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It's Always Hopeless To Talk About Painting - One Never Does Anything But Talk Around It.
-Francis Bacon
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It's Always Hopeless To

Francis Bacon
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It's Always Hopeless To Talk About Painting - One Never Does Anything But Talk Around It.

Understanding the Quote: "it's always hopeless to talk about painting - one never does anything..."

This quote by Francis Bacon reflects deeply on the theme of communication. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Communication, Doe, Painting, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Francis Bacon interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon is celebrated for insightful thoughts on communication and doe. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

Views: 42576
Topic
Communication
Doe
Painting
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There Was A Young Man In Rome That Was Very Like Augustus Caesar; Augustus Took Knowledge Of It And Sent For The Man, And Asked Him "was Your Mother Never At Rome?" He Answered "no Sir; But My Father Was."
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All Painting Is An Accident. But It's Also Not An Accident, Because One Must Select What Part Of The Accident One Chooses To Preserve.
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By This Means We Presume We Have Established For Ever, A True And Legitimate Marriage Between The Empirical And Rational Faculty; Whose Fastidious And Unfortunate Divorce And Separation Hath Troubled And Disordered The Whole Race And Generation Of Mankind.
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First Therefore Let Us Seek The Dignity Of Knowledge In The Archetype Or First Platform, Which Is In The Attributes And Acts Of God, As Far As They Are Revealed To Man And May Be Observed With Sobriety; Wherein We May Not Seek It By The Name Of Learning; For All Learning Is Knowledge Acquired, And All Knowledge In God Is Original: And Therefore We Must Look For It By Another Name, That Of Wisdom Or Sapience, As The Scriptures Call It.
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For What A Man Would Like To Be True, That He More Readily Believes.
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To Spend Too Much Time In Studies Is Sloth; To Use Them Too Much For Ornament Is Affection; To Make Judgment Wholly By Their Rules Is The Humor Of A Scholar.
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I'll Follow, As They Say, For Reward. He That Rewards Me, God Reward Him. If I Do Grow Great, I'll Grow Less; For I'll Purge, And Leave Sack, And Live Cleanly, As A Nobleman Should Do.
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It Is Not The Lie That Passeth Through The Mind, But The Lie That Sinketh In And Settleth In It, That Doth The Hurt.
Hurt
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There Is No Excellent Beauty That Hath Not Some Strangeness In The Proportion.
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Look To Make Your Course Regular, That Men May Know Beforehand What They May Expect.
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The Place Of Justice Is A Hallowed Place.
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You Want Accuracy, But Not Representation. If You Know How To Make The Figuration, It Doesn't Work. Anything You Can Make, You Make By Accident. In Painting, You Have To Know What You Do, Not How, When You Do It.
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When A Traveler Returneth Home, Let Him Not Leave The Countries Where He Hath Traveled Altogether Behind Him.
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To Conclude, Therefore, Let No Man Upon A Weak Conceit Of Sobriety Or An Ill-applied Moderation Think Or Maintain That A Man Can Search Too Far, Or Be Too Well Studied In The Book Of God's Word, Or The Book Of God's Works, Divinity Or Philosophy; But Rather Let Men Endeavor An Endless Progress Or Proficience In Both; Only Let Men Beware That They Apply Both To Charity, And Not To Swelling; To Use, And Not To Ostentation; And Again, That They Do Not Unwisely Mingle Or Confound These Learnings Together.
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Above All, Believe It, The Sweetest Canticle Is Nunc Dimittis, When A Man Hath Obtained Worthy Ends And Expectations. Death Hath This Also, That It Openeth The Gate To Good Fame, And Extinguisheth Envy.
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Always Let Losers Have Their Words.
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Aristotle... A Mere Bond-servant To His Logic, Thereby Rendering It Contentious And Well Nigh Useless.
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It Is As Natural To Die As To Be Born; And To A Little Infant, Perhaps, The One Is As Painful As The Other.
Death
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The Colors That Show Best By Candlelight Are White, Carnation, And A Kind Of Sea-water Green.
Color
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For Behavior, Men Learn It, As They Take Diseases, One Of Another.
Men
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Nothing Doth So Much Keep Men Out Of The Church, And Drive Men Out Of The Church, As Breach Of Unity.
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Books Will Speak Plain When Counselors Blanch.
Book
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Truth Emerges More Readily From Error Than From Confusion.
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It Is A Sad Fate For A Man To Die Too Well Known To Everybody Else, And Still Unknown To Himself.
