Francis Bacon

Anger makes dull men witty – but it keeps them poor.

It is natural to die as to be born.

A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.

Truth is a naked and open daylight.

There is as much difference between the counsel that a friend giveth, and that a man giveth himself, as there is between the counsel of a friend and of a flatterer. For there is no such flatterer as is a man’s self.

I do not believe that any man fears to be dead, but only the stroke of death.

Self-preservation is the first law of nature.

He that fails in his endeavors after wealth or power will not long retain either honesty or courage.

An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile – hoping it will eat him last.

Common sense is the best distributed thing in the world, for we all think we possess a good share of it.

Go anywhere in England where there are natural, wholesome, contented, and really nice English people; and what do you always find? That the stables are the real center of the household.

Every natural fact is a symbol of some spiritual fact.

Distance has the same effect on the mind as on the eye.

The heart is forever inexperienced.

Your most precious, valued possessions and your greatest powers are invisible and intangible. No one can take them. You, and you alone, can give them. You will receive abundance for your giving.

Keeping your body healthy is an expression of gratitude to the whole cosmos; trees, clouds, everything.

I do not like work even when someone else does it.

A man sits as many risks as he runs.

Better is the enemy of good.

If your mind isn’t clouded by unnecessary things, this is the best season of your life.

She stepped out barefoot on to the grass, her soul naked, sun beating to her heart’s rhythm, bathing her skin. In her mind, she had already escaped.