Quotes from Essays

Francis Bacon ·  149 pages

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“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


About the author

Francis Bacon
Born place: in Strand, London, England
Born date December 13, 1560
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