Francis Bacon Quotes | GloryQuotes

Francis Bacon Quotes About Life

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

As the births of living creatures are at first ill-shapen, so are all innovations, which are the births of time.

Fashion is only the attempt to realize art in living forms and social intercourse.

But men must know, that in this theatre of man's life it is reserved only for God and angels to be lookers on.

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

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.

Choose the life that is most useful, and habit will make it the most agreeable.

The great end of life is not knowledge but action.

Francis Bacon Quotes About Wisdom

Nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise.

A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.

Wise men make more opportunities than they find.

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.

It is impossible to love and to be wise.

There is a wisdom in this beyond the rules of physic: a man's own observation what he finds good of and what he finds hurt of is the best physic to preserve health.

Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom.

A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.

More Quotes by Francis Bacon

Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part of experience.

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

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

The correlative to loving our neighbors as ourselves is hating ourselves as we hate our neighbors.

The desire of excessive power caused the angels to fall; the desire of knowledge caused men to fall.

We are much beholden to Machiavel and others, that write what men do, and not what they ought to do.

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.

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.

Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.

Revenge is a kind of wild justice, which the more a man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out.

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

Antiquities are history defaced, or some remnants of history which have casually escaped the shipwreck of time.

Small amounts of philosophy lead to atheism, but larger amounts bring us back to God.

Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is.

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

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

Many a man's strength is in opposition, and when he faileth, he grows out of use.

He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils; for time is the greatest innovator.

Write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable.

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

The subtlety of nature is greater many times over than the subtlety of the senses and understanding.

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.

In taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior.

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

For my name and memory I leave to men's charitable speeches, and to foreign nations and the next ages.

I do not believe that any man fears to be dead, but only the stroke of death.

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

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

Age appears to be best in four things; old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read.

In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present.

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

Seek ye first the good things of the mind, and the rest will either be supplied or its loss will not be felt.

A sudden bold and unexpected question doth many times surprise a man and lay him open.

God Almighty first planted a garden. And indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures.

This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge keeps his wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well.

Fortitude is the marshal of thought, the armor of the will, and the fort of reason.

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

The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.

The joys of parents are secret, and so are their grieves and fears.

Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes; adversity not without many comforts and hopes.

Houses are built to live in, and not to look on: therefore let use be preferred before uniformity.

Therefore if a man look sharply and attentively, he shall see Fortune; for though she be blind, yet she is not invisible.

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

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.

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

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

God has placed no limits to the exercise of the intellect he has given us, on this side of the grave.

Things alter for the worse spontaneously, if they be not altered for the better designedly.

Browse 133 quotes attributed to Francis Bacon, listed in the source data as a English Philosopher, organized around themes such as Life, Wisdom, Nature. Use the topic links to explore similar quotes, or browse the full author collection in one place.