Francis Bacon

The French are wiser than they seem, and the Spaniards seem wiser than they are.

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.

Images also help me find and realise ideas. I look at hundreds of very different, contrasting images and I pinch details from them, rather like people who eat from other people

Certainly virtue is like precious odors, most fragrant when they are incensed, or crushed: for prosperity does best discover vice, but adversity does best discover virtue.

People have discovered that they can fool the devil; but they can’t fool the neighbors.

Croesus said to Cambyses; That peace was better than war; because in peace the sons did bury their fathers, but in wars the fathers did bury their sons.

Never marry but for love; but see that thou lovest what is lovely.

Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings.

My religion? Well, my dear, I am a Millionaire. That is my religion.

A faith is a necessity to a man. Woe to him who believes in nothing.

Wit is the sudden marriage of ideas which, before their union, were not perceived to have any relation.

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.

In this magical hour, as the black ink sky fades to forget-me-not grey and the Cyprus trees emerge from the shadows, I tune in to my heart. In clarity, I choose to step into freedom to bring lightness of being and to be love.

One isn’t necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.

There are only ten minutes in the life of a pear when it is perfect to eat.

That which we call character is a reserved force which acts directly by presence, and without means. It is conceived of as a certain undemonstrable force, a familiar or genius, by whose impulses the man is guided, but whose counsels he cannot impart.

George Washington, as a boy, was ignorant of the commonest accomplishments of youth. He could not even lie.

Sorrow is a kind of rust of the soul, which every new idea contributes in its passage to scour away. It is the putrefaction of stagnant life, and is remedied by exercise and motion.

Usually the modest person passes for someone reserved, the silent for a sullen person.

The religion that is afraid of science dishonors God and commits suicide.

There is a certain satisfaction in coming down to the lowest ground of politics, for we get rid of cant and hypocrisy.