"Natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience."

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More quotes from: Francis Bacon

• "A bachelor's life is a fine breakfast, a flat lunch, and a miserable dinner. "
• "A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds ..."
• "A man must make his opportunity, as oft as find it. "
• "A man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green. "
• "A prudent question is one-half of wisdom. "
• "A sudden bold and unexpected question doth many times surprise a man and lay him ..."
• "A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds. "
• "Acorns were good until bread was found. "
• "All rising to great place is by a winding stair. "
• "Anger makes dull men witty, but it keeps them poor. "
• "Antiquities are history defaced, or some remnants of history which have casually escaped the shipwreck ..."
• "As the births of living creatures are at first ill-shapen, so are all innovations, which ..."
• "Beauty itself is but the sensible image of the Infinite. "
• "Boldness is ever blind, for it sees not dangers and inconveniences whence it is bad ..."
• "Books will speak plain when counsellors blanch. "
• "But men must know, that in this theatre of man's life it is reserved only ..."
• "By indignities men come to dignities. "
• "Certainly the best works, and of greatest merit for the public, have proceeded from the ..."
• "Children sweeten labours, but they make misfortunes more bitter. "
• "Choose the life that is most useful, and habit will make it the most agreeable. "
• "Cure the disease and kill the patient. "
• "Discretion of speech is more than eloquence, and to speak agreeably to him with whom ..."
• "Fame is like a river, that beareth up things light and swollen, and drowns things ..."
• "Fashion is only the attempt to realize art in living forms and social intercourse. "
• "For my name and memory I leave to men's charitable speeches, and to foreign nations ..."
• "Fortitude is the marshal of thought, the armor of the will, and the fort of ..."
• "Fortune is like the market, where, many times, if you can stay a little, the ..."
• "Friends are thieves of time. "
• "Friendship increases in visiting friends, but in visiting them seldom. "
• "God hangs the greatest weights upon the smallest wires. "
• "God has placed no limits to the exercise of the intellect he has given us, ..."
• "God's first creature, which was light. "
• "Good fame is like fire; when you have kindled you may easily preserve it; but ..."
• "He that gives good advice, builds with one hand; he that gives good counsel and ..."
• "He that hath knowledge spareth his words. "
• "He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments ..."
• "He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils; for time is the ..."
• "Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtle; natural philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic ..."
• "Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper. "
• "I do not believe that any man fears to be dead, but only the stroke ..."
• "I had rather believe all the Fables in the Legend, and the Talmud, and the ..."
• "I will never be an old man. To me, old age is always 15 years ..."
• "If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows he is a citizen ..."
• "If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts, but if he ..."
• "If a man's wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics. "
• "If thou would'st have that stream of hard-earn'd knowledge, of Wisdom heaven-born, remain sweet running ..."
• "If we do not maintain justice, justice will not maintain us. "
• "Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense ..."

• "In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present. "
• "In taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it ..."
• "It is as natural to die as to be born; and to a little infant, ..."
• "It is impossible to love and to be wise. "
• "It is in life as it is in ways, the shortest way is commonly the ..."
• "It is natural to die as to be born. "
• "It was prettily devised of Aesop, "The fly sat on the axle tree of the ..."
• "Judges must beware of hard constructions and strained inferences, for there is no worse torture ..."
• "Judges ought to be more leaned than witty, more reverent than plausible, and more advised ..."
• "Knowledge and human power are synonymous. "
• "Knowledge is power. "
• "Lies are sufficient to breed opinion, and opinion brings on substance. "
• "Life, an age to the miserable, and a moment to the happy. "
• "Little do men perceive what solitude is, and how far it extendeth. For a crowd ..."
• "Many a man's strength is in opposition, and when he faileth, he grows out of ..."
• "Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural ..."
• "Money is like manure, of very little use except it be spread. "
• "Money is like muck, not good except it be spread. "
• "Nakedness is uncomely, as well in mind as body, and it addeth no small reverence ..."
• "Nature is often hidden, sometimes overcome, seldom extinguished. "
• "Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed. "
• "Next to religion, let your care be to promote justice. "
• "Nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise. "
• "Nothing is pleasant that is not spiced with variety. "
• "Of all virtues and dignities of the mind, goodness is the greatest, being the character ..."
• "Oh! death will find me long before I tire of watching you. "
• "Opportunity makes a thief. "
• "People have discovered that they can fool the devil; but they can't fool the neighbors. "
• "People usually think according to their inclinations, speak according to their learning and ingrained opinions, ..."
• "Pictures and shapes are but secondary objects and please or displease only in the memory. "
• "Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes; adversity not without many comforts and hopes. "
• "Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity is the blessing of the New. "
• "Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted... but to ..."
• "Rebellions of the belly are the worst. "
• "Revenge is a kind of wild justice, which the more a man's nature runs to, ..."
• "Riches are a good hand maiden, but a poor mistress. "
• "Science is but an image of the truth. "
• "Seek ye first the good things of the mind, and the rest will either be ..."
• "Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom. "
• "Silence is the virtue of fools. "
• "Small amounts of philosophy lead to atheism, but larger amounts bring us back to God. "
• "Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be ..."
• "Studies perfect nature and are perfected still by experience. "
• "Studies serve for delight, for ornaments, and for ability. "
• "The best part of beauty is that which no picture can express. "
• "The correlative to loving our neighbors as ourselves is hating ourselves as we hate our ..."
• "The desire of excessive power caused the angels to fall; the desire of knowledge caused ..."

• "The fortune which nobody sees makes a person happy and unenvied. "
• "The genius, wit, and the spirit of a nation are discovered by their proverbs. "
• "The great end of life is not knowledge but action. "
• "The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery. "
• "The joys of parents are secret, and so are their grieves and fears. "
• "The momentous thing in human life is the art of winning the soul to good ..."
• "The mould of a man's fortune is in his own hands. "
• "The pencil of the Holy Ghost hath labored more in describing the afflictions of Job ..."
• "The place of justice is a hallowed place. "
• "The remedy is worse than the disease. "
• "The root of all superstition is that men observe when a thing hits, but not ..."
• "The subtlety of nature is greater many times over than the subtlety of the senses ..."
• "The way of fortune is like the milkyway in the sky; which is a number ..."
• "The wise man will make more opportunities than he finds. "
• "The worst men often give the best advice. "
• "The worst solitude is to have no real friendships. "
• "There is a difference between happiness and wisdom: he that thinks himself the happiest man ..."
• "There is a wisdom in this beyond the rules of physic: a man's own observation ..."
• "There is as much difference between the counsel that a friend giveth, and that a ..."
• "There is no comparison between that which is lost by not succeeding and that which ..."
• "There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. "
• "Therefore if a man look sharply and attentively, he shall see Fortune; for though she ..."
• "They are ill discoverers that think there is no land, when they can see nothing ..."
• "They that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils. "
• "Things alter for the worse spontaneously, if they be not altered for the better designedly. "
• "This communicating of a man's self to his friend works two contrary effects; for it ..."
• "This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge keeps his wounds green, which otherwise ..."
• "Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part ..."
• "Truth emerges more readily from error than from confusion. "
• "Truth is a good dog; but always beware of barking too close to the heels ..."
• "Truth is so hard to tell, it sometimes needs fiction to make it plausible. "
• "Truth is the daughter of time, not of authority. "
• "Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set. "
• "We are much beholden to Machiavel and others, that write what men do, and not ..."
• "We cannot command Nature except by obeying her. "
• "What is truth? said jesting Pilate; and would not stay for an answer. "
• "When a man laughs at his troubles he loses a great many friends. They never ..."
• "Who ever is out of patience is out of possession of their soul. "
• "Who questions much, shall learn much, and retain much. "
• "Wise men make more opportunities than they find. "
• "With a gentleman I am always a gentleman and a half, and with a fraud ..."
• "Without friends the world is but a wilderness. There is no man that imparteth his ..."
• "Wives are young men's mistresses, companions for middle age, and old men's nurses. "
• "Write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly the ..."
• "Young people are fitter to invent than to judge; fitter for execution than for counsel; ..."