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The More A Man Drinketh Of The World, The More It Intoxicateth.
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There Are Two Books Laid Before Us To Study, To Prevent Our Falling Into Error; First, The Volume Of The Scriptures, Which Reveal The Will Of God; Then The Volume Of The Creatures, Which Express His Power.
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In All Superstition Wise Men Follow Fools.
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Truth Comes Out Of Error More Readily Than Out Of Confusion.
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Speech Of Yourself Ought To Be Seldom And Well Chosen.
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If Money Be Not Thy Servant, It Will Be Thy Master. The Covetous Man Cannot So Properly Be Said To Possess Wealth, As That May Be Said To Possess Him.
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The Mold Of Our Fortunes Is In Our Own Hands.
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If Vices Were Profitable, The Virtuous Man Would Be The Sinner.
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Virtue Is Like Precious Odours,-most Fragrant When They Are Incensed Or Crushed.
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In Taking Revenge, A Man Is But Even With His Enemy; But In Passing It Over, He Is Superior.
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Philosophy When Superficially Studied, Excites Doubt, When Thoroughly Explored, It Dispels It.
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Great Riches Have Sold More Men Than They Have Bought.
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To Say That A Man Lieth, Is As Much To Say, As That He Is Brave Towards God, And A Coward Towards Men.
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A Good Conscience Is A Continual Feast.
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They Who Derive Their Worth From Their Ancestors Resemble Potatoes, The Most Valuable Part Of Which Is Underground.
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The Essential Form Of Knowledge... Is Nothing But A Representation Of Truth: For The Truth Of Being And The Truth Of Knowing Are One, Differing No More Than The Direct Beam And The Beam Reflected.
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Of All Virtues And Dignities Of The Mind, Goodness Is The Greatest, Being The Character Of The Deity; And Without It, Man Is A Busy, Mischievous, Wretched Thing.
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God Has Placed No Limits To The Exercise Of The Intellect He Has Given Us, On This Side Of The Grave.
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Good Fame Is Like Fire; When You Have Kindled You May Easily Preserve It; But If You Extinguish It, You Will Not Easily Kindle It Again.
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Virtue Is Like A Rich Stone, Best Plain Set.
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Opportunity Makes A Thief.
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Whatever You Can, Count.
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It Is Nothing Won To Admit Men With An Open Door, And To Receive Them With A Shut And Reserved Countenance.
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I Regret Not Starting To Paint Earlier...it Is One Of The Few Things I Do Regret.
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That Things Are Changed, And That Nothing Really Perishes, And That The Sum Of Matter Remains Exactly The Same, Is Sufficiently Certain.
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God Hangs The Greatest Weights Upon The Smallest Wires.
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I Foresee It And Yet I Hardly Ever Carry It Out As I Foresee It. It Transforms Itself By The Actual Paint. I Don't In Fact Know Very Often What The Paint Will Do, And It Does Many Things Which Are Very Much Better Than I Could Make It Do.
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Defer Not Charities Till Death; For Certainly, If A Man Weigh It Rightly, He That Doth So Is Rather Liberal Of Another Man's Than Of His Own.
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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.
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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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The Errors Of Young Men Are The Ruin Of Business, But The Errors Of Aged Men Amount To This, That More Might Have Been Done, Or Sooner.
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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.
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Nor Do Apophthegms Only Serve For Ornament And Delight, But Also For Action And Civil Use, As Being The Edge-tools Of Speech Which Cut And Penetrate The Knots Of Business And Affairs: For Occasions Have Their Revolutions, And What Has Once Been Advantageously Used May Be So Again, Either As An Old Thing Or A New One.
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To Be Free Minded And Cheerfully Disposed At Hours Of Meat And Sleep And Of Exercise Is One Of The Best Precepts Of Long Lasting.
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We Cannot Command Nature Except By Obeying Her.
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For First Of All We Must Prepare A Natural And Experimental History, Sufficient And Good; And This Is The Foundation Of All; For We Are Not To Imagine Or Suppose, But To Discover, What Nature Does Or May Be Made To Do.
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Friendship Redoubleth Joys, And Cutteth Griefs In Half.
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The Creative Process Is A Cocktail Of Instinct, Skill, Culture And A Highly Creative Feverishness. It Is Not Like A Drug; It Is A Particular State When Everything Happens Very Quickly, A Mixture Of Consciousness And Unconsciousness , Of Fear And Pleasure; It's A Little Like Making Love, The Physical Act Of Love.
