Francis Bacon

But men must know, that in this theatre of man’s life it is reserved only for God and angels to be lookers on.

Prosperity discovers vice, adversity discovers virtue.

A healthy body is a guest chamber for the soul: a sick body is a prison.

Fame is like a river, that beareth up things light and swollen, and drowns things weighty and solid.

A graceful and pleasing figure is a perpetual letter of recommendation.

Be not penny-wise. Riches have wings. Sometimes they fly away of themselves, and sometimes they must be set flying to bring in more.

None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.

Promise, large promise, is the soul of an advertisement.

It is always from a minority acting in ways different from what the majority would prescribe that the majority in the end learns to do better.

It always seems impossible until its done.

We are inclined to believe those whom we do not know because they have never deceived us.

In skating over thin ice, our safety is in our speed.

When any calamity has been suffered, the first thing to be remembered is how much has been escaped.

To him whom contemplates a trait of natural beauty, no harm nor despair can come. The doctrines of despair, spiritual or political servitude, were never taught by those who shared the serenity of Nature. For each phase of Nature, though not invisible, is yet not too distinct or obtrusive. It is there to be found when we look for it, but not too demanding of our attention.

Civilisation will not last, freedom will not survive, peace will not be kept, unless a very large majority of mankind unite together to defend them and show themselves possessed of a constabulary power before which barbaric and atavistic forces will stand in awe.

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life… I wanted to live so sturdily and so Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life… to drive life into a corner to know it by experience and be able to give an account of it in my next excursion.

If your mind isn’t clouded by unnecessary things, this is the best season of your life.

This is a fault common to all singers, that among their friends they will never sing when they are asked; unasked, they will never desist.

Poetry must be as new as foam and as old as the rock.

Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.

If a man is alive, there is always danger that he may die, though the danger must be allowed to be less in proportion as he is dead-and-alive to begin with. A man sits as many risks as he runs.