Francis Bacon Quotes
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A man that hath no virtue in himself, ever envieth virtue in others. For men's minds, will either feed upon their own good, or upon others' evil; and who wanteth the one, will prey upon the other; and whoso is out of hope, to attain to another's virtue, will seek to come at even hand, by depressing another's fortune.
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Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set.
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Salomon saith, There is no new thing upon the earth. So that as Plato had an imagination, that all knowledge was but remembrance; so Salomon giveth his sentence, that all novelty is but oblivion.
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When a bee stings, she dies. She cannot sting and live. When men sting, their better selves die. Every sting kills a better instinct. Men must not turn bees and kill themselves in stinging others.
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You see, painting has now become, or all art has now become completely a game, by which man distracts himself. What is fascinating actually is, that it's going to become much more difficult for the artist, because he must really deepen the game to become any good at all.
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There is a cunning which we in England call the rning of the cat in the pan.
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There were taken apples, and ... closed up in wax. ... After a month's space, the apple inclosed in was was as green and fresh as the first putting in, and the kernals continued white. The cause is, for that all exclusion of open air, which is ever predatory, maintaineth the body in its first freshness and moisture.
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Fame is like a river, that beareth up things light and swollen, and drowns things weighty and solid.
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Great riches have sold more men than they have bought.
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The logic now in use serves rather to fix and give stability to the errors which have their foundation in commonly received notions than to help the search for truth. So it does more harm than good.
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All artists are vain, they long to be recognized and to leave something to posterity. They want to be loved, and at the same time they want to be free. But nobody is free.
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If my people look as if they're in a dreadful fix, it's because I can't get them out of a technical dilemma.
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This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge keeps his wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well.
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Liberty of speech invites and provokes liberty to be used again, and so bringeth much to a man's knowledge.
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They are the best physicians, who being great in learning most incline to the traditions of experience, or being distinguished in practice do not reflect the methods and generalities of art.
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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.
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None of the affections have been noted to fascinate and bewitch but envy.
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Man, being the servant and interpreter of Nature, can do and understand so much and so much only as he has observed in fact or in thought of the course of nature. Beyond this he neither knows anything nor can do anything.
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The serpent if it wants to become the dragon must eat itself.
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Truth is a good dog; but always beware of barking too close to the heels of an error, lest you get your brains kicked out.
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Nobility of birth commonly abateth industry.
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God has placed no limits to the exercise of the intellect he has given us, on this side of the grave.
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The great end of life is not knowledge but action.
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Children sweeten labours, but they make misfortunes more bitter.