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I Don't Believe Art Is Available; It's Rare And Curious And Should Be Completely Isolated; One Is More Aware Of Its Magic The More It Is Isolated.
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When A Man Laughs At His Troubles He Loses A Great Many Friends. They Never Forgive The Loss Of Their Prerogative.
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God Never Wrought Miracles To Convince Atheism, Because His Ordinary Works Convince It.
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Fashion Is Only The Attempt To Realize Art In Living Forms And Social Intercourse.
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All Artists Are Vain, They Long To Be Recognized And To Leave Something To Posterity. They Want To Be Loved, And At The Same Time They Want To Be Free. But Nobody Is Free.
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Books Must Follow Sciences, And Not Sciences Books.
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Perils Commonly Ask To Be Paid In Pleasures.
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Ask Counsel Of Both Timesof The Ancient Time What Is Best, And Of The Latter Time What Is Fittest.
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If You Can Talk About It, Why Paint It?
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There Arises From A Bad And Unapt Formation Of Words A Wonderful Obstruction To The Mind.
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Do Not Wonder If The Common People Speak More Truly Than Those Above Them: They Speak More Safely.
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...neither Is It Possible To Discover The More Remote And Deeper Parts Of Any Science, If You Stand But Upon The Level Of The Same Science, And Ascend Not To A Higher Science.
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It Is Idle To Expect Any Great Advancement In Science From The Superinducing And Engrafting Of New Things Upon Old. We Must Begin Anew From The Very Foundations, Unless We Would Revolve For Ever In A Circle With Mean And Contemptible Progress.
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God Loveth The Clean.
God Love
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Knowledge Is Power.
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No One Has Yet Been Found So Firm Of Mind And Purpose As Resolutely To Compel Himself To Sweep Away All Theories And Common Notions, And To Apply The Understanding, Thus Made Fair And Even, To A Fresh Examination Of Particulars. Thus It Happens That Human Knowledge, As We Have It, Is A Mere Medley And Ill-digested Mass, Made Up Of Much Credulity And Much Accident, And Also Of The Childish Notions Which We At First Imbibed.
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We Only Have Our Nervous System To Paint.
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I Have To Hope That My Instincts Will Do The Right Thing, Because I Can't Erase What I Have Done. And If I Drew Something First, Then My Paintings Would Be Illustrations Of Drawings.
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Gardening Is The Purest Of Human Pleasures.
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The Speaking In A Perpetual Hyperbole Is Comely In Nothing But Love.
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A Just Fear Of An Imminent Danger, Though Be No Blow Given, Is A Lawful Cause Of War.
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It Has Well Been Said That The Arch-flatterer, With Whom All Petty Flatterers Have Intelligence, Is A Man's Self.
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Nevertheless If Any Skillful Servant Of Nature Shall Bring Force To Bear On Matter, And Shall Vex It And Drive It To Extremities As If With The Purpose Of Reducing It To Nothing, Then Will Matter (since Annihilation Or True Destruction Is Not Possible Except By The Omnipotence Of God) Finding Itself In These Straits, Turn And Transform Itself Into Strange Shapes, Passing From One Change To Another Till It Has Gone Through The Whole Circle And Finished The Period.
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A Young Man Not Yet, An Elder Man Not At All.
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What, Then, Remains But That We Still Should Cry, For Being Born, And, Being Born, To Die?
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I Want To Make Portraits And Images. I Don't Know How. Out Of Despair, I Just Use Paint Anyway. Suddenly The Things You Make Coagulate And Take On Just The Shape You Intend. Totally Accurate Marks, Which Are Outside Representational Marks.
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He That Cannot Possibly Mend His Own Case Will Do What He Can To Impair Another's.
Envy
Cases
All Authority Must Be Out Of A Man's Self, Turned . . . Either Upon An Art, Or Upon A Man.
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Men
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We Read That We Ought To Forgive Our Enemies; But We Do Not Read That We Ought To Forgive Our Friends.
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We Must See Whether The Same Clock With Weights Will Go Faster At The Top Of A Mountain Or At The Bottom Of A Mine; It Is Probable, If The Pull Of The Weights Decreases On The Mountain And Increases In The Mine, That The Earth Has Real Attraction.
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But I Account The Use That A Man Should Seek Of The Publishing Of His Own Writings Before His Death, To Be But An Untimely Anticipation Of That Which Is Proper To Follow A Man, And Not To Go Along With Him.
