Francis Bacon

The serpent if it wants to become the dragon must eat itself.

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

Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed.

That things are changed, and that nothing really perishes, and that the sum of matter remains exactly the same, is sufficiently certain.

We cannot command Nature except by obeying her.

Philosophy when superficially studied, excites doubt, when thoroughly explored, it dispels it.

When a man is just and firm in his purpose, the citizens burning to approve a wrong or the frowning looks of a tyrant. Do not shake his fixed mind, nor the Southwind. Wild lord of the uneasy Adriatic, nor the thunder in the mighty hand of Jove: Should the heavens crack and tumble down, as the ruins crushed him he would not fear.

The universe seems bankrupt as soon as we begin to discuss the characters of individuals.

He was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend; provided, of course, he really is dead.

Each thought that is welcomed and recorded is a nest egg by the side of which more will be laid.

A wise man is cured of ambition by ambition itself; his aim is so exalted that riches, office, fortune and favour cannot satisfy him.

Where you stand depends on where you sit.

That observation which is called knowledge of the world will be found much more frequently to make men cunning than good.

Stress is caused by being here but wanting to be there.

The less government we have the better.

The greatest gift is a portion of thyself.

Whenever you are sincerely pleased you are nourished.

This is no time for ease and comfort. It is the time to dare and endure.

I pack my trunk, embrace my friends, embark on the sea and at last wake up in Naples, and there beside me is the stern fact, the sad self, unrelenting, identical, that I fled from.

What old people say you cannot do, you try and find that you can. Old deeds for old people, and new deeds for new.

It is impossible for a man to be cheated by anyone but himself.