Francis Bacon

Fashion is only the attempt to realize art in living forms and social intercourse.

Life, an age to the miserable, and a moment to the happy.

The remedy is worse than the disease.

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

If money be not they servant, it will be thy master. The covetous man cannot so properly be said to possess wealth, as that may be said to possess him.

When a man laughs at his troubles he loses a great many friends. They never forgive the loss of their prerogative.

We love to overlook the boundaries which we do not wish to pass.

Fear always springs from ignorance.

The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane.

Belief like any other moving body follows the path of least resistance.

The first half of life consists of the capacity to enjoy without the chance; the last half consists of the chance without the capacity.

I’m proof against that word failure. I’ve seen behind it. The only failure a man ought to fear is failure of cleaving to the purpose he sees to be best.

The superfluous, a very necessary thing.

There are no people who are quite so vulgar as the over-refined.

You show your worth by what you seek! – Rumi

No member of society has the right to teach any doctrine contrary to what society holds to be true.

Achievement brings its own anticlimax.

I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.

It is nobler to be good, and it is nobler to teach others to be good – and less trouble!

Nothing does more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise.

Drag your thoughts away from your troubles… by the ears, by the heels, or any other way you can manage it.