Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is.

It is true, that a little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men’s minds about to religion. For while the mind of man looketh upon second causes scattered, it may sometimes rest in them, and go no further; but when it beholdeth the chain of them, confederate and linked together, it must needs fly to Providence and Deity.

It is a miserable state of mind to have few things to desire and many things to fear.

By indignities men come to dignities.

The End of our Foundation is the knowledge of Causes; and secret motions of things; and the enlarging of the bounds of Human Empire, to the effecting of all things possible.

Death is a friend of ours; and he that is not ready to entertain him is not at home.

The divisions of science are not like different lines that meet in one angle, but rather like the branches of trees that join in one trunk.