In the words of Francis Bacon:
God has placed no limits to the exercise of the intellect he has given us, on this side of the grave.
Small amounts of philosophy lead to atheism, but larger amounts bring us back to God.
There is no comparison between that which is lost by not succeeding and that which is lost by not trying.
In taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior.
God Almighty first planted a garden. And indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures.
Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is.
Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part of experience.
Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity is the blessing of the New.
In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present.
The subtlety of nature is greater many times over than the subtlety of the senses and understanding.
The worst men often give the best advice.
Choose the life that is most useful, and habit will make it the most agreeable.
Seek ye first the good things of the mind, and the rest will either be supplied or its loss will not be felt.
Fortitude is the marshal of thought, the armor of the will, and the fort of reason.
A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion.
Certainly the best works, and of greatest merit for the public, have proceeded from the unmarried, or childless men.
Truth can never be reached by just listening to the voice of an authority.
The lame man who keeps the right road outstrips the runner who takes the wrong one.
No pleasure is comparable to the standing upon the vantage-ground of truth.
Hope is the most beneficial of all the affections, and doth much to the prolongation of life.
Nothing is more pleasant to the eye than green grass kept finely shorn.
In all negotiations of difficulty, a man may not look to sow and reap at once; but must prepare business, and so ripen it by degrees.
The wonder of a single snowflake outweighs the wisdom of a million meteorologists.
A graceful and pleasing figure is a perpetual letter of recommendation.
Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtle; natural philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend.
The virtue of prosperity is temperance; the virtue of adversity is fortitude.
It is a great happiness when men's professions and their inclinations accord.
God never wrought miracles to convince atheism, because his ordinary works convince it.
Our humanity is a poor thing, except for the divinity that stirs within us.
There is no greater wisdom than well to time the beginnings and onsets of things.
To be free minded and cheerfully disposed at hours of meat and sleep and of exercise is one of the best precepts of long lasting.
Wise sayings are not only for ornament, but for action and business, having a point or edge, whereby knots in business are pierced and discovered.
There ought to be gardens for all months in the year, in which, severally, things of beauty may be then in season.
Knowledge is a rich storehouse for the glory of the Creator and the relief of man's estate.
Death is a friend of ours; and he that is not ready to entertain him is not at home.
Look to make your course regular, that men may know beforehand what they may expect.
Riches are for spending, and spending for honor and good actions; therefore extraordinary expense must be limited by the worth of the occasion.
It is madness and a contradiction to expect that things which were never yet performed should be effected, except by means hitherto untried.
Philosophy when superficially studied, excites doubt, when thoroughly explored, it dispels it.
Laws and Institutions Must Go Hand in Hand with the Progress of the Human Mind.
There was never law, or sect, or opinion did so much magnify goodness, as the Christian religion doth.
Friendship maketh daylight in the understanding, out of darkness and confusion of thoughts.
It is nothing won to admit men with an open door, and to receive them with a shut and reserved countenance.
Let no one think or maintain that a person can search too far or be too well studied in either the book of God's word or the book of God's works.
For the chain of causes cannot by any force be loosed or broken, nor can nature be commanded except by being obeyed.
But the best demonstration by far is experience, if it go not beyond the actual experiment.
When Christ came into the world, peace was sung; and when He went out of the world, peace was bequeathed.
The sun, though it passes through dirty places, yet remains as pure as before.
We think according to nature. We speak according to rules. We act according to custom.
Ask counsel of both times of the ancient time what is best, and of the latter time what is fittest.
When a traveler returneth home, let him not leave the countries where he hath traveled altogether behind him.
Certainly, it is heaven upon earth, to have a man's mind move in charity, rest in providence, and turn upon the poles of truth.
Seek not proud riches, but such as thou mayest get justly, use soberly, distribute cheerfully, and leave contentedly.
Princes are like heavenly bodies, which cause good or evil times, and which have much veneration, but no rest.
Virtue is like precious odors - most fragrant when they are incensed or crushed.
Those that want friends to open themselves unto are cannibals of their own hearts.
That which above all other yields the sweetest smell in the air is the violet.
Since custom is the principal magistrate of man's life, let men by all means endeavor to obtain good customs.
The bee enclosed and through the amber shown Seems buried in the juice which was his own.
A man that is young in years may be old in hours if he have lost no time.
Defer not charities till death; for certainly, if a man weigh it rightly, he that doth so is rather liberal of another man's than of his own.
There are many wise men that have secret hearts and transparent countenances.
For whatever deserves to exist deserves also to be known, for knowledge is the image of existence, and things mean and splendid exist alike.
As is the garden such is the gardener. A man's nature runs either to herbs or weeds.
It is a miserable state of mind to have few things to desire and many things to fear.
Cleanness of body was ever deemed to proceed from a due reverence to God.
In nature things move violently to their place, and calmly in their place.
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