Francis Bacon

Next to religion, let your care be to promote justice.

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

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

It is a strange desire, to seek power and lose liberty, or to seek power over others and to lose power over a man’s self. The rising unto place is laborious, and by pains men come to greater pains, and it is sometimes base; and by indignities men come to dignities. The standing is slippery, and the regress is either a downfall or at least an eclipse, which is a melancholy thing.

A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.

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

Sympathetic people often don’t communicate well, they back reflected images which hide their own depths.

Men use thought only as authority for their injustice, and employ speech only to conceal their thoughts.

The possibility of stepping into a higher plane is quite real for everyone. It requires no force or effort or sacrifice. It involves little more than changing our ideas about what is normal.

I cannot see how a man of any large degree of humorous perception can ever be religious – except he purposely shut the eyes of his mind and keep them shut by force.

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

None of the affections have been noted to fascinate and bewitch but envy.

We are always paid for our suspicion by finding what we suspect.

Your path will unfold as you walk it, step by step, each one a choice. Be mindful of where you put your feet; sometimes you will step on something sharp. This is a lesson; pay attention. Sometimes you will walk on soft green grass and you will stop and stay awhile. Enjoy those moments. Keep your eyes and heart on your destination and discover your way, one step at a time.

The way of fortune is like the milkyway in the sky; which is a number of small stars, not seen asunder, but giving light together: so it is a number of little and scarce discerned virtues, or rather faculties and customs, that make men fortunate.

It seems to me we can never give up longing and wishing while we are thoroughly alive. There are certain things we feel to be beautiful and good, and we must hunger after them.

Half the vices which the world condemns most loudly have seeds of good in them and require moderated use rather than total abstinence.

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.

I could not find the world if I searched ten years. I’ve forgotten the road by which I came.

It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinions; it is easy in solitude to live after your own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.

What is easy is seldom excellent.