Francis Bacon

That things are changed, and that nothing really perishes, and that the sum of matter remains exactly the same, is sufficiently certain.

Fashion is only the attempt to realize art in living forms and social intercourse.

It is the true office of history to represent the events themselves, together with the counsels, and to leave the observations and conclusions thereupon to the liberty and faculty of every man’s judgment.

I would live to study, and not study to live.

Lies are sufficient to breed opinion, and opinion brings on substance.

He that hath knowledge spareth his words.

The reason why men do not obey us is because they see the mud at the bottom of our eye.

True godliness does not turn men out of the world, but enables them to live better in it and excites their endeavors to mend it.

We meet on the broad pathway of good faith and good will; no advantage shall be taken on either side, but all shall be openness and love. I will not call you children, — for parents sometimes chide their children too severely; nor brothers only, — for brothers differ. The friendship between me and you I will not compare to a chain; for that the rains might rust, or the falling tree might break. We are the same as if one man’s body were to be divided into two parts, we are all one flesh and blood.

Just write every day of your life. Read intensely. Then see what happens. Most of my friends who are put on that diet have very pleasant careers.

The civilized man has built a coach, but has lost the use of his feet.

Give me health and a day, and I will make the pomp of emperors ridiculous.

Knowledge and human power are synonymous.

Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world.

Liberty without obedience is confusion, and obedience without liberty is slavery.

My evening visitors, if they cannot see the clock should find the time in my face.

How can you dare teach a man to read until you’ve taught him everything else first?

Girls, like men, want to be petted, pitied, and made much of, when they are diffident, in low spirits, or in unrequited love. These are services which the weak cannot render to the strong and which the strong will not render to the weak, except when there is also a difference of sex.

It’s all that the young can do for the old, to shock them and keep them up to date.

There is a wisdom in this beyond the rules of physic: a man’s own observation what he finds good of and what he finds hurt of is the best physic to preserve health.

You are now fixed at the mercy of no governor that comes to make his fortune great; you shall be governed by laws of your own making and live a free, and if you will, a sober and industrious life. I shall not usurp the right of any, or oppress his person. God has furnished me with a better resolution and has given me his grace to keep it.