Great Throughts Treasury

This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.

Francis Bacon

English Scientist, Author, Philosopher

"Chiefly, the mold of a man's fortune is in his own hands."

"Believe not much them that seem to despise riches, for they despise them who despair of them; and none are worse than they when riches come to them."

"Certainly the contemplation of death, as the wages of sin, and passage to another world, is holy and religious; but he fear of it, as a tribute due unto Nature, is weak."

"Be not penny-wise; riches have wings; sometimes they fly away of themselves, and sometimes they must be set flying to bring in more."

"Cleanness of the body was ever deemed to proceed from a due reverence to God."

"Choose the life that is most useful, and habit will make it most agreeable."

"Do not overwork the mind any more than the body; do everything with moderation."

"Death is a friend of ours; and he that is not ready to entertain him is not at home."

"God has placed no limit to intellect."

"Faith is a higher faculty than reason."

"Friends are thieves of time."

"Good fame is like fire; when you have kindled it you may easily preserve it; but if you extinguish it, you will not easily kindle it again."

"God never wrought miracles to convince atheism, but His ordinary works convince it."

"God has placed no limits to the exercise of the intellect he has given us, on this side of the grave."

"Great riches have sold more men than they have brought."

"Habit, if wisely and skillfully formed, becomes truly a second nature; but unskillfully and unmethodically depicted, it will be as it were an ape of nature, which imitates nothing to the life, but only clumsily and awkwardly."

"Happy are the families where the government of parents is the reign of affection, and obedience of the children the submission of love."

"He sleeps well who is not conscious that he sleeps ill."

"He that travels into a country before he has some entrance into the language, goeth to school and not to travel."

"Hope is the most beneficial of all the affections, and doth much to the prolongation of life, if it be not too often frustrated; but entertaineth the fancy with expectation of good."

"I would live to study, not study to live."

"If we begin with certainties, we shall end in doubts; but if we begin with doubts, and are patient in them, we shall end in certainties."

"Imagination I understand to be the representation of an individual thought. Imagination is of three kinds: joined with belief of that which is to come; joined with memory of that which is past; and of things present."

"In causes of life and death, judges ought (as far as the law permiteth) in justice to remember mercy; and to cast a severe eye upon the example, but a merciful eye upon the person."

"I knew a wise man who had it for a by-word when he saw men hasten to a conclusion: “Stay a little, that we may make an end the sooner.”"

"If money be not thy servant, it will be thy master. The covetous man cannot so properly be said to possess wealth, as that it may be said to possess him."

"In contemplation, if a man begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts, but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties."

"In revenge a man is but even with his enemies; but it is a princely things to pardon, for Solomon saith, "It is the glory of a man to pass over a transgression.""

"In all superstition wise men follow fools."

"It is a secret both in nature and state, that it is safer to change many things than one."

"It is a work of prudence to prevent injury, and of a great mind, when done, not to revenge it. He that hath revenge in his power, and does not use it, is the great man; it is for low and vulgar spirits to transport themselves with vengeance. To endure injuries with a brave mind is one half the conquest."

"It is impossible to love, and to be wise."

"It is idle to expect any great advancement in science from the superinducing and engrafting of new things upon old. We must begin anew from the very foundations, unless we would revolve for ever in a circle with mean and contemptible progress."

"It is not the lie that passeth through the mind, but the lie that sinketh in and settled in it, that doth the hurt."

"It was well said that envy keeps no holidays."

"It will be found a work of no small difficulty to dispossess a vice from the heart, where long possession begins to plead prescription."

"It is without all controversy that learning doth make the minds of men gentle, amiable, and pliant to government; whereas ignorance makes them churlish, thwarting, and mutinous; and the evidence of time doth clear this assertion, considering that the most barbarous, rude and unlearned times have been most subject to tumults, seditions, and changes."

"Knowledge is power."

"Learning teaches how to carry things in suspense without prejudice till you resolve."

"Knowledge and human power are synonymous, since the ignorance of the cause frustrates the effect."

"Let no one expect any great progress in the sciences"

"Knowledge is not a shop for profit or sale, but a rich storehouse for the glory of the Creator, and the relief of men’s estate."

"Men commonly think according to their inclinations, speak according to their learning and imbibed opinions, but generally act according to custom."

"Men fear death, as children fear the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased by frightful tales, so is the other. Groans, convulsions, weeping friends, and the like show death terrible; yet there is no passion so weak but conquers the fear of it, and therefore death is not such a terrible enemy. Revenge triumphs over death, loves slights its, honor aspires to it, dread of shame prefers it, grief flies to it, and fear anticipates it."

"Men possessing minds which are morose, solemn, and inflexible enjoy generally a greater share of dignity than of happiness."

"Men’s thoughts are much according to their inclination."

"Men suppose their reason has command over their words; still it happens that words in return exercise authority on reason."

"Much bending breaks the bows; much unbending the mind."

"Money is like manure, of very little use except it be spread."

"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 by experience."