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
return looks painting
If I go to the National Gallery and I look at one of the great paintings that excite me there, it's not so much the painting that excites me as that the painting unlocks all kinds of valves of sensation within me which return me to life more violently.
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 looks blind
Therefore if a man look sharply and attentively, he shall see Fortune; for though she be blind, yet she is not invisible.
true-friend book looks
For friends... do but look upon good Books: they are true friends, that will neither flatter nor dissemble.
leaving slime looks
I would like my pictures to look as if a human being had passed between them, like a snail leaving its trail of the human presence... as a snail leaves its slime.
home house looks
Houses are built to live in, and not to look on: therefore let use be preferred before uniformity.
counsel execution good great unless
In counsel it is good to see dangers; but in execution not to see them unless they be very great
begins content man shall
In contemplation, if a man begins with certainties he shall end in doubts; but if he be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.
boldness child civil ignorance
In civil business; what first? Boldness; what second, and third? Boldness. And yet boldness is a child of ignorance and baseness.
serve studies
Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability.
belief best faithful health mind
The best preservative to keep the mind on health is the faithful admonition of a friend.
cannot covetous man money possess properly thy
If money be not they servant, it will be thy master. The covetous man cannot so properly be said to possess wealth, as that may be said to possess him.
angry feels himself hurt man
No man is angry that feels not himself hurt
dust fly sat tree wheel
It was prettily devised of Aesop, ""The fly sat on the axle tree of the chariot wheel and said, what dust do I raise!