50 Amazing Francis Bacon Quotes

1. The best part of beauty is that which no picture can express.
2. Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom.
3. Knowledge is power.
4. In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present.
5. Age appears to be best in four things; old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read.
6. Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is.
7. A man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green.
8. In taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior.
9. 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.
10. Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.
11. A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion.
12. He that gives good advice, builds with one hand; he that gives good counsel and example, builds with both; but he that gives good admonition and bad example, builds with one hand and pulls down with the other.
13. There is no comparison between that which is lost by not succeeding and that which is lost by not trying.
14. Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased by tales, so is the other.
15. Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part of experience.
16. The worst men often give the best advice.
17. I will never be an old man. To me, old age is always 15 years older than I am.
18. A bachelor's life is a fine breakfast, a flat lunch, and a miserable dinner.
19. If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows he is a citizen of the world.
20. Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted... but to weigh and consider.
21. Who ever is out of patience is out of possession of their soul.
22. Who questions much, shall learn much, and retain much.
23. If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts, but if he will content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.
24. We cannot command Nature except by obeying her.
25. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.
26. Beauty itself is but the sensible image of the Infinite.
27. They are ill discoverers that think there is no land, when they can see nothing but sea.
28. Fortitude is the marshal of thought, the armor of the will, and the fort of reason.
29. If a man's wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics.
30. Opportunity makes a thief.
31. Anger makes dull men witty, but it keeps them poor.
32. Wives are young men's mistresses, companions for middle age, and old men's nurses.
33. Wise men make more opportunities than they find.
34. Natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience.
35. Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper.
36. Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god.
37. Young people are fitter to invent than to judge; fitter for execution than for counsel; and more fit for new projects than for settled business.
38. The root of all superstition is that men observe when a thing hits, but not when it misses.
39. The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.
40. Fashion is only the attempt to realize art in living forms and social intercourse.
41. God hangs the greatest weights upon the smallest wires.
42. Things alter for the worse spontaneously, if they be not altered for the better designedly.
43. Knowledge and human power are synonymous.
44. Judges ought to be more leaned than witty, more reverent than plausible, and more advised than confident. Above all things, integrity is their portion and proper virtue.
45. The way of fortune is like the milkyway in the sky; which is a number of small stars, not seen asunder, but giving light together: so it is a number of little and scarce discerned virtues, or rather faculties and customs, that make men fortunate.
46. He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils; for time is the greatest innovator.
47. God Almighty first planted a garden. And indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures.
48. A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.
49. If we do not maintain justice, justice will not maintain us.
50. This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge keeps his wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well.