"There is no comparison between that which is lost by not succeeding and that which is lost by not trying."

"What is truth? said jesting Pilate; and would not stay for an answer."

"For my name and memory I leave to men's charitable speeches, and to foreign nations and the next ages."

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

"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 with the other."

"If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows he is a citizen of the world."

"Nothing is pleasant that is not spiced with variety."

"He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils; for time is the greatest innovator."

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

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

"God hangs the greatest weights upon the smallest wires."

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

"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."

"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 virtues, or rather faculties and customs, that make men fortunate."

"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."

"Silence is the virtue of fools."

"Anger makes dull men witty, but it keeps them poor."

"God's first creature, which was light."

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

"The great end of life is not knowledge but action."

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

"Truth emerges more readily from error than from confusion."

"If a man's wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics."

"Fame is like a river, that beareth up things light and swollen, and drowns things weighty and solid."

"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."

"Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity is the blessing of the New."

"If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts, but if he will content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties."

"God Almighty first planted a garden. And indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures."

"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."

"The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery."

"The worst solitude is to have no real friendships."

"Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted... but to weigh and consider."

"Riches are a good hand maiden, but a poor mistress."

"The joys of parents are secret, and so are their grieves and fears."

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

"We cannot command Nature except by obeying her."

"The genius, wit, and the spirit of a nation are discovered by their proverbs."

"I will never be an old man. To me, old age is always 15 years older than I am."

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

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

"Studies serve for delight, for ornaments, and for ability."

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

"A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds."

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

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

"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."

"Knowledge is power."

"Children sweeten labours, but they make misfortunes more bitter."

"Revenge is a kind of wild justice, which the more a man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out."

"There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion."