Francis Bacon

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.

The desire of excessive power caused the angels to fall; the desire of knowledge caused men to fall.

Philosophy when superficially studied, excites doubt, when thoroughly explored, it dispels it.

No man’s fortune can be an end worthy of his being.

The great advantages of simulation and dissimulation are three. First to lay asleep opposition and to surprise. For where a man’s intentions are published, it is an alarum to call up all that are against them. The second is to reserve a man’s self a fair retreat: for if a man engage himself, by a manifest declaration, he must go through, or take a fall. The third is, the better to discover the mind of another. For to him that opens himself, men will hardly show themselves adverse; but will fair let him go on, and turn their freedom of speech to freedom of thought.

Write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable.

Truth isn’t truth.

Do not be angry with me if I tell you the truth

If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything.

It is more from carelessness about truth than from intentionally lying that there is so much falsehood in the world.

The lawyer’s truth is not Truth, but consistency or a consistent expediency.

There are only two ways of telling the complete truth–anonymously and posthumously.

All the truth in the world adds up to one big lie.

When in doubt tell the truth.

Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn’t.

The honest truth is that every day was new, every day was a challenge, every day was starting from a fresh place, and as time went on, over the course of about two years, things became better and better. But I don’t think that there was for me anything like, ‘Ah, this is taking too long’, because ‘long’ didn’t exist. So I see it as a blessing. I have to laugh. I mean there’s no other way to look at it.

It’s no wonder that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction has to make sense.

The truth is that there is nothing noble in being superior to somebody else. The only real nobility is in being superior to your former self.

Truth is mighty and will prevail. There is nothing wrong with this, except that it ain’t so.

It is a pleasure to stand upon the shore, and to see ships tost upon the sea: a pleasure to stand in the window of a castle, and to see a battle and the adventures thereof below: but no pleasure is comparable to standing upon the vantage ground of truth… and to see the errors, and wanderings, and mists, and tempests, in the vale below.

It is a puzzling thing. The truth knocks on the door and you say, ‘Go away, I’m looking for the truth.’ and so it goes away. Puzzling.