FRANCIS BACON QUOTES III

English philosopher (1561-1626)

Wisdom for a man's self is, in many branches thereof, a depraved thing. It is the wisdom of rats, that will be sure to leave a house, somewhat before it fall. It is the wisdom of the fox, that thrusts out the badger, who digged and made room for him. It is the wisdom of crocodiles, that shed tears when they would devour. But that which is specially to be noted is, that those which (as Cicero says of Pompey) are sui amantes, sine rivali, are many times unfortunate. And whereas they have, all their times, sacrificed to themselves, they become in the end, themselves sacrifices to the inconstancy of fortune, whose wings they thought, by their self-wisdom, to have pinioned.

FRANCIS BACON

"Of Wisdom For A Man's Self", The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral

Tags: wisdom


And let a man beware, how he keepeth company with choleric and quarrelsome persons; for they will engage him into their own quarrels.

FRANCIS BACON

"Of Travel", The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral


So when any of the four pillars of government, are mainly shaken, or weakened (which are religion, justice, counsel, and treasure), men had need to pray for fair weather. But let us pass from this part of predictions (concerning which, nevertheless, more light may be taken from that which followeth); and let us speak first, of the materials of seditions; then of the motives of them; and thirdly of the remedies.

FRANCIS BACON

"Of Seditions And Troubles", The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral

Tags: government


We cannot command nature except by obeying her.

FRANCIS BACON

Novum Organum

Tags: nature


Because the acts or events of true history have not that magnitude which satisfieth the mind of man, poesy feigneth acts and events greater and more heroical.

FRANCIS BACON

The Advancement of Learning

Tags: history


Do not wonder, if the common people speak more truly than those of high rank; for they speak with more safety.

FRANCIS BACON, Exempla Antithetorum

Tags: truth


Base and crafty cowards are like the arrow that flieth in the dark.

FRANCIS BACON

"Of Revenge," Essays

Tags: cowardice


Truth is a naked and open daylight, that doth not shew the masks and mummeries and triumphs of the world, half so stately and daintily as candlelights.

FRANCIS BACON

"Of Truth," Essays

Tags: truth


Truth ... is the sovereign good of human nature.

FRANCIS BACON

Essays

Tags: Truth


Good thoughts, though God accept them, yet towards men are little better than good dreams, except they be put in act.

FRANCIS BACON

Essays

Tags: thought


A man would die, though he were neither valiant nor miserable, only upon a weariness to do the same thing so oft over and over.

FRANCIS BACON

Essays


It is a miserable state of mind to have few things to desire and many things to fear.

FRANCIS BACON

Essays

Tags: desire


Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament, adversity is the blessing of the New.

FRANCIS BACON

Essays

Tags: adversity


Chiefly the mould of a man's fortune is in his own hands.

FRANCIS BACON

Essays

Tags: fortune


Fame is like a river, that beareth up things light and swollen, and drowns things weighty and solid.

FRANCIS BACON

Essays

Tags: fame


Knowledge is power.

FRANCIS BACON

Meditationes Sacrae

Tags: knowledge


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.

FRANCIS BACON

Advancement of Learning

Tags: life


But there is a kind of culture of the mind that seemeth yet more accurate and elaborate than the rest, and is built upon this ground; that the minds of all men are at some times in a state more perfect, and at other times in a state more depraved. The purpose, therefore, of this practice is to fix and cherish the good hours of the mind, and to obliterate and take forth the evil. The fixing of the good hath been practised by two means, vows or constant resolutions, and observances or exercises; which are not to be regarded so much in themselves, as because they keep the mind in continual obedience. The obliteration of the evil hath been practised by two means, some kind of redemption or expiation of that which is past, and an inception or account de novo for the time to come. But this part seemeth sacred and religious, and justly; for all good moral philosophy (as was said) is but a handmaid to religion.

FRANCIS BACON

The Advancement of Learning

Tags: mind


In the youth of a state, arms do flourish; in the middle age of a state, learning; and then both of them together for a time; in the declining age of a state, mechanical arts and merchandize. Learning hath his infancy, when it is but beginning and almost childish; then his youth, when it is luxuriant and juvenile; then his strength of years, when it is solid and reduced; and lastly, his old age, when it waxeth dry and exhaust. But it is not good to look too long upon these turning wheels of vicissitude, lest we become giddy. As for the philology of them, that is but a circle of tales, and therefore not fit for this writing.

FRANCIS BACON

"Of Vicissitude Of Things", The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral

Tags: age


Fortune is to be honored and respected, and it be but for her daughters, Confidence and Reputation. For those two, Felicity breedeth; the first within a man's self, the latter in others towards him.

FRANCIS BACON

"Of Fortune", The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral

Tags: confidence