Francis Bacon

A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.

Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god.

People of great position are servants times three, servants of their country, servants of fame, and servants of business.

But men must know, that in this theatre of man’s life it is reserved only for God and angels to be lookers on.

Prosperity discovers vice, adversity discovers virtue.

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

The torpid artist seeks inspiration at any cost, by virtue or by vice, by friend or by fiend, by prayer or by wine.

The problems of victory are more agreeable than those of defeat, but they are no less difficult.

To have a great man for a friend seems pleasant to those who have never tried it; those who have, fear it.

The cross of the Legion of Honor has been conferred on me. However, few escape that distinction.

For everything you have missed, you have gained something else; and for everything you gain, you lose something else.

But human experience is usually paradoxical, that means incongruous with the phrases of current talk or even current philosophy.

The government who robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.

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

No poems can please for long or live that are written by water-drinkers.

Speech of yourself ought to be seldom and well chosen.

Every man I meet is in some way my superior.

The squirrel that you kill in jest, dies in earnest.

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

He who distinguishes the true savor of his food can never be a glutton; he who does not cannot be otherwise.

God hangs the greatest weights upon the smallest wires.