Quotes
from Francis Bacon - Knowledge is power
“Atheism
leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, to reputation;
all of which may be guides to an outward moral virtue, even if religion
vanished; but religious superstition dismounts all these and erects an absolute
monarchy in the minds of men.”
―
Sir Francis Bacon
“MEN
fear death, as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in
children, is increased with tales, so is the other. Certainly, the
contemplation of death, as the wages of sin, and passage to another world, is
holy and religious; but the fear of it, as a tribute due unto nature, is weak.”
―
Francis Bacon, Delphi Collected Works of Francis Bacon (Illustrated)
“The
lame (as they say) in the path outstrip the swift who wander from it, and it is
clear that the very skill and swiftness of him who runs not in the right
direction must increase his aberration.”
―
Francis Bacon
“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.”
―
Francis Bacon
“Some
books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few are to be chewed
and digested.”
―
Francis Bacon
“Believing
that I was born for the service of mankind, and regarding the care of the
commonwealth as a kind of common property, which like the air and the water,
belongs to everybody, I set myself to consider in what way mankind might best
be served, and what service was myself best fitted by nature to perform.”
―
Francis Bacon
“...the
specious meditations, speculations, and theories of mankind are but a kind of
insanity, only there is no one to stand by and observe it.”
―
Francis Bacon, Novum Organum
“Knowledge
is power. The real test of knowledge is not whether it is true but whether it
empowers us. Scientists usually assume that no theory is 100% correct. Truth,
consequently, is a poor test for knowledge. The real test is utility. A theory
that enables us to do new things constitutes knowledge.”
―
Francis Bacon, Neues Organon, Volume 1...
“Some
books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and
digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read,
but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and
attention. Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by
others; but that would be only in the less important arguments, and the meaner
sort of books, else distilled books are like common distilled waters, flashy
things. Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact
man. And therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if
he confer little, he had need have a present wit: and if he read little, he had
need have much cunning, to seem to know, that he doth not. Histories make men
wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtile; natural philosophy deep; moral
grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend.
―
Bacon Francis 1561-1626 Francis
“Wives
are young men's mistresses, companions for middle age, and old men's nurses.”
―
Francis Bacon
“A
man's nature runs either to herbs or weeds; therefore like him seasonably water
the one, and destroy the other.”
―
Francis Bacon, The Essays
“If
you are not happy for a minute, then you lost 60 seconds of happiness in your life”
―
Francis Bacon
“...it
is the peculiar and perpetual error of the human intellect to be more moved and
excited by affirmatives than by negatives; whereas it ought properly to hold
itself indifferently disposed towards both alike.”
―
Francis Bacon, Novum Organum / Nova Atlântida
