Francis Bacon

Boldness is ever blind, for it sees not dangers and inconveniences whence it is bad in council though good in execution.

If we do not maintain Justice, Justice will not maintain us.

God Almighty first planted a garden. And indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures.

A good conscience is a continual feast.

Who questions much, shall learn much, and retain much.

Things alter for the worse spontaneously, if they be not altered for the better designedly.

The secret of ugliness consists not in irregularity, but in being uninteresting.

Laughter is the greatest weapon we have and we, as humans, use it the least.

Life will not bear refinement. You must do as other people do.

Men know that women are an over-match for them, and therefore they choose the weakest or most ignorant. If they did not think so, they never could be afraid of women knowing as much as themselves.

I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals, as surely as the savage tribes have left off eating each other when they came in contact with the more civilized.

You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.

People care more about being thought to have taste than about being thought either good, clever or amiable.

Know that the amount of criticism you receive may correlate somewhat to the amount of publicity you receive.

If you miss the present moment, you miss your appointment with life. That is very serious!

The presence of a noble nature, generous in its wishes, ardent in its charity, changes the lights for us: we begin to see things again in their larger, quieter masses, and to believe that we too can be seen and judged in the wholeness of our character.

Any so-called material thing that you want is merely a symbol: you want it not for itself, but because it will content your spirit for the moment.

You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.

That’s what a man wants in a wife, mostly; he wants to make sure one fool tells him he’s wise.

He that embarks on the voyage of life will always wish to advance rather by the impulse of the wind than the strokes of the oar; and many fold in their passage; while they lie waiting for the gale.

Religion is as effectually destroyed by bigotry as by indifference.