Essays by
Francis Bacon, 1625.
A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion.
A wise man will make more opportunities, than he finds.
Men's thoughts, are much according to their inclination; their discourse and speeches, according to their learning and infused opinions; but their deeds, are after as they have been accustomed.
Be true to thyself, as thou be not false to others.
It were better to have no opinion of God at all, than such an opinion, as is unworthy of him.
Money is like muck, not good except it be spread.
If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows he is a citizen of the world, and that his heart is no island cut off from other lands, but a continent that joins to them.
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.
No pleasure is comparable to the standing upon the vantage-ground of truth.
What is truth? said jesting Pilate, and would not stay for an answer.
Be angry, but sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your anger. Anger must be limited and confined, both in race and in time.
Judges ought to remember, that their office is jus dicere, and not jus dare; to interpret law, and not to make law, or give law.
Certainly fame is like a river, that beareth up things light and swoln, and drowns things weighty and solid.
Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.
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.
Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider.
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
God Almighty first planted a garden. And indeed it is the purest of human pleasures.
Chiefly the mold of a man's fortune is in his own hands.
He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils; for time is the greatest innovator.
The greatest trust, between man and man, is the trust of giving counsel. For in other confidences, men commit the parts of life; their lands, their goods, their children, their credit, some particular affair; but to such as they make their counsellors, they commit the whole: by how much the more, they are obliged to all faith and integrity.
