“A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.”
― Francis Bacon, quote from Essays
“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.”
― Francis Bacon, quote from Essays
“Money is like manure, its only good if you spread it around.”
― Francis Bacon, quote from Essays
“Salomon saith, There is no new thing upon the earth. So that as Plato had an imagination, that all knowledge was but remembrance; so Salomon giveth his sentence, that all novelty is but oblivion.”
― Francis Bacon, quote from Essays
“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.”
― Francis Bacon, quote from Essays
“Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider.”
― Francis Bacon, quote from Essays
“Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand and melting like a snowflake.”
― Francis Bacon, quote from Essays
“A Man must make his opportunity,as oft as find it ”
― Francis Bacon, quote from Essays
“The surest way to prevent seditions...is to take away the matter of them.”
― Francis Bacon, quote from Essays
“To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament, is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules, is the humor of a scholar”
― Francis Bacon, quote from Essays
“The virtue of prosperity is temperance, the virtue of adversity is fortitude.”
― Francis Bacon, quote from Essays
“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 are to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.”
― Francis Bacon, quote from Essays
“The way of fortune, is like the Milken Way in the sky; which is a meeting or knot of a number of small stars; not seen asunder, but giving light together.”
― Francis Bacon, quote from Essays
“The eye of the human understanding is not a naked organ of perception (lumen siccum), but an eye imbued with moisture by Will and Passion. Man always believes what he determines to believe.”
― Francis Bacon, quote from Essays
“Beauty is as summer fruits, which are easy to corrupt, and cannot last; and for the most part it makes a dissolute youth, and an age a little out of countenance; but yet certainly again, if it light well, it maketh virtue shine, and vices blush.”
― Francis Bacon, quote from Essays
“Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set.”
― Francis Bacon, quote from Essays
“So if a man's wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics.”
― Francis Bacon, quote from Essays
“Virtue is like precious odours, more fragrant when they are incensed or crushed; for prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue.”
― Francis Bacon, quote from Essays
“The folly of one man is the fortune of another.”
― Francis Bacon, quote from Essays
“Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgement and execution of business.”
― Francis Bacon, quote from Essays
“Certainly fame is like a river, that beareth up things light and swoln, and drowns things weighty and solid.”
― Francis Bacon, quote from Essays
“Salomon saith, There is no new thing upon the earth. So that as Plato had an imagination, that all knowledge was but remembrance; so Salomon giveth his sentence, that all novelty is but oblivion.”
― Francis Bacon, quote from Essays
“Where a man cannot fitly play his own part; if he have not a friend, he may quit the stage.”
― Francis Bacon, quote from Essays
“MEN fear death, as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children, is increased with tales, so is the other.”
― Francis Bacon, quote from Essays
“He that seeketh victory over his nature, let him not set himself too great, nor too small tasks; for the first will make him dejected by often failings; and the second will make him a small proceeder, though often by prevailings.”
― Francis Bacon, quote from Essays
“Solomon saith, 'He that considereth the wind, shall not sow, and he that looketh to the clouds, shall not reap.' A wise man will make more opportunities, than he finds.”
― Francis Bacon, quote from Essays
“But it is not only the difficulty and labor which men take in finding out of truth, nor again that when it is found it imposeth upon men's thoughts, that doth bring lies in favor; but a natural though corrupt love of the lie itself.”
― Francis Bacon, quote from Essays
“It is not the lie that passes through the mind, but the lie that sinks in and settles in it, that does the hurt.”
― Francis Bacon, quote from Essays
“Judges ought to remember that their office is to interpret law, and not to make law, or give law.”
― Francis Bacon, quote from Essays
“Because there is a time for all things. My people, like you, believe in peace. But sometimes, the only way to have peace is to fight for it. (Zenobia)”
― Kinley MacGregor, quote from A Dark Champion
“Tell me the story of the locket.'
'Once upon a time, my lord, in the best and the worst of all possible words, a princess fell in love with a young man who loved to draw pictures.'
'Like Ducon.'
'Very like your cousin. Every day for a year, she gave him a rose. She would pick it at dawn from her father's gardens and then take it to the highest place in the castle, a place so high that everyone had forgotten about it except for the doves that nested beneath the broken roof. There, she had found a secret door between the best and the worst of the worlds. Every day, they would meet on the threshold of that door. She would give him a rose, and he would give her a drawing of the city he lived in. They loved each other very much, but of course they could never marry, because they were from different worlds: she was a princess and he an artist who had to paint tavern signs to keep himself fed.”
― Patricia A. McKillip, quote from Ombria in Shadow
“Oh my God.” I fell into my usual chair, stunned—but also not—that the news had made the rounds so quickly. “You mean it didn’t even take an hour for it to get back here?”
― Rosemary Clement-Moore, quote from The Splendor Falls
“Leo Vincey, know now the truth; that all things are illusions, even that there exists no future and no past, that what has been and what shall be already is eternally. Know that I, Ayesha, am but a magic wraith, foul when thou seest me foul, fair when thou seest me fair; a spirit-bubble reflecting a thousand lights in the sunshine of thy smile, grey as dust and gone in the shadow of thy frown. Think of the throned Queen before whom the shadowy Powers bowed and worship, for that is I. Think of the hideous, withered Thing thou sawest naked on the rock, and flee away, for that is I. Or keep me lovely, and adore, knowing all evil centred in my spirit, for that is I. Now, Leo, thou hast the truth. Put me from thee for ever and for ever if thou wilt, and be safe; or clasp me, clasp me to thy heart, and in payment for my lips and love take my sin upon thy head! Nay, Holly, be thou silent, for now he must judge alone.”
― H. Rider Haggard, quote from Ayesha: The Return of She
“Yo odio a las mujeres. Te seducen, ¿verdad?, pero luego no te aguantan. Son falsas. Las odio a todas.”
― Karin Boye, quote from Kallocain
BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.
We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.
Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.