Francis Bacon

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

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

There be three things which make a nation great and prosperous: a fertile soil, busy workshops, easy conveyance for men and goods from place to place.

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

It is impossible to love and to be wise.

Truth is a naked and open daylight.

Life is tough, my darling, but so are you.

Do not worry if you have built your castles in the air. They are where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

Sometimes we are inclined to class those who are once-and-a-half witted with the half-witted, because we appreciate only a third part of their wit.

Humor must not professedly teach and it must not professedly preach, but it must do both if it would live forever.

Revolutions go not backward.

All mankind love a lover.

Do not discourage your children from hoarding, if they have a taste to it; whoever lays up his penny rather than part with it for a cake, at least is not the slave of gross appetite; and shows besides a preference always to be esteemed, of the future to the present moment.

It is vain for the coward to flee; death follows close behind; it is only by defying it that the brave escape.

Raphael paints wisdom; Handel sings it, Phidias carves it, Shakespeare writes it, Wren builds it, Columbus sails it, Luther preaches it, Washington arms it, Watt mechanizes it.

Heaven is the work of the best and kindest men and women. Hell is the work of prigs, pedants and professional truth-tellers. The world is an attempt to make the best of Heaven and Hell.

Why is it that we rejoice at a birth and grieve at a funeral? It is because we are not the person involved.

It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind.

Conversation enriches the understanding; but solitude is the school of genius.

An honest man is always a child.

Surely a long life must be somewhat tedious, since we are forced to call in so many trifling things to help rid us of our time, which will never return.