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
wise men vanity
Vain-glorious men are the scorn of the wise, the admiration of fools, the idols of paradise, and the slaves of their own vaunts.
study
I would live to study, not study to live.
men debt occupation
I hold every man a debtor to his profession; from the which as men of course do seek to receive countenance and profit, so ought they of duty to endeavor themselves, by way of amends, to be a help and ornament thereunto.
distance eye men
Men of noble birth are noted to be envious towards new men when they rise. For the distance is altered, and it is like a deceit of the eye, that when others come on they think themselves go back.
race earth crime
All the crimes on earth do not destroy so many of the human race, nor alienate so much property, as drunkenness.
moving government states
States are great engines moving slowly.
government empires wands
So that every wand or staff of empire is forsooth curved at top.
dog men generosity
Mark what a generosity and courage (a dog) will put on when he finds himself maintained by a man, who to him is instead of a God
fool fortune darling
Fortune makes him fool, whom she makes her darling.
kings son too-much
That conceit, elegantly expressed by the Emperor Charles V., in his instructions to the King, his son, "that fortune hath somewhat the nature of a woman, that if she be too much wooed she is the farther off.
philosophy men progress
Again men have been kept back as by a kind of enchantment from progress in science by reverence for antiquity, by the authority of men counted great in philosophy, and then by general consent.
men age decay
He that seeketh to be eminent amongst able men hath a great task; but that is ever good for the public. But he that plots to be the only figure amongst ciphers is the decay of a whole age.
causes knows
To know truly is to know by causes.
men hatred secret
For it is most true that a natural and secret hatred and aversation towards society in any man, hath somewhat of the savage beast.