FRANCIS BACON QUOTES IV

English philosopher (1561-1626)

Base and crafty cowards are like the arrow that flieth in the dark.

FRANCIS BACON

"Of Revenge," Essays

Tags: cowardice


Chiefly the mould of a man's fortune is in his own hands.

FRANCIS BACON

Essays

Tags: fortune


Fortune is like the market, where many times, if you can stay a little, the price will fall.

FRANCIS BACON

"Of Delays," Essays

Tags: fortune


He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief.

FRANCIS BACON

Essays

Tags: children


It is against nature for money to beget money.

FRANCIS BACON

"Of Usury", The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral

Tags: money


Medicine is a science which hath been (as we have said) more professed than laboured, and yet more laboured than advanced; the labour having been, in my judgment, rather in circle than in progression.

FRANCIS BACON

The Advancement of Learning

Tags: science


Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other.

FRANCIS BACON

Essays

Tags: death


Money is like muck, not good except it be spread.

FRANCIS BACON

"Of Seditions and Troubles," Essays

Tags: money


Nature is often hidden; sometimes overcome; seldom extinguished.

FRANCIS BACON

"Of Nature in Men," Essays

Tags: nature


No people overcharged with tribute, is fit for empire.

FRANCIS BACON

"Of the True Greatness Of Kingdoms And Estates", The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral


Nothing doth so much keep men out of the Church, and drive men out of the Church, as breach of unity.

FRANCIS BACON

Essays

Tags: church


Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider.

FRANCIS BACON

"Of Studies," Essays

Tags: reading


Reduce things to the first institution, and observe wherein, and how, they have degenerate; but yet ask counsel of both times; of the ancient time, what is best; and of the latter time, what is fittest.

FRANCIS BACON

"Of Great Place", The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral

Tags: time


The desire of power in excess caused the angels to fall; the desire of knowledge in excess caused man to fall.

FRANCIS BACON

"Of Goodness and Goodness in Nature," Essays

Tags: desire


The errors of young men, are the ruin of business; but the errors of aged men, amount but to this, that more might have been done, or sooner.

FRANCIS BACON

"Of Youth And Age", The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral

Tags: Men


The following by certain estates of men, answerable to that, which a great person himself professeth (as of soldiers, to him that hath been employed in the wars, and the like), hath ever been a thing civil, and well taken, even in monarchies; so it be without too much pomp or popularity. But the most honorable kind of following, is to be followed as one, that apprehendeth to advance virtue, and desert, in all sorts of persons.

FRANCIS BACON

"Of Followers And Friends", The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral

Tags: desert


The real and legitimate goal of the sciences is the endowment of human life with new commodities.

FRANCIS BACON

Novum Organum

Tags: science


The stage is more beholding to love than the life of man. For as to the stage, love is ever matter of comedies and now and then of tragedies; but in life it doth much mischief, sometimes like a Siren, sometimes like a Fury.

FRANCIS BACON

Essays

Tags: love


The works or acts of merit towards learning are conversant about three objects—the places of learning, the books of learning, and the persons of the learned. For as water, whether it be the dew of heaven or the springs of the earth, doth scatter and leese itself in the ground, except it be collected into some receptacle where it may by union comfort and sustain itself; and for that cause the industry of man hath made and framed springheads, conduits, cisterns, and pools, which men have accustomed likewise to beautify and adorn with accomplishments of magnificence and state, as well as of use and necessity; so this excellent liquor of knowledge, whether it descend from divine inspiration, or spring from human sense, would soon perish and vanish to oblivion, if it were not preserved in books, traditions, conferences, and places appointed, as universities, colleges, and schools, for the receipt and comforting of the same.

FRANCIS BACON

The Advancement of Learning

Tags: learning


There is in man's nature a secret inclination and motion towards love of others, which, if it be not spent upon some one or a few, doth naturally spread itself towards many, and maketh men become humane and charitable, as it is seen sometimes in friars. Nuptial love maketh mankind, friendly love perfecteth it, but wanton love corrupteth and embaseth it.

FRANCIS BACON

Essays

Tags: love