Francis Bacon quotes

“He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief.”

— Francis Bacon

“If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows he is a citizen of the world.”

— Francis Bacon

“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.”

— Francis Bacon

“Who ever is out of patience is out of possession of their soul.”

— Francis Bacon

“Acorns were good until bread was found.”

— Francis Bacon

“Fortune is like the market, where, many times, if you can stay a little, the price will fall.”

— Francis Bacon

“Friendship increases in visiting friends, but in visiting them seldom.”

— Francis Bacon

“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.”

— Francis Bacon

“Life, an age to the miserable, and a moment to the happy.”

— Francis Bacon

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

— Francis Bacon

“Truth is a good dog; but always beware of barking too close to the heels of an error, lest you get your brains kicked out.”

— Francis Bacon

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

— Francis Bacon

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

— Francis Bacon

“The root of all superstition is that men observe when a thing hits, but not when it misses.”

— Francis Bacon

“Truth is so hard to tell, it sometimes needs fiction to make it plausible.”

— Francis Bacon

“We cannot command Nature except by obeying her.”

— Francis Bacon

“God's first creature, which was light.”

— Francis Bacon

“Natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience.”

— Francis Bacon

“Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted... but to weigh and consider.”

— Francis Bacon

“Science is but an image of the truth.”

— Francis Bacon

“There is a difference between happiness and wisdom: he that thinks himself the happiest man is really so; but he that thinks himself the wisest is generally the greatest fool.”

— Francis Bacon

“He that hath knowledge spareth his words.”

— Francis Bacon

“It is a strange desire, to seek power, and to lose liberty; or to seek power over others, and to lose power over a man's self.”

— Francis Bacon

“Silence is the virtue of fools.”

— Francis Bacon

“The genius, wit, and the spirit of a nation are discovered by their proverbs.”

— Francis Bacon

“Children sweeten labours, but they make misfortunes more bitter.”

— Francis Bacon

“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.”

— Francis Bacon

“The pencil of the Holy Ghost hath labored more in describing the afflictions of Job than the felicities of Solomon.”

— Francis Bacon

“There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.”

— Francis Bacon

“When a man laughs at his troubles he loses a great many friends. They never forgive the loss of their prerogative.”

— Francis Bacon