Discretion of speech is more than eloquence, and to speak agreeably to him with whom we deal is more than to speak in good words, or in good order.

The discipline of desire is the background of character.

That a man be willing, when others are so too, as far forth as for peace and defense of himself he shall think it necessary, to lay down this right to all things; and be...

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

We are much beholden to Machiavel and others, that write what men do, and not what they ought to do.

Science is but an image of the truth.

Small amounts of philosophy lead to atheism, but larger amounts bring us back to God.

The worship which directs itself toward God as our good regards him either as he is ours at present, in faith, or as he is to be ours, in hope.

All science requires mathematics. The knowledge of mathematical things is almost innate in us. This is the easiest of sciences, a fact which is obvious in that no one’s brain rejects it; for laymen and...

Fortitude is the marshal of thought, the armor of the will, and the fort of reason.

It is as hard and severe a thing to be a true politician as to be truly moral.

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.

Every man has a property in his own person. This nobody has a right to, but himself.

No man’s error becomes his own Law; nor obliges him to persist in it.

A bachelor’s life is a fine breakfast, a flat lunch, and a miserable dinner.

The worst men often give the best advice.

Next to religion, let your care be to promote justice.

Education begins the gentleman, but reading, good company and reflection must finish him.

Words are the money of fools.

Seek ye first the good things of the mind, and the rest will either be supplied or its loss will not be felt.

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.

Choose the life that is most useful, and habit will make it the most agreeable.

Antiquities are history defaced, or some remnants of history which have casually escaped the shipwreck of time.

The praise of ancient authors proceeds not from the reverence of the dead, but from the competition and mutual envy of the living.

The strongest arguments prove nothing so long as the conclusions are not verified by experience. Experimental science is the queen of sciences and the goal of all speculation.

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

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

Certainly the best works, and of greatest merit for the public, have proceeded from the unmarried, or childless men.

The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom. For in all the states of created beings capable of law, where there is no law, there is no...

A man’s conscience and his judgement is the same thing; and as the judgement, so also the conscience, may be erroneous.

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

Who ever is out of patience is out of possession of their soul.

This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge keeps his wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well.

We should have a great fewer disputes in the world if words were taken for what they are, the signs of our ideas only, and not for things themselves.

The obligation of subjects to the sovereign is understood to last as long, and no longer, than the power lasteth by which he is able to protect them.

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.

The subtlety of nature is greater many times over than the subtlety of the senses and understanding.

Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom.

Parents wonder why the streams are bitter, when they themselves have poisoned the fountain.

Such is the nature of men, that howsoever they may acknowledge many others to be more witty, or more eloquent, or more learned; yet they will hardly believe there be many so wise as themselves.

For if any man who never saw fire proved by satisfactory arguments that fire burns. His hearer’s mind would never be satisfied, nor would he avoid the fire until he put his hand in it...

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

Truth emerges more readily from error than from confusion.

God’s first creature, which was light.

Our incomes are like our shoes; if too small, they gall and pinch us; but if too large, they cause us to stumble and to trip.

The disembodied spirit is immortal; there is nothing of it that can grow old or die. But the embodied spirit sees death on the horizon as soon as its day dawns.

He that gives good advice, builds with one hand; he that gives good counsel and example, builds with both; but he that gives good admonition and bad example, builds with one hand and pulls down...

Truth is so hard to tell, it sometimes needs fiction to make it plausible.

Nothing is pleasant that is not spiced with variety.

Fortitude is the guard and support of the other virtues.