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 peace hurt
Nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise.
life nature travel
They are ill discoverers that think there is no land, when they can see nothing but sea.
variety-is-the-spice-of-life pleasant variety
Nothing is pleasant that is not spiced with variety.
life fall angel
The desire of power in excess caused the angels to fall; the desire of knowledge in excess caused man to fall: but in charity there is no excess; neither can angel nor man come in danger by it.
art attitude people
Great art is always a way of concentrating, reinventing what is called fact, what we know of our existence- a reconcentration… tearing away the veils, the attitudes people acquire of their time and earlier time. Really good artists tear down those veils
knowledge causes contemplation
Human knowledge and human power meet in one; for where the cause is not known the effect cannot be produced. Nature to be commanded must be obeyed; and that which in contemplation is as the cause is in operation as the rule.
science power wit
The monuments of wit survive the monuments of power.
forgiveness revenge anger
A man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green.
science wonder seeds
Wonder is the seed of knowledge
wise witty philosophy
Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtle; natural philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend.
education latin knowledge
Ipsa scientia potestas est. (Knowledge itself is power.)
nature art men
Art is man added to Nature.
witty integrity judging
Judges ought to be more leaned than witty, more reverent than plausible, and more advised than confident. Above all things, integrity is their portion and proper virtue.
green-plants giving needs
Natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience.