you don’t want, drink what you don’t like, and do what you’d rather not.

To find yourself, think for yourself.

Go anywhere in England where there are natural, wholesome, contented, and really nice English people; and what do you always find? That the stables are the real center of the household.

The wound is the place where the light enters you.

For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.

The greatest homage we can pay truth is to use it.

Sweet and glorious it is to die for our country.

A crime persevered in a thousand centuries ceases to be a crime, and becomes a virtue. This is the law of custom, and custom supersedes all other forms of law.

Life is not a spectator sport. If you’re going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you’re wasting your life.

Man is the only animal that laughs and has a state legislature.