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.
Philosophy when superficially studied, excites doubt, when thoroughly explored, it dispels it.
the serpent if it wants to become the dragon must eat itself.
Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtle; natural philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend.
Truth is a naked and open daylight, that does not show the masques, and mummeries, and triumphs of the world, half so stately and daintily as candle-lights. . . A mixture of a lie doth ever add pleasure
But it is not only the difficulty and labor which men take in finding out of truth, nor again that when it is found it imposeth upon men’s thoughts, that doth bring lies in favor; but a natural though corrupt love of the lie itself.
God has, in fact, written two books, not just one. Of course, we are all familiar with the first book he wrote, namely Scripture. But he has written a second book called creation.
A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.
Crafty men condemn studies; Simple men admire them; And wise men use them: For they teach not their own use: but that is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation.
Write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable.
For the things of this world cannot be made known without a knowledge of mathematics.
If in other sciences we should arrive at certainty without doubt and truth without error, it behooves us to place the foundations of knowledge in mathematics.
The inquiry of truth, which is the love-making, or the wooing of it, the knowledge of truth, which is the presence of it, and the belief of truth, which is the enjoying of it, is the sovereign good of human nature.
A man that is young in years may be old in hours if he have lost no time.
A little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men’s minds about to religion
Some books should be tasted, some devoured, but only a few should be chewed and digested thoroughly.
Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted …but to weigh and consider.
Age appears best in four things: old wood to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust and old authors to read.
Where a man cannot fitly play his own part; if he have not a friend, he may quit the stage.
The only really interesting thing iswhat happens between two people in a room.
Reading maketh a full man; and writing an axact man. And, therefore, if a man write little, he need have a present wit; and if he read little, he need have much cunning to seem to know which he doth not.
Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.
Nature is often hidden, sometimes overcome, seldom extinguished.
Nature cannot be commanded except by being obeyed.
We gave ourselves for lost men, and prepared for death. Yet we did lift up our hearts and voices to God above, who “showeth His wonders in the deep”.
The general root of superstition : namely, that men observe when things hit, and not when they miss; and commit to memory the one, and forget and pass over the other.
Reasoning draws a conclusion, but does not make the conclusion certain, unless the mind discovers it by the path of experience.
All rising to a great place is by a winding stair.
God never wrought miracle to convince atheism, because his ordinary works convince it. It is true, that a little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men’s minds about to religion.
Despise no new accident in your body, but ask opinion of it… There is a wisdom in this beyond the rules of physic. A man’s observation, what he finds good and of what he finds hurt of, is the best physic to preserve health.
The monuments of wit survive the monuments of power.
They are ill discoverers that think there is no land, when they can see nothing but sea.
The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.
REVENGE is a kind of wild justice; which the more man’s nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out.
For all knowledge and wonder (which is the seed of knowledge) is an impression of pleasure in itself.
Look upon good books; they are true friends, that will neither flatter nor dissemble: be you but true to yourself…and you shall need no other comfort nor counsel.
The poets did well to conjoin music and medicine, in Apollo, because the office of medicine is but to tune the curious harp of man’s body and reduce it to harmony.
They are ill discoverers that think there is no land when they can see nothing but sea.
The surest way to prevent seditions…is to take away the matter of them.
I wonder why it is that the countries with the most nobles also have the most misery?
The virtue of prosperity is temperance the virtue of adversity is fortitude which in morals is the heroical virtue.
Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes and adversity is not without comforts and hopes.
The virtue of prosperity is temperance the virtue of adversity is fortitude.
Anger makes dull men witty but it keeps them poor.
There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.
As the births of living creatures at first are ill-shapen so are all innovations which are the births of time.
Some books are to be tasted others to be swallowed and some few to be chewed and digested.
Things alter for the worse spontaneously if they be not altered for the better designedly.
He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils.
The lame man who keeps the right road outstrips the runner who takes a wrong one … the more active and swift the latter is the further he will go astray.
They are ill discoverers that think there is no land when they see nothing but sea.
If a man will begin with certainties he shall end in doubts but if he will content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties.
The worst solitude is to be destitute of sincere friendship.
Those that lack friends to open themselves unto are cannibals of their own hearts.
There is no man that imparteth his joys to his friends but he joyeth the more and no man that imparteth his griefs to his friends but he grieveth the less.
The best preservative to keep the mind in health is the faithful admonition of a friend.
It is left only to God and to the angels to be lookers on.
They are happy men whose natures sort with their vocations.
A sudden bold and unexpected question doth many times surprise a man and lay him open.
Revenge is a kind of wild justice which the more man’s nature runs to the more ought law to weed it out.
Little do men perceive what solitude is and how far it extendeth. For a crowd is not company and faces are but a gallery of pictures and talk but a tinkling cymbal where there is no love.
Money is like muck – not good unless it be spread.
Generally music feedeth that disposition of the spirits which it findeth.
God Almighty first planted a garden. And indeed it is the purest of human pleasures.
Fortune is like the market where many times if you can stay a little the price will fall.
A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.
If a man looks sharply and attentively he shall see fortune for though she be blind yet she is not invisible.
Many a man’s strength is in opposition and when he faileth he groweth out of use.
He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils for time is the greatest innovator.
Fortune is like the market where many times if you can stay a little the price will fall.
Atheism is rather in the lip than in the heart of Man.
Things alter for the worse spontaneously if they be not altered for the better designedly.
A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.
A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.
Truth emerges more readily from error than from confusion.
The sun though it passes through dirty places yet remains as pure as before.
They are happy men whose natures sort with their vocations.
The virtue of adversity is fortitude which in mortals is the heroical virtue.
It is a sad fate for a man to die too well known to everybody else, and still unknown to himself.
Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not a sense of humor to console him for what he is.
The subtlety of nature is greater many times over than the subtlety of the senses and understanding.
Revenge is a kind of wild justice, which the more a man’s nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out.
Fortitude is the marshal of thought, the armor of the will, and the fort of reason.
Many a man’s strength is in opposition, and when he faileth, he grows out of use.
Who ever is out of patience is out of possession of their soul.
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.
Age appears to be best in four things; old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read.
I will never be an old man. To me, old age is always 15 years older than I am.
There is a difference between happiness and wisdom: he that thinks himself the happiest man is really so but he that thinks himself the wisest is generally the greatest fool.
God has placed no limits to the exercise of the intellect he has given us, on this side of the grave.
People usually think according to their inclinations, speak according to their learning and ingrained opinions, but generally act according to custom.
A little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men’s minds about to religion.
The quarrels and divisions about religion were evils unknown to the heathen. The reason was because the religion of the heathen consisted rather in rites and ceremonies than in any constant belief.
Wives are young men’s mistresses, companions for middle age, and old men’s nurses.
The momentous thing in human life is the art of winning the soul to good or evil.
Antiquities are history defaced, or some remnants of history which have casually escaped the shipwreck of time.
God Almighty first planted a garden. And indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures.
God hangs the greatest weights upon the smallest wires.
The desire of excessive power caused the angels to fall the desire of knowledge caused men to fall.
The great end of life is not knowledge but action.
Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part of experience.
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.
Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes adversity not without many comforts and hopes.
Truth is a good dog; but always beware of barking too close to the heels of an error, lest you get your brains kicked out.
Truth emerges more readily from error than from confusion.
There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.
Beauty itself is but the sensible image of the Infinite.
Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not a sense of humor to console him for what he is.
Fashion is only the attempt to realize art in living forms and social intercourse.
Friendship increases in visiting friends, but in visiting them seldom.
Money is like manure, of very little use except it be spread.
If a man’s wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics.
There is a difference between happiness and wisdom: he that thinks himself the happiest man is really so but he that thinks himself the wisest is generally the greatest fool.
There is a wisdom in this beyond the rules of physic: a man’s own observation what he finds good of and what he finds hurt of is the best physic to preserve health.
Certainly the best works, and of greatest merit for the public, have proceeded from the unmarried, or childless men.
A man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green.
Anger makes dull men witty, but it keeps them poor.
Anger is certainly a kind of baseness, as it appears well in the weakness of those subjects in whom it reigns: children, women, old folks, sick folks.
He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils for time is the greatest innovator.
Things alter for the worse spontaneously, if they be not altered for the better designedly.