Francis Bacon Man Quotations

The world 's a bubble, and the life of man less than a span.

I would like, in my arbitrary way, to bring one nearer to the actual human being.

Truth ... is the sovereign good of human nature.

Gardening is the purest of human pleasures.

A bad man is worse when he pretends to be a saint.

It is a good point of cunning for a man to shape the answer he would have in his own words and propositions, for it makes the other party stick the less.

Time is the greatest innovator.

Our humanity is a poor thing, except for the divinity that stirs within us.

Nuptial love makes mankind; friendly love perfects it; but wanton love corrupts and debases it.

Vices of the time; vices of the man.

A young man not yet, an elder man not at all.

He that defers his charity until he is dead is, if a man weighs it rightly, rather liberal of another man's goods than his own

In things that a man would not be seen in himself, it is a point of cunning to borrow the name of the world; as to say, ""The world says,"" or ""There is a speech abroad.

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

The desire for power in excess caused angels to fall; the desire for knowledge in excess caused man to fall; but in charity is no excess, neither can man or angels come into danger by it

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.

If any human being earnestly desires to push on to new discoveries instead of just retaining and using the old; to win victories over Nature as a worker rather than over hostile critics as a disputant; to attain, in fact, clear and demonstrative know

If a man look sharply and attentively, he shall see Fortune; for though she is blind, she is not invisible.

If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts: but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.

In taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior

Man prefers to think what he prefers to be true

The wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.

Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is

Imagination was given man to compensate for what he is not, and a sense of humor to console him for what he is.

It hath been an opinion that the French are wiser than they seem, and the Spaniards seem wiser than they are; but howsoever it be between nations, certainly it is so between man and man

A man cannot speak to his son but as a father, to his wife but as a husband, to his enemy but upon terms; whereas a friend may speak as the case requires, and not as it sorteth with the person.

The lame man who keeps the right road outstrips the runner who takes a wrong one. Nay, it is obvious that the more active and swift the latter is the further he will go astray.

Without friends the world is but a wilderness. There is no man that imparteth his joys to his friends, but he joyeth the more; and no man that imparteth his grieves to his friend, but he grieveth the less.

The light that a man receiveth by counsel from another is drier and purer than that which cometh from his own understanding and judgment, which is ever infused and drenched in his affections and customs.

Atheism is rather in the life than in the heart of man

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.

God Almighty first planted a garden; and, indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures.

No man is angry that feels not himself hurt

This delivering of knowledge in distinct and disjointed aphorisms doth leave the wit of man more free to turn and toss, and to make use of that which is so delivered to more several purposes and applications

Our humanity were a poor thing were it not for the divinity which stirs within us

A sudden, bold, and unexpected question doth many times surprise a man and lay him open

Certainly, in taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy, but in passing it over, he is superior; for it is a prince's part to pardon.

Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed. In everything man has accomplished, we have only manipulated nature into doing what it is.

A man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well

They that deny a God destroy man's nobility, for certainly man is of kin to the beasts by his body; and if he is not of kin to God by his spirit, he is a base and ignoble creature

It is good discretion not to make too much of any man at the first; because one cannot hold out that proportion