Best Francis Bacon Quotes

"Reading maketh a full man; and writing an axact man. And, therefore, if a man write little, he need have a present wit; and if he read little, he need have much cunning to seem to know which he doth not."

Francis Bacon

"Great art is always a way of concentrating, reinventing what is called fact, what we know of our existence- a reconcentration… tearing away the veils, the attitudes people acquire of their time and earlier time. Really good artists tear down those veils"

Francis Bacon

"The only really interesting thing iswhat happens between two people in a room."

Francis Bacon

"Age appears best in four things: old wood to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust and old authors to read."

Francis Bacon

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

Francis Bacon

"Some books should be tasted, some devoured, but only a few should be chewed and digested thoroughly."

Francis Bacon

"A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion"

Francis Bacon

"Wonder is the seed of knowledge"

Francis Bacon

"A man that is young in years may be old in hours if he have lost no time."

Francis Bacon

"Knowledge itself is power"

Francis Bacon

"The inquiry of truth, which is the love-making, or the wooing of it, the knowledge of truth, which is the presence of it, and the belief of truth, which is the enjoying of it, is the sovereign good of human nature."

Francis Bacon

"If in other sciences we should arrive at certainty without doubt and truth without error, it behooves us to place the foundations of knowledge in mathematics."

Francis Bacon

"For the things of this world cannot be made known without a knowledge of mathematics."

Francis Bacon

"I would address one general admonition to all, that they consider what are the true ends of knowledge, and that they seek it not either for pleasure of the mind, or for contention, or for superiority to others, or for profit, or for fame, or power, or any of these inferior things, but for the benefit and use of life; and that they perfect and govern it in charity. For it was from lust of power that the Angels fell, from lust of knowledge that man fell, but of charity there can be no excess, neither did angel or man come in danger by it."

Francis Bacon

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

Francis Bacon

"Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper."

Francis Bacon

"Crafty men condemn studies; Simple men admire them; And wise men use them: For they teach not their own use: but that is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation."

Francis Bacon

"We are much beholden to Machiavelli and others, that write what men do, and not what they ought to do . For it is not possible to join serpentine wisdom with the columbine innocency, except men know exactly all the conditions of the serpent; his baseness and going upon his belly, his volubility and lubricity, his envy and sting, and the rest; that is, all forms and natures of evil. For without this, virtue lieth open and unfenced. Nay, an honest man can do no good upon those that are wicked, to reclaim them, without the help of the knowledge of evil."

Francis Bacon

"God has, in fact, written two books, not just one. Of course, we are all familiar with the first book he wrote, namely Scripture. But he has written a second book called creation."

Francis Bacon

"Truth is a naked and open daylight, that does not show the masques, and mummeries, and triumphs of the world, half so stately and daintily as candle-lights. . . A mixture of a lie doth ever add pleasure"

Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon

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