Francis Bacon

Silence is the virtue of fools.

A graceful and pleasing figure is a perpetual letter of recommendation.

Without friends the world is but a wilderness. There is no man that imparteth his joys to his friends, but he joyeth the more; and no man that imparteth his grieves to his friend, but he grieveth the less.

People have discovered that they can fool the devil; but they can’t fool the neighbors.

If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows he is a citizen of the world.

Of great wealth there is no real use, except in its distribution, the rest is just conceit.

I strive to be brief, and I become obscure.

Softness has such a power to it. When you choose to soften into something, it relaxes, opens, tension releases. Stuck energy flows like blood coursing through veins, bringing much needed oxygen. Life force and warmth enters, connection is rekindled. Find the trust you need to allow softness in; it really is healing.

It is interesting to observe with what singular unanimity the farthest sundered nations and generations consent to give completeness and roundness to an ancient fable, of which they indistinctly appreciate the beauty or the truth. By a faint and dream-like effort, though it be only by the vote of a scientific body, the dullest posterity slowly add some trait to the mythus. As when astronomers call the lately discovered planet Neptune; or the asteroid Astr.

It is of no consequence of what parents a man is born, as long as he be a man of merit.

A country-bred man can always learn to get on with city people, but a town-bred fellah never gets the real hang of the country. You can put city polish on a man, but by golly, it seems you can’t ever rub it off him.

The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.

The essence of greatness is the perception that virtue is enough.

As to marriage or celibacy, let a man take which course he will, he will be sure to repent.

Virtue has never been as respectable as money.

We are a puny and fickle folk. Avarice, hesitation, and following are our diseases.

I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well.

Give me insight into today and you may have the antique and future worlds.

Culture is one thing and varnish is another.

It is your concern when your neighbor’s wall is on fire.

Undeservedly you will atone for the sins of your fathers.