Francis Bacon

The genius, wit, and the spirit of a nation are discovered by their proverbs.

Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.

Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted… but to weigh and consider.

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

Good fame is like fire; when you have kindled you may easily preserve it; but if you extinguish it, you will not easily kindle it again.

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

In charity there is no excess.

No money is better spent than what is laid out for domestic satisfaction.

Fame is the perfume of heroic deeds.

Virtue is too often merely local.

The heart is forever inexperienced.

A habit cannot be tossed out the window; it must be coaxed down the stairs a step at a time.

We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.

Kings are not born they are made by universal hallucination.

Refrain from asking what going to happen tomorrow, and everyday that fortune grants you, count as gain.

He who praises everybody, praises nobody.

Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.

Prosperity is the best protector of principle.

Temperate temperance is best; intemperate temperance injures the cause of temperance.

Things derive their being and nature by mutual dependence and are nothing in themselves.

A nap, my friend, is a brief period of sleep which overtakes superannuated persons when they endeavor to entertain unwelcome visitors or to listen to scientific lectures.