Francis Bacon

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.

Knowledge and human power are synonymous.

Mysteries are due to secrecy.

Of great wealth there is no real use, except in its distribution, the rest is just conceit.

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.

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

It is better to be frightened now than killed hereafter

We hate the kindness which we understand.

Find enough clever things to say, and you’re a Prime Minister; write them down and you’re a Shakespeare.

We can’t plan life. All we can do is be available for it.

Where you stand depends on where you sit.

Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody.

Loyalty is still the same, whether it win or lose the game; true as a dial to the sun, although it be not shined upon.

Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong.

By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote. In fact it is as difficult to appropriate the thoughts of others as it is to invent.

In lapidary inscriptions a man is not upon oath.

The key to every man is his thought. He can only be reformed by showing him a new idea which commands his own.

Good breeding, a union of kindness and independence.

If a man’s wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics.

Men being born with a title to perfect freedom and uncontrolled enjoyment of all the rights and privileges of the law of nature . . . no one can be put out of his estate and subjected to the political view of another, without his consent.

He is great who confers the most benefits.