Famous Quotes & Sayings

Francis Bacon

There is in human nature generally more of the fool than of the wise.

Francis Bacon

He was reputed one of the wise men that made answer to the question when a man should marry? 'A young man not yet, an elder man not at all.'

Francis Bacon

I knew a wise man that 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."

Francis Bacon

Generally, youth is like the first cogitations, not so wise as the second. For there is a youth in thoughts, as well as in ages. And yet the invention of young men, is more lively than that of old; and imaginations stream into their minds better, and, as it were, more divinely.

Francis Bacon

He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune, for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief. Certainly the best works and of greatest merit for the public have proceeded from the unmarried or childless men, which both in affection and means have married and endowed the public. He was reputed one of the wise men that made answer to the question, when a man should marryA young man not yet, an elder man not at all.

Francis Bacon

In all superstition wise men follow fools.

Francis Bacon

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

Francis Bacon

There are many wise men that have secret hearts and transparent countenances.

Francis Bacon

One of the Seven [wise men of Greece] was wont to say: That laws were like cobwebs, where the small flies are caught and the great break through.

Francis Bacon

Vain-glorious men are the scorn of the wise, the admiration of fools, the idols of paradise, and the slaves of their own vaunts.

Francis Bacon

The French are wiser than they seem, and the Spaniards seem wiser than they are.

Francis Bacon

The master of superstition, is the people; and in all superstition, wise men follow fools; and arguments are fitted to practice, in a reversed order.

Jean de La Fontaine

Nothing is so dangerous as an ignorant friend; a wise enemy is worth more. [Fr., Rien n'est si dangereux qu'un ignorant ami; Mieux vaudrait un sage ennemi.]

Jean de La Fontaine

Let fools the studious despise, There's nothing lost by being wise.

Jiang Zemin

It is not wise [for Chinese] to do things to artificially disrupt relations with the U.S.

Groucho Marx

Money cannot buy you happiness, and happiness cannot buy you money. That might be a wise crack, but I doubt it.

Graham Greene

She was not too young to be wise, but she was too young to know that wisdom shouldn't be spoken aloud when you are happy.

Gifford Pinchot

Conservation means the wise use of the earth and its resources for the lasting good of men

Harriet Lerner

Throughout evolutionary history, anxiety and fear have helped every species to be wary and to survive. Fear can signal us to act, or, alternatively, to resist the impulse to act. It can help us to make wise, self-protective choices in and out of relationships where we might otherwise sail mindlessly along, ignoring signs of trouble.

Harriet Martineau

[On being deaf:] We can never get beyond the necessity of keeping in full view the worst and the best that can be made of our lot. The worst is, either to sink under the trial, or to be made callous by it. The best is, to be as wise as is possible under a great disability, and as happy as is possible under a great privation.

Harper Lee

It's quite a thing, if you've never been in or known a small southern town. The people are not particularly sophisticated, naturally. They're not worldly wise in any way. But they tell you a story whenever they see you.

Harper Lee

I would advise anyone who aspires to a writing career that before developing his talent he would be wise to develop a thick hide.

Hallie Ephron

Phoebe Wolkind Ephron cracked wise like Dorothy Parker and looked like Katharine Hepburn.

Halldor Laxness

A wise man once said that next to losing its mother, there is nothing more healthy for a child than to lose its father.

Gregory Corso

I feel I want to be wise with white hair in a tall library in a deep chair by a fireplace.

Homer

Wise to resolve, and patient to perform.

Homer

Wine can of their wits the wise beguile, Make the sage frolic, and the serious smile

Iggy Pop

I don't think I'm lucky; I think I have a tough constitution. That's a lot of it. And I've been wise enough to listen to other people. I was unconsciously cultivating as many straight friends as I could.

Ian Somerhalder

We love things that are dangerous yet sexy. We love things that are powerful and wise.

Hugh Grant

But I just know from experience that accent wise, even if you're an accent genius, crossing the Atlantic is the hardest thing in the world either way.

Huey Newton

The reactionary suicide is ‘wise,’ and the revolutionary suicide is a ‘fool,’ a fool for the revolution in the way Paul meant when he spoke of being a ‘fool for Christ,’ That foolishness can move mountains of oppression; it is our great leap and our commitment to the dead and the unborn.

Howard Gossage

The real fact of the matter is that nobody reads ads. People read what interests them, and sometimes it's an ad.

Hosea Ballou

Man, being not only a religious, but also a social being, requires for the promotion of his rational happiness religious institutions, which, while they give a proper direction to devotion, at the same time make a wise and profitable improvement of his social feelings.