Top 669 Quotes & Sayings by Francis Bacon - Page 2
Explore popular quotes and sayings by an English philosopher Francis Bacon.
Last updated on April 14, 2025.
Judges must beware of hard constructions and strained inferences, for there is no worse torture than that of laws.
There is nothing makes a man suspect much, more than to know little.
Seek ye first the good things of the mind, and the rest will either be supplied or its loss will not be felt.
If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows he is a citizen of the world.
I do not believe that any man fears to be dead, but only the stroke of death.
It is natural to die as to be born.
No body can be healthful without exercise, neither natural body nor politic, and certainly, to a kingdom or estate, a just and honourable war is the true exercise.
Friends are thieves of time.
Nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise.
Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set.
I had rather believe all the Fables in the Legend, and the Talmud, and the Alcoran, than that this universal frame is without a Mind.
We are much beholden to Machiavel and others, that write what men do, and not what they ought to do.
Nature is often hidden, sometimes overcome, seldom extinguished.
By indignities men come to dignities.
Next to religion, let your care be to promote justice.
Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.
Rebellions of the belly are the worst.
Certainly the best works, and of greatest merit for the public, have proceeded from the unmarried, or childless men.
The joys of parents are secret, and so are their grieves and fears.
Antiquities are history defaced, or some remnants of history which have casually escaped the shipwreck of time.
God's first creature, which was light.
Nothing is pleasant that is not spiced with variety.
But men must know, that in this theatre of man's life it is reserved only for God and angels to be lookers on.
Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted... but to weigh and consider.
Certainly, in taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy, but in passing it over, he is superior; for it is a prince's part to pardon.
Wise men make more opportunities than they find.
Judges ought to be more leaned than witty, more reverent than plausible, and more advised than confident. Above all things, integrity is their portion and proper virtue.
The subtlety of nature is greater many times over than the subtlety of the senses and understanding.
The quarrels and divisions about religion were evils unknown to the heathen. The reason was because the religion of the heathen consisted rather in rites and ceremonies than in any constant belief.
It is in life as it is in ways, the shortest way is commonly the foulest, and surely the fairer way is not much about.
God hangs the greatest weights upon the smallest wires.
The root of all superstition is that men observe when a thing hits, but not when it misses.
There is as much difference between the counsel that a friend giveth, and that a man giveth himself, as there is between the counsel of a friend and of a flatterer. For there is no such flatterer as is a man's self.
Fame is like a river, that beareth up things light and swollen, and drowns things weighty and solid.
Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity is the blessing of the New.
Therefore if a man look sharply and attentively, he shall see Fortune; for though she be blind, yet she is not invisible.
Knowledge and human power are synonymous.
Many a man's strength is in opposition, and when he faileth, he grows out of use.
A sudden bold and unexpected question doth many times surprise a man and lay him open.
A man must make his opportunity, as oft as find it.
Studies perfect nature and are perfected still by experience.
The worst solitude is to have no real friendships.
People usually think according to their inclinations, speak according to their learning and ingrained opinions, but generally act according to custom.
The worst men often give the best advice.
Anger makes dull men witty, but it keeps them poor.
The place of justice is a hallowed place.
People have discovered that they can fool the devil; but they can't fool the neighbors.
When a man laughs at his troubles he loses a great many friends. They never forgive the loss of their prerogative.
The pencil of the Holy Ghost hath labored more in describing the afflictions of Job than the felicities of Solomon.
Friendship increases in visiting friends, but in visiting them seldom.
It is a true rule that love is ever rewarded, either with the reciproque or with an inward and secret contempt.
The momentous thing in human life is the art of winning the soul to good or evil.
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.
Small amounts of philosophy lead to atheism, but larger amounts bring us back to God.
God has placed no limits to the exercise of the intellect he has given us, on this side of the grave.
This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge keeps his wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well.
The great end of life is not knowledge but action.
The genius, wit, and the spirit of a nation are discovered by their proverbs.
The desire of excessive power caused the angels to fall; the desire of knowledge caused men to fall.
As the births of living creatures are at first ill-shapen, so are all innovations, which are the births of time.
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