Francis Bacon Quotes

Everybody has his own interpretation of a painting he sees.

For behavior, men learn it, as they take diseases, one of another.

They are ill discoverers that think there is no land, when they can see nothing but sea.

But the images of men's wits and knowledges remain in books, exempted from the wrong of time, and capable of perpetual renovation.

Who ever is out of patience is out of possession of their soul.

Money is a great treasure that only increases as you give it away.

First the amendment of their own minds. For the removal of the impediments of the mind will sooner clear the passages of fortune than the obtaining fortune will remove the impediments of the mind.

The natures and dispositions of men are, not without truth, distinguished from the predominance of the planets.

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.

Who questions much, shall learn much, and retain much.

Even within the most beautiful landscape, in the trees, under the leaves the insects are eating each other; violence is a part of life.

I have often thought upon death, and I find it the least of all evils.

Money is like muck, not good unless spread.

Of great wealth there is no real use, except in its distribution, the rest is just conceit.

You could say that I have no inspiration, that I only need to paint.

I'm working for myself; what else have I got to work for? How can you work for an audience? What do you imagine an audience would want? I have got nobody to excite except myself, so I am always surprised if anyone likes my work sometimes. I suppose I'm very lucky, of course, to be able to earn my living by something that really absorbs me to try to do, if that is what you call luck.

Medical men do not know the drugs they use, nor their prices.

The light that a man receives by counsel from another is drier and purer than that which comes from his own understanding and judgment, which is ever infused and drenched in his affections and customs.

Certainly virtue is like precious odors, most fragrant when they are incensed, or crushed: for prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue.

Whatever you can, count.

Atheism leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, to reputation, all which may be guides to an outward moral virtue, though religion were not; but superstition dismounts all these, and erects an absolute monarchy in the minds of men.

The only really interesting thing is what happens between two people in a room.

Vain-glorious men are the scorn of the wise, the admiration of fools, the idols of paradise, and the slaves of their own vaunts.

Without friends the world is but a wilderness.

Books will speak plain when counselors blanch.

Always let losers have their words.

Vices of the time; vices of the man.

Choose the life that is most useful, and habit will make it the most agreeable.

The worst solitute is to be destitute of true friendship.

If vices were profitable, the virtuous man would be the sinner.

Wounds cannot be cured without searching.

I knew a wise man that had it for a by-word, when he saw men hasten to a conclusion, "Stay a little, that we may make an end the sooner."

Before I start painting I have a slightly ambiguous feeling: happiness is a special excitement because unhappiness is always possible a moment later.

The master of superstition, is the people; and in all superstition, wise men follow fools; and arguments are fitted to practice, in a reversed order.

There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.

There is no such flatterer as is a man's self.

A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.

Small amounts of philosophy lead to atheism, but larger amounts bring us back to God.

Money is a good servant, a dangerous master.

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

Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted... but to weigh and consider.

Knowledge hath in it somewhat of the serpent, and therefore where it entereth into a man it makes him swell.

Journeys at youth are part of the education; but at maturity, are part of the experience.

The remedy is worse than the disease.

The desire of excessive power caused the angels to fall; the desire of knowledge caused men to fall.

The essential form of knowledge... is nothing but a representation of truth: for the truth of being and the truth of knowing are one, differing no more than the direct beam and the beam reflected.

In revenge a man is but even with his enemy; for it is a princely thing to pardon, and Solomon saith it is the glory of a man to pass over a transgression.

There is another ground of hope that must not be omitted. Let men but think over their infinite expenditure of understanding, time, and means on matters and pursuits of far less use and value; whereof, if but a small part were directed to sound and solid studies, there is no difficulty that might not be overcome.