Friendship increases in visiting friends, but in visiting them seldom.

Nakedness is uncomely, as well in mind as body, and it addeth no small reverence to men’s manners and actions if they be not altogether open. Therefore set it down: That a habit of secrecy...

The pencil of the Holy Ghost hath labored more in describing the afflictions of Job than the felicities of Solomon.

Suspicions that the mind, of itself, gathers, are but buzzes; but suspicions that are artificially nourished and put into men’s heads by the tales and whisperings of others, have stings.

The best preservative to keep the mind on health is the faithful admonition of a friend.

Men’s thoughts are much according to their inclination, 1 their discourse and speeches according to their learning and infused opinions.

Study After Velasquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X,

Man, being the servant and interpreter of nature, can do and understand so much and so much only as he has observed in fact or in thought of the course of nature: beyond this he...

Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed. In everything man has accomplished, we have only manipulated nature into doing what it is.

Nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise.

Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability.

Nothing is pleasant that is not spiced with variety.

Beauty itself is but the sensible image of the Infinite.

Nature cannot be commanded except by being obeyed.

In taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior

In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present.

Good fame is like fire; when you have kindled you may easily preserve it; but if you extinguish it, you will not easily kindle it again.

Judges must beware of hard constructions and strained inferences, for there is no worse torture than that of laws.

In contemplation, if a man begins with certainties he shall end in doubts; but if he be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.

Cato said the best way to keep good acts in memory was to refresh them with new.

Truth emerges more readily from error than from confusion.

The worst men often give the best advice.

A crowd is not company, and faces are but a gallery of pictures

The Trinitarian believes a virgin to be the mother of a son who is her maker.

They that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils.

A little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men’s minds about to religion.

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...

All rising to a great place is by a winding stair.

The correlative to loving our neighbors as ourselves is hating ourselves as we hate our neighbors.

The job of the artist is to deepen the mystery

Knowlege is power.

Suspicions amongst thoughts are like bats amongst birds, they ever fly by twilight.

Nuptial love maketh mankind; friendly love perfecteth it; but wanton love corrupteth and embaseth it.

He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief.

A healthy body is a guest chamber for the soul: a sick body is a prison

He doth like the ape, that the higher he clymbes the more he shows his ars

For behavior, men learn it, as they take diseases, one of another

Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom.

The way of fortune is like the milkyway in the sky; which is a number of small stars, not seen asunder, but giving light together: so it is a number of little and scarce discerned...

Prosperity doth best discover vice; but adversity doth best discover virtue.

Write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable.

There is superstition in avoiding superstitions

The poets did well to conjoin Music And Medicine in Apollo: because the office of medicine is but to tune this curious harp of man’s body and to reduce it to harmony.

That things are changed, and that nothing really perishes, and that the sum of matter remains exactly the same, is sufficiently certain.

It is a pleasure to stand upon the shore, and to see ships tost upon the sea: a pleasure to stand in the window of a castle, and to see a battle and the adventures...

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.

If a man look sharply and attentively, he shall see Fortune; for though she is blind, she is not invisible.

Like strawberry wives, that laid two or three great strawberries at the mouth of their pot, and all the rest were little ones.

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.

Studies perfect nature and are perfected still by experience.