Francis Bacon

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.

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

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

If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts, but if he will content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.

The general root of superstition is that men observe when things hit, and not when they miss; and commit to memory the one, and forget and pass over the other.

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.

There are times when one would like to hang the whole human race, and finish the farce.

I can live for two months on a good compliment.

If we want maturity, we have to be mature. If we want a nation that feels hopeful, then we have to speak in hopeful terms… We have to model what we want.

It was prettily devised of Aesop, The fly sat on the axle tree of the chariot wheel and said, what dust do I raise!

Do not assume anything. Clear your mind must be if you are to discover the real villains behind this plot.

It is the power of the mind to be unconquerable.

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

Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.

Genius at first is little more than a great capacity for receiving discipline.

Life is a disease; and the only difference between one man and another is the stage of the disease at which he lives. You are always at the crisis: I am always in the convalescent stage.

It is more agreeable to have the power to give than to receive.

Each of us has the right and the responsibility to asses the road which lie ahead and those over which we have traveled, and if the feature road looms ominous or unpromising, and the road back uninviting-inviting, then we need to gather our resolve and carrying only the necessary baggage, step off that road into another direction. If the new choice is also unpalatable, without embarrassment, we must be ready to change that one as well.

How much of human life is lost in waiting.

I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.

Want of foresight, unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, lack of clear thinking, confusion of counsel until the emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gongthese are the features which constitute the endless repetition of history.