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.

It is as natural to die as to be born; and to a little infant, perhaps, the one is as painful as the other.

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

Friendship increases in visiting friends, but in visiting them seldom.

Choose the life that is most useful, and habit will make it the most agreeable.

Wise men make more opportunities than they find.

The longer we live the more we think and the higher the value we put on friendship and tenderness towards parents and friends.

Enthusiasm is the leaping lightning, not to be measured by the horse-power of the understanding.

A good memory and a tongue tied in the middle is a combination which gives immortality to conversation.

A sect or party is an incognito devised to save man from the vexation of thinking.

Man has imagined a heaven, and has left entirely out of it the supremest of all his delights…sexual intercourse!…His heaven is like himself: strange, interesting, astonishing, grotesque. I give you my word, it has not a single feature in it that he actually values.

Religion is nothing else but love of God and man.

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

What is read twice is usually remembered more than what is once written.

The beginning of compunction is the beginning of a new life.

Nay, number itself in armies importeth not much, where the people is of weak courage; for, as Virgil saith, It never troubles the wolf how many the sheep be.

You can often change your circumstances by changing your attitude.

To solve a problem or to reach a goal, you don’t need to know all the answers in advance. But you must have a clear idea of the problem or the goal you want to reach.

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

Judges ought to be more learned than witty, more reverent than plausible, and more advised than confident. Above all things, integrity is their portion and proper virtue.

What your heart thinks is great, is great. The soul’s emphasis is always right.