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Men
Use
The Idols Of Tribe Have Their Foundation In Human Nature Itself, And In The Tribe Or Race Of Men. For It Is A False Assertion That The Sense Of Man Is The Measure Of Things. On The Contrary, All Perceptions As Well Of The Sense As Of The Mind Are According To The Measure Of The Individual And Not According To The Measure Of The Universe. And The Human Understanding Is Like A False Mirror, Which, Receiving Rays Irregularly, Distorts And Discolors The Nature Of Things By Mingling Its Own Nature With It.
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He That Toucheth Pitch Shall Be Defiled Therewith.
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The End Of Our Foundation Is The Knowledge Of Causes; And Secret Motions Of Things; And The Enlarging Of The Bounds Of Human Empire, To The Effecting Of All Things Possible.
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Science
Secret
Philosophers Make Imaginary Laws For Imaginary Commonwealths, And Their Discourses Are As The Stars, Which Give Little Light Because They Are So High.
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Light
Anger Is Certainly A Kind Of Baseness; As It Appears Well In The Weakness Of Those Subjects In Whom It Reigns; Children, Women, Old Folks, Sick Folks. Only Men Must Beware, That They Carry Their Anger Rather With Scorn, Than With Fear; So That They May Seem Rather To Be Above The Injury, Than Below It; Which Is A Thing Easily Done, If A Man Will Give Law To Himself In It.
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Anger
Men
The Inquiry Of Truth, Which Is The Love-making, Or The Wooing Of It, The Knowledge Of Truth, Which Is The Presence Of It, And The Belief Of Truth, Which Is The Enjoying Of It, Is The Sovereign Good Of Human Nature.
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Inquiry
Sovereign
Nothing Is To Be Feared But Fear.
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War
My Painting Is Not Violent, It's Life That Is Violent. Even Within The Most Beautiful Landscape, In The Trees, Under The Leaves, The Insects Are Eating Each Other; Violence Is A Part Of Life. We Are Born With A Scream; We Come Into Life With A Scream And Maybe Love Is A Mosquito Net Between The Fear Of Living And The Fear Of Death.
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Tree
The Human Understanding When It Has Once Adopted An Opinion (either As Being The Received Opinion Or As Being Agreeable To Itself) Draws All Things Else To Support And Agree With It.
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Understanding
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Men Are Rather Beholden ... Generally To Chance Or Anything Else, Than To Logic, For The Invention Of Arts And Sciences.
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Science
Men
Judges Ought To Be More Learned, Than Witty, More Reverend, Than Plausible, And More Advised, Than Confident. Above All Things, Integrity Is Their Portion And Proper Virtue.
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Integrity
Judging
It Is In Life As It Is In Ways, The Shortest Way Is Commonly The Foulest, And Surely The Fairer Way Is Not Much About.
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Way
Believing That I Was Born For The Service Of Mankind, And Regarding The Care Of The Commonwealth As A Kind Of Common Property Which, Like The Air And The Water, Belongs To Everybody, I Set Myself To Consider In What Way Mankind Might Be Best Served, And What Service I Was Myself Best Fitted By Nature To Perform.
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Air
Water
Fortitude Is The Marshal Of Thought, The Armor Of The Will, And The Fort Of Reason.
Strength
Armor
Fortitude
When A Doubt Is Once Received, Men Labour Rather How To Keep It A Doubt Still, Than How To Solve It; And Accordingly Bend Their Wits.
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Doubt
Wit
Truth Is A Naked And Open Daylight, That Does Not Show The Masques, And Mummeries, And Triumphs Of The World, Half So Stately And Daintily As Candle-lights. . . A Mixture Of A Lie Doth Ever Add Pleasure
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Light
Triumph
And As For Mixed Mathematics, I May Only Make This Prediction, That There Cannot Fail To Be More Kinds Of Them, As Nature Grows Further Disclosed.
Failure
Math
May
Mahomet Made The People Believe That He Would Call A Hill To Him, And From The Top Of It Offer Up His Prayers For The Observers Of His Law. The People Assembled: Mahomet Called The Hill To Come To Him Again And Again; And When The Hill Stood Still, He Was Never A Whit Abashed, But Said, 'if The Hill Will Not Come To Mahomet, Mahomet Will Go To The Hill.'
Prayer
Believe
Law
If Money Be Not Thy Servant, It Will Be Thy Master.
Masters
Servant
Ifs
Silence Is The Sleep That Nourishes Wisdom.
Wise
Wisdom
Clever
Learning Teaches How To Carry Things In Suspense, Without Prejudice, Till You Resolve It.
