Francis Bacon

There is nothing makes a man suspect much, more than to know little, and therefore men should remedy suspicion by procuring to know more, and not keep their suspicions in smother.

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

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

Riches are for spending.

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.

Ask counsel of both timesof the ancient time what is best, and of the latter time what is fittest.

Art is the path of the creator to his work.

All the great speakers were bad speakers at first.

The disciplined are free.

Beware when the great God lets loose a thinker on this planet.

For too long I have silenced my heart, that now, when I give it the opportunity to speak, it no longer remembers its voice. Locked away, it forgot what it’s like to be free; to roam. Imprisoned within loneliness, I fear Stockholm syndrome has developed.

An index is a great leveller.

The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.

Don’t learn to do, but learn in doing. Let your falls not be on a prepared ground, but let them be bona fide falls in the rough and tumble of the world.

Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power.

There is no chance, and no anarchy, in the universe. All is system and gradation. Every god is there sitting in his sphere.

All Excess is ill: But Drunkenness is of the worst Sort. It spoils Health, dismounts the Mind, and unmans Men: It reveals Secrets, is Quarrelsome, Lascivious, Impudent, Dangerous and Mad. In fine, he that is drunk is not a Man: Because he is so long void of Reason, that distinguishes a Man from a Beast.

There are few things that we so unwillingly give up, even in advanced age, as the supposition that we still have the power of ingratiating ourselves with the fair sex.

We perceive and are affected by changes too subtle to be described.

Biographies are but the clothes and buttons of the man. The biography of the man himself cannot be written.

Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices.