It is a strange desire, to seek power, and to lose liberty; or to seek power over others, and to lose power over a man's self.

There is nothing makes a man suspect much, more than to know little, and therefore men should remedy suspicion by procuring to know more, and not keep their suspicions in smother.

Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.

Whence we see spiders, flies, or ants entombed and preserved forever in amber, a more than royal tomb.

To suffering there is a limit; to fearing, none.

Out of monuments, names, words proverbs ...and the like, we do save and recover somewhat from the deluge of time.

Because the acts or events of true history have not that magnitude which satisfieth the mind of man, poesy feigneth acts and events greater and more heroical.