English philosopher (1561-1626)
Who then to frail mortality shall trust
But limns the water, or but writes in dust.
FRANCIS BACON
Notice: Undefined variable: id in /hermes/walnacweb03/walnacweb03ak/b2149/pow.notablequote/htdocs/b/includes/quoter.php on line 35
The World
The desire of power in excess caused the angels to fall; the desire of knowledge in excess caused man to fall.
FRANCIS BACON
"Of Goodness and Goodness in Nature," Essays
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
If a man look sharply and attentively, he shall see Fortune; for though she is blind, she is not invisible.
FRANCIS BACON
"Of Fortune," Essays
In charity there is no excess.
FRANCIS BACON
"Of Goodness and Goodness of Nature," Essays
So ambitious men, if they find the way open for their rising, and still get forward, they are rather busy than dangerous; but if they be checked in their desires, they become secretly discontent, and look upon men and matters with an evil eye, and are best pleased, when things go backward.
FRANCIS BACON
"Of Ambition," Essays
He that hath a satirical vein, as maketh others afraid of his wit, so he need be afraid of others' memory.
FRANCIS BACON
attributed, Day's Collacon
Man seeketh in society comfort, use, and protection.
FRANCIS BACON
Advancement of Learning
Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper.
FRANCIS BACON
Apothegms
Hurl your calumnies boldly; something is sure to stick.
FRANCIS BACON
De Augmentis Scientiarum
God Almighty first planted a garden; and, indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures.
FRANCIS BACON
Essays
Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other.
FRANCIS BACON
Essays
A man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green.
FRANCIS BACON
Essays
Fame is like a river, that beareth up things light and swollen, and drowns things weighty and solid.
FRANCIS BACON
Essays
Nobility of birth commonly abateth industry.
FRANCIS BACON
Essays
It is a miserable state of mind to have few things to desire and many things to fear.
FRANCIS BACON
Essays
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
Nothing doth so much keep men out of the Church, and drive men out of the Church, as breach of unity.
FRANCIS BACON
Essays
Revenge is a kind of wild justice, which the more man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out.
FRANCIS BACON
Essays
It is not the lie that passeth through the mind, but the lie that sinketh in, and settleth in it, that doth the hurt.
FRANCIS BACON
Essays