To conclude, therefore, let no man upon a weak conceit of sobriety or an ill-applied moderation think or maintain that a man can search too far, or be too well studied in the book of God’s word, or the book of God’s works, divinity or philosophy; but rather let men endeavor an endless progress or...

The desire for power in excess caused angels to fall; the desire for knowledge in excess caused man to fall; but in charity is no excess, neither can man or angels come into danger by it

Money is like manure, of very little use except it be spread.

He that defers his charity until he is dead is, if a man weighs it rightly, rather liberal of another man’s goods than his own

Who then to frail mortality shall trust but limns on water, or but writes in dust

Nothing is terrible except fear itself.

Young people are fitter to invent than to judge; fitter for execution than for counsel; and more fit for new projects than for settled business.

To spend too much time in studies is sloth.

For what a man would like to be true, that he more readily believes

A man finds himself seven years older the day after his marriage.

My Lord St. Albans said that Nature did never put her precious jewels into a garret four stories high, and therefore that exceeding tall men had ever very empty heads.

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.

A wise man that had it for a by-word, when he saw men hasten to a conclusion, `Stay a little, that we may make an end the sooner’.

We are much beholden to Machiavelli and others, that write what men do, and not what they ought to do . For it is not possible to join serpentine wisdom with the columbine innocency, except men know exactly all the conditions of the serpent; his baseness and going upon his belly, his volubility and lubricity,...

The worst solitude is to be destitute of sincere friendship.

It is not what men eat but what they digest that makes them strong; not what we gain but what we save that makes us rich; not what we read but what we remember that makes us learned; not what we preach but what we practice that makes us Christians.

Whence we see spiders, flies, or ants entombed and preserved forever in amber, a more than royal tomb.

All things are admired either because they are new or because they are great

The best armor is to keep out of gunshot.

The sun, which passeth through pollutions and itself remains as pure as before.

Lies are sufficient to breed opinion, and opinion brings on substance.

The way of fortune is like the milky way in the sky; which is a number of smaller stars, not seen asunder, but giving light together; so it is a number of little and scarce discerned virtues, or rather faculties and customs, that make men fortunate

Chiefly the mold of a man’s fortune is in his own hands

A sudden, bold, and unexpected question doth many times surprise a man and lay him open

What the mother sings to the cradle goes all the way down to the coffin.

The genius, wit, and the spirit of a nation are discovered by their proverbs.

The great end of life is not knowledge but action.

Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider. 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...

Houses are built to live in, not to look on; therefore, let use be preferred before uniformity, except where both may be had

In every great time there is some one idea at work which is more powerful than any other, and which shapes the events of the time and determines their ultimate issues.

What then remains, but that we still should cry,/ Not to be born, or being born, to die?

Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part of experience.

Our humanity is a poor thing, except for the divinity that stirs within us.

There is no comparison between that which is lost by not succeeding and that which is lost by not trying.

God Almighty first planted a garden; and, indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures.

If money be not thy servant, it will be thy master. The covetous man cannot so properly be said to possess wealth, as that may be said to possess him.

Praise from the common people is generally false, and rather follows the vain that the viruous.

The noblest works and foundations have proceeded from childless men.

Champagne for my sham friends; real pain for my real friends.

Prosperity discovers vice, adversity discovers virtue.

For all knowledge and wonder (which is the seed of knowledge) is an impression of pleasure in itself.

Nay, the same Solomon the king, although he excelled in the glory of treasure and magnificent buildings, of shipping and navigation, of service and attendance, of fame and renown, and the like, yet he maketh no claim to any of those glories, but only to the glory of inquisition of truth; for so he saith...

There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.

God has placed no limits to the exercise of the intellect he has given us, on this side of the grave.

Nature is a labyrinth in which the very haste you move with will make you lose your way.

Who then to frail mortality shall trust,/ But limns the water, or but writes in dust.

Men on their side must force themselves for a while to lay their notions by and begin to familiarize themselves with facts.

For my name and memory I leave to men’s charitable speeches, and to foreign nations and the next ages.

The place of justice is a hallowed place

No man is angry that feels not himself hurt