Francis Bacon

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

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

If money be not they servant, it will be thy master. The covetous man cannot so properly be said to possess wealth, as that may be said to possess him.

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

None of the affections have been noted to fascinate and bewitch but envy.

Nothing destroys authority more than the unequal and untimely interchange of power stretched too far and relaxed too much.

A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can let alone.

Argue for your limitations and, sure enough, they’re yours.

Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.

An asylum for the sane would be empty in America.

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.

Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need – a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends, worth the name, someone to love and someone to love you, a cat, a dog, and a pipe or two, enough to eat and enough to wear, and a little more than enough to drink; for thirst is a dangerous thing.

A wise man does not waste so good a commodity as lying for naught.

Danger – if you meet it promptly and without flinching – you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything. Never!

The eagle has ceased to scream, but the parrots will now begin to chatter. The war of the giants is over and the pigmies will now start to squabble.

The blaze of reputation cannot be blown out, but it often dies in the socket; a very few names may be considered as perpetual lamps that shine unconsumed.

There is nothing capricious in nature and the implanting of a desire indicates that its gratification is in the constitution of the creature that feel it.

There is no finer investment for any community than putting milk into babies.

Stupidity is something you can only partly save people from.

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.

Most of the shadows of life are caused by standing in our own sunshine.