Histories make men wise poets, witty the mathematics, subtle natural philosophy, deep moral, grave logic and rhetoric, able to contend.
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Certainly the best works, and of greatest merit for the public, have proceeded from the unmarried, or childless men.
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Fortitude is the marshal of thought, the armor of the will, and the fort of reason.
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By far the best proof is experience.
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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.
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Atheism leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, to reputation, all which may be guides to an outward moral virtue, though religion were not but superstition dismounts all these, and erects an absolute monarchy in the minds of men...the master of superstition is the people and arguments are fitted to practice, in a reverse order.
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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.
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Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity is the blessing of the New.
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Who questions much, shall learn much, and retain much.
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Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god.
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There is no comparison between that which is lost by not succeeding and that which is lost by not trying.
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The place of justice is a hallowed place.
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Certainly virtue is like precious odours, most fragrant when they are incensed or crushed: for prosperity doth best discover vice; but adversity doth best discover virtue.
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Read not to contradict and confute…nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider.
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I had rather believe all the Fables in the Legend, and the Talmud, and the Alcoran, than that this universal frame is without a Mind.
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The worst solitude is to have no real friendships.
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We are much beholden to Machiavel and others, that write what men do, and not what they ought to do.
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The subtlety of nature is greater many times over than the subtlety of the senses and understanding.
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For those who intend to discover and to understand, not to indulge in conjectures and soothsaying, and rather than contrive imitation and fabulous worlds plan to look deep into the nature of the real world and to dissect it -- for them everything must be sought in things themselves.
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A man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green.
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Books must follow sciences, and not sciences books.
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A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.
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Write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable.
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A bachelor's life is a fine breakfast, a flat lunch, and a miserable dinner.
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Houses are built to live in, and not to look on: therefore let use be preferred before uniformity.
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They that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils.
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Antiquities are history defaced, or some remnants of history which have casually escaped the shipwreck of time.
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The joys of parents are secret, and so are their grieves and fears.
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Money is like muck, not good except it be spread.
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Houses are built to live in, not to look on; therefore, let use be preferred before uniformity, except where both may be had.
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