Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban PC KCwas an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, orator, and author. He served both as Attorney General and as Lord Chancellor of England. After his death, he remained extremely influential through his works, especially as philosophical advocate and practitioner of the scientific method during the scientific revolution...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth21 January 1561
nature garden firsts
God Almighty first planted a garden. And indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures.
truth needs fiction
Truth is so hard to tell, it sometimes needs fiction to make it plausible.
rivers light fame
Fame is like a river, that beareth up things light and swollen, and drowns things weighty and solid.
friendship real solitude
The worst solitude is to have no real friendships.
hands mistress riches
Riches are a good hand maiden, but a poor mistress.
love men secret
There is in man's nature a secret inclination and motion towards love of others, which, if it be not spent upon some one or a few, doth naturally spread itself towards many, and maketh men become humane and charitable, as it is seen sometimes in friars. Nuptial love maketh mankind, friendly love perfecteth it, but wanton love corrupteth and embaseth it.
church guarantees literature
If I might control the literature of the household, I would guarantee the well-being of Church and State.
self portraiture done
I loathe my own face, and I've done self-portraits because I've had nobody else to do.
people looks portraiture
If my people look as if they're in a dreadful fix, it's because I can't get them out of a technical dilemma.
men accord great-happiness
It is a great happiness when men's professions and their inclinations accord.
struggle illustration events
A picture should be a re-creation of an event rather than an illustration of an object; but there is no tension in the picture unless there is a struggle with the object.
funny people devil
People have discovered that they can fool the devil; but they can't fool the neighbors.
law judging construction
Judges must beware of hard constructions and strained inferences, for there is no worse torture than that of laws.
men should-have vanity
I should have been, I don't know, a con-man, a robber or a prostitute. But it was vanity that made me choose painting, vanity and chance.