Francis Bacon

“There is a difference between happiness and wisdom: he that thinks himself the happiest man is really so; but he that thinks himself the wisest is generally the greatest fool.”

“To conclude, therefore, let no man upon a weak conceit of sobriety or an ill-applied moderation think or maintain that a man can search too far, or be too well studied in the book of God's word, or the book of God's works, divinity or philosophy; but rather let men endeavor an endless progress or proficience in both; only let men beware that they apply both to charity, and not to swelling; to use, and not to ostentation; and again, that they do not unwisely mingle or confound these learnings together.”

“Books must follow sciences, and not sciences b”

“Friends are thieves of time.”

“God Almighty first planted a garden. And indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures.”

“I will never be an old man. To me, old age is always 15 years older than I am.”

“Wives are young men's mistresses, companions for middle age, and old men's nurses.”

“Nothing is pleasant that is not spiced with variety.”

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

“There is a wisdom in this beyond the rules of physic: a man's own observation what he finds good of and what he finds hurt of is the best physic to preserve health.”

“Beauty itself is but the sensible image of the Infinite.”

“I had rather believe all the Fables in the Legend, and the Talmud, and the Alcoran, than that this universal frame is without a Mind.”

“man's sense is falsely asserted to be the standard of things; on the contrary, all the perceptions both of the senses and the mind bear reference to man and not to the Universe, and the human mind resembles these uneven mirrors which impart their own properties to different objects, from which rays are emitted and distort and disfigure them.”

“God has, in fact, written two books, not just one. Of course, we are all familiar with the first book he wrote, namely Scripture. But he has written a second book called creation.”

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

“The worst solitude is to have no real friendships.”

“The best part of beauty is that which no picture can express.”

“It is as hard and severe a thing to be a true politician as to be truly moral.”

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

“Discretion of speech is more than eloquence, and to speak agreeably to him with whom we deal is more than to speak in good words, or in good order.”