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
people revolution common
Do not wonder if the common people speak more truly than those above them: they speak more safely.
men young young-man
A young man not yet, an elder man not at all.
friendship grief joy
Friendship redoubleth joys, and cutteth griefs in half.
luck trying want
I'm working for myself; what else have I got to work for? How can you work for an audience? What do you imagine an audience would want? I have got nobody to excite except myself, so I am always surprised if anyone likes my work sometimes. I suppose I'm very lucky, of course, to be able to earn my living by something that really absorbs me to try to do, if that is what you call luck.
art painting
Painting gave meaning to my life which without it would not have had
death children fear
Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased by tales, so is the other.
philosophy men mind
It is true, that a little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men’s minds about to religion. For while the mind of man looketh upon second causes scattered, it may sometimes rest in them, and go no further; but when it beholdeth the chain of them, confederate and linked together, it must needs fly to Providence and Deity.
learning years age
Learning hath his infancy, when it is but beginning and almost childish; then his youth, when it is luxuriant and juvenile; then his strength of years, when it is solid and reduced; and lastly his old age, when it waxeth dry and exhaust.
truth errors giving
The logic now in use serves rather to fix and give stability to the errors which have their foundation in commonly received notions than to help the search for truth. So it does more harm than good.
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.
mind satisfaction students
Let every student of nature take this as his rule, that whatever the mind seizes upon with particular satisfaction is to be held in suspicion.
happiness beauty art
There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.
home house looks
Houses are built to live in, and not to look on: therefore let use be preferred before uniformity.
delight ornaments study
Studies serve for delight, for ornaments, and for ability.