Francis Bacon

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

Choose the life that is most useful, and habit will make it the most agreeable.

Fashion is only the attempt to realize art in living forms and social intercourse.

Knowledge and human power are synonymous.

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

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.

For my part, I consider that it will be found much better by all parties to leave the past to history, especially as I propose to write that history myself.

Good breeding, a union of kindness and independence.

Nature is often hidden, sometimes overcome, seldom extinguished.

Is the acorn better than the oak which is its fullness and completion?

The gift of a common tongue is a priceless inheritance and it may well some day become the foundation of a common citizenship.

It were endless to dispute upon everything that is disputable.

Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection.

It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.

We long for an affection altogether ignorant of our faults. Heaven has accorded this to us in the uncritical canine attachment.

What is the most rigorous law of our being? Growth. No smallest atom of our moral, mental, or physical structure can stand still a year. It grows – it must grow; nothing can prevent it.

Commerce is a game of skill which everyone cannot play and few can play well.

No orator can top the one who can give good nicknames.

There is a great deal of unmapped country within us which would have to be taken into account in an explanation of our gusts and storms.

Wisdom is not wisdom when it is derived from books alone.

My religion? Well, my dear, I am a Millionaire. That is my religion.