Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider. – Francis Bacon
Things alter for the worse spontaneously, if they be not altered for the better designedly. – Francis Bacon
They are ill discoverers that think there is no land, when they can see nothing but sea. – Francis Bacon
Fame is like a river, that beareth up things light and swollen, and drowns things weighty and solid. – Francis Bacon
In a mans letters you know, Madam, his soul lies naked, his letters are only the mirror of his breast, whatever passes within him is shown undisguised in its natural process. Nothing is inverted, nothing distorted, you see systems in their elements, you discover actions in their motives. – Samuel Johnson