Truth is not to be sought in the good fortune of any particular conjuncture of time, which is uncertain, but in the light of nature and experience, which is eternal.
Where these words come from
- 95% sureThese words were traced back to where they first appeared. That source is listed below.
- Novum Organum, book I, aphorism LVI; English edition edited by Joseph Devey (P. F. Collier & Son, 1902); Complete public-domain sentence in the English edition; Devey is credited as editor, not asserted to be translator. Read full aphorism LVI and surrounding warnings about uncritical admiration of
- Novum Organum, book I, aphorism LVI; English edition edited by Joseph Devey (P. F. Collier & Son, 1902)
More from Francis Bacon
See allReading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.
Francis BaconHistories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtile; natural philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend.Francis BaconProsperity is not without many fears and distastes; and adversity is not without comforts and hopes.Francis BaconFor friendship maketh indeed a fair day in the affections, from storm and tempests; but it maketh daylight in the understanding, out of darkness, and confusion of thoughts.Francis BaconFor a crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love.Francis BaconRead 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
Francis BaconHistories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtile; natural philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend.Francis BaconProsperity is not without many fears and distastes; and adversity is not without comforts and hopes.Francis BaconFor friendship maketh indeed a fair day in the affections, from storm and tempests; but it maketh daylight in the understanding, out of darkness, and confusion of thoughts.Francis BaconFor a crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love.Francis BaconRead not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider.Francis BaconMore inspiration
See allYou gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.
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