Francis Bacon

It is as hard and severe a thing to be a true politician as to be truly moral.

Look to make your course regular, that men may know beforehand what they may expect.

In every great time there is some one idea at work which is more powerful than any other, and which shapes the events of the time and determines their ultimate issues.

Natural abilities are like natural plants; they need pruning by study.

Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god.

Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtle; natural philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend.

Englishmen hate Liberty and Equality too much to understand them. But every Englishman loves a pedigree.

Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect.

It’s them as take advantage that get advantage I this world.

Bad times have a scientific value. These are occasions a good learner would not miss.

The end of life is to be like God, and the soul following God will be like Him.

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.

A beautiful form is better than a beautiful face; it gives a higher pleasure than statues or pictures; it is the finest of the fine arts.

Shut your mouth, close your lips, and say something!

Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.

The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

If all the economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion.

Better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.

What is the most rigorous law of our being? Growth. No smallest atom of our moral, mental, or physical structure can stand still a year. It grows – it must grow; nothing can prevent it.

Of the blessings set before you make your choice, and be content.

Intellectual work is misnamed; it is a pleasure, a dissipation, and is its own highest reward.