Sir Francis Bacon Quotes
Why should I be angry with a man for loving himself better than me?
Why should a man be in love with his fetters, though of gold?
The images of men’s wits and knowledge remain in books. . . . They generate still, and cast their seeds in the minds of others, provoking and causing infinite actions and opinions in succeeding ages.
Man prefers to believe what he prefers to be true.
Generally he perceived in men of devout simplicity this opinion: that the secrets of nature were the secrets of God, part of that glory into which man is not to press too boldly.
Natural abilities are like natural
plants; they need pruning by study.
Certainly virtue is like precious odours, most fragrant when they are incensed, or crushed: for prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue.
The joys of parents are secret, and so are their griefs and fears: they cannot utter the one, nor will they utter the other.
The desire of power in excess caused the angels to fall; the desire of knowledge in excess caused man to fall.
The general root of superstition is that men observe when things hit, and not when they miss; and commit to memory the one, and forget and pass over the other.
Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.