Learning
Prejudice
Suspense
The Cord Breaketh At Last By The Weakest Pull.
Weakness
Lasts
Cords
The Syllogism Consists Of Propositions, Propositions Consist Of Words, Words Are Symbols Of Notions. Therefore If The Notions Themselves (which Is The Root Of The Matter) Are Confused And Over-hastily Abstracted From The Facts, There Can Be No Firmness In The Superstructure. Our Only Hope Therefore Lies In A True Induction.
Confused
Lying
Roots
I Knew A Wise Man That Had It For A By-word, When He Saw Men Hasten To A Conclusion, "stay A Little, That We May Make An End The Sooner."
Wise
Men
May
Painting Is The Pattern Of One's Own Nervous System Being Projected On Canvas.
Patterns
Painting
Canvas
He That Hath Knowledge Spareth His Words.
But This Is That Which Will Dignify And Exalt Knowledge: If Contemplation And Action Be More Nearly And Straitly Conjoined And United Together Than They Have Been: A Conjunction Like Unto That Of The Highest Planets, Saturn, The Planet Of Rest And Contemplation, And Jupiter, The Planet Of Civil Society And Action.
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Together
Jupiter
There Is A Difference Between Happiness And Wisdom: He That Thinks Himself The Happiest Man Is Really So; But He That Thinks Himself The Wisest Is Generally The Greatest Fool.
Happiness
Wisdom
Humility
Man, Being The Servant And Interpreter Of Nature, Can Do And Understand So Much And So Much Only As He Has Observed In Fact Or Thought Of The Course Of Nature; Beyond This He Neither Knows Anything Nor Can Do Anything.
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Knowledge
Science
...to Invent Is To Discover That We Know Not, And Not To Recover Or Resummon That Which We Already Know
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Invention
Knows
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.
Hurt
Health
Men
The Human Understanding, From Its Peculiar Nature, Easily Supposes A Greater Degree Of Order And Equality In Things Than It Really Finds.
Order
Understanding
Degrees
There Were Taken Apples, And ... Closed Up In Wax. ... After A Month's Space, The Apple Inclosed In Was Was As Green And Fresh As The First Putting In, And The Kernals Continued White. The Cause Is, For That All Exclusion Of Open Air, Which Is Ever Predatory, Maintaineth The Body In Its First Freshness And Moisture.
Taken
Science
Apples
Riches Are A Good Hand Maiden, But A Poor Mistress.
Hands
Mistress
Riches
Science Is But An Image Of The Truth.
Truth
Science
Scientist
When A Bee Stings, She Dies. She Cannot Sting And Live. When Men Sting, Their Better Selves Die. Every Sting Kills A Better Instinct. Men Must Not Turn Bees And Kill Themselves In Stinging Others.
Men
Self
Bees
The Only Really Interesting Thing Is What Happens Between Two People In A Room.
Two
People
Interesting
You Could Say That I Have No Inspiration, That I Only Need To Paint.
Inspiration
Needs
Paint
I've Had Photographs Taken For Portraits Because I Very Much Prefer Working From The Photographs Than From Models... I Couldn't Attempt To Do A Portrait From Photographs Of Somebody I Didn't Know.
Photography
Taken
Portraits
Very Few People Have A Natural Feeling For Painting, And So, Of Course, They Naturally Think That Painting Is An Expression Of The Artist's Mood. But It Rarely Is. Very Often He May Be In Greatest Despair And Be Painting His Happiest Paintings.
Artist
Thinking
Expression
When Any Of The Four Pillars Of Government-religion, Justice, Counsel, And Treasure-are Mainly Shaken Or Weakened, Men Had Need To Pray For Fair Weather.
Men
Weather
Justice
Of All The Things In Nature, The Formation And Endowment Of Man Was Singled Out By The Ancients.
Wisdom
Men Suppose Their Reason Has Command Over Their Words; Still It Happens That Words In Return Exercise Authority On Reason
Exercise
Men
Return
But We Are Not Dedicating Or Building Any Capitol Or Pyramid To Human Pride, But Found A Holy Temple In The Human Intellect, On The Model Of The Universe... For Whatever Is Worthy Of Existence Is Worthy Of Knowledge-which Is The Image (or Echo) Of Existence.
Knowledge
Pride
Echoes
You See, Painting Has Now Become, Or All Art Has Now Become Completely A Game, By Which Man Distracts Himself. What Is Fascinating Actually Is, That It's Going To Become Much More Difficult For The Artist, Because He Must Really Deepen The Game To Become Any Good At All.
Art
Men
Games
The Worst Solitude Is To Have No Real Friendships.
Friendship
Real
Solitude
I'm Working For Myself; What Else Have I Got To Work For? How Can You Work For An Audience? What Do You Imagine An Audience Would Want? I Have Got Nobody To Excite Except Myself, So I Am Always Surprised If Anyone Likes My Work Sometimes. I Suppose I'm Very Lucky, Of Course, To Be Able To Earn My Living By Something That Really Absorbs Me To Try To Do, If That Is What You Call Luck.
Luck
Trying
Want
Laws And Institutions Must Go Hand In Hand With The Progress Of The Human Mind.
Hands
Law
Mind
Princes Are Like Heavenly Bodies, Which Cause Good Or Evil Times, And Which Have Much Veneration, But No Rest.
Evil
Body
Causes
The General Root Of Superstition Is That Men Observe When Things Hit, And Not When They Miss, And Commit To Memory The One, And Pass Over The Other.
Memories
Men
Roots
The Best Armor Is To Keep Out Of Gunshot.
War
Armor
Strategy
But The Greatest Error Of All The Rest Is The Mistaking Or Misplacing Of The Last Or Farthest End Of Knowledge: For Men Have Entered Into A Desire Of Learning And Knowledge, Sometimes Upon A Natural Curiosity And Inquisitive Appetite; Sometimes To Entertain Their Minds With Variety And Delight; Sometimes For Ornament And Reputation; And Sometimes To Enable Them To Victory Of Wit And Contradiction; And Most Times For Lucre And Profession; And Seldom Sincerely To Give A True Account Of Their Gift Of Reason, To The Benefit And Use Of Men.
Knowledge
Science
Men
A Principal Fruit Of Friendship, Is The Ease And Discharge Of The Fullness And Swellings Of The Heart, Which Passions Of All Kinds Do Cause And Induce.
Real
Passion
Heart
God Almighty First Planted A Garden. And Indeed, It Is The Purest Of Human Pleasures.
Nature
Garden
Firsts
Fame Is Like A River, That Beareth Up Things Light And Swollen, And Drowns Things Weighty And Solid.
Light
Rivers
Fame
I Would Live To Study, Not Study To Live.
Study
The Light That A Man Receives By Counsel From Another Is Drier And Purer Than That Which Comes From His Own Understanding And Judgment, Which Is Ever Infused And Drenched In His Affections And Customs.
Men
Light
Advice
The Nature Of Things Betrays Itself More Readily Under The Vexations Of Art Than In Its Natural Freedom.
Art
Nature
Freedom
For No Man Can Forbid The Spark Nor Tell Whence It May Come.
Men
May
Sparks
Money Is A Good Servant, A Dangerous Master.
Money
Wealth
Masters
If We Do Not Maintain Justice, Justice Will Not Maintain Us.
Justice
Fairness
Criminal Justice
Wonder Is The Seed Of Knowledge
Science
Wonder
Seeds
In Civil Business; What First? Boldness; What Second And Third? Boldness: And Yet Boldness Is A Child Of Ignorance And Baseness.
Children
Business
Ignorance
If A Man's Wit Be Not Apt To Distinguish Or Find Differences, Let Him Study The Schoolmen; For They Are Cymini Sectores, Splitters Of Hairs.
Science
Men
Hair
A Sudden Bold And Unexpected Question Doth Many Times Surprise A Man And Lay Him Open.
Men
Experience
Unexpected
Write Down The Thoughts Of The Moment. Those That Come Unsought For Are Commonly The Most Valuable.
Life
Success
Time
In Every Great Time There Is Some One Idea At Work Which Is More Powerful Than Any Other, And Which Shapes The Events Of The Time And Determines Their Ultimate Issues.
Time
Powerful
Ideas
Crafty Men Condemn Studies; Simple Men Admire Them; And Wise Men Use Them: For They Teach Not Their Own Use: But That Is A Wisdom Without Them, And Above Them, Won By Observation.
Wise
Simple
Men
Beauty Itself Is But The Sensible Image Of The Infinite.
Beauty
Infinite
Sensible
Acorns Were Good Until Bread Was Found.
Food
Progress
Bread
Art Is Man Added To Nature.
Art
Nature
Men
The Subtlety Of Nature Is Greater Many Times Over Than The Subtlety Of The Senses And Understanding.
Nature
Understanding
Subtlety
The Folly Of One Man