I foresee it and yet I hardly ever carry it out as I foresee it. It transforms itself by the actual paint. I don't in fact know very often what the paint will do, and it does many things which are very much better than I could make it do.

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.

A bad man is worse when he pretends to be a saint.

Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part of experience.

Important families are like potatoes. The best parts are underground.

Wonder is the seed of knowledge

Fortitude is the marshal of thought, the armor of the will, and the fort of reason.