Francis Bacon

Find the best quotes, maxims and aphorisms of Francis Bacon

Biography : English philosopher and statesman.
Born: 1561 - Died: 1626
Period:
17th century
16th century
Place of birth: United Kingdom

United Kingdom

Francis Bacon - Quotes

A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.
Francis Bacon - Essays /

sage

A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.

Truth is the daughter of time, not of authority.
Francis Bacon - Novum organum /

Truth is the daughter of time, not of authority.

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Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed.
Francis Bacon /

nature

Envy is ever joined with the comparing of a man's self; and where there is no comparison, no envy.
Francis Bacon /

If we do not maintain justice, justice will not maintain us.
Francis Bacon /

Justice

Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper.
Francis Bacon /

hope

Knowledge is power.
Francis Bacon /

Prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue.
Francis Bacon - Essays /

Aphorisms, representing a knowledge broken, do invite men to inquire further.
Francis Bacon - The Advancement of Learning /

knowledge

A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion.
Francis Bacon /

philosophy

Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom.
Francis Bacon /

If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.
Francis Bacon /

doubt

Science is but an image of the truth.
Francis Bacon /

The best part of beauty is that which no picture can express.
Francis Bacon - Essays /

beauty

A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.
Francis Bacon /

So as the old rule, to know a fool from a wise man 'Mitte ambos nudos ad ignotos, et videbis'.
Francis Bacon /

sage

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.
Francis Bacon

Hope may seem a kind of Leaf-joy, and like Gold, extremely ductile.
Francis Bacon /

Consistency is the foundation of virtue.
Francis Bacon /

virtue

A man's nature runs either to herbs or weeds; therefore let him seasonably water the one, and destroy the other.
Francis Bacon /

The sum of behaviour is to retain a man's dignity without intruding upon the liberty of others.
Francis Bacon /

Liberty of speech invites and provokes liberty to be used again, and so bringeth much to a man's knowledge.
Francis Bacon

Philosophy only is the true one which reproduces most faithfully the statements of nature, and is written down, as it were, from nature's dictation, so that it is nothing but a copy and a reflection of nature, and adds nothing of its own, but is merely a repetition and echo.
Francis Bacon

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.
Francis Bacon /

Anger makes dull men witty, but it keeps them poor.
Francis Bacon

anger

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

Nature is often hidden, sometimes overcome, seldom extinguished.
Francis Bacon /

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

Friends are thieves of time.
Francis Bacon

time

I will never be an old man. To me, old age is always 15 years older than I am.
Francis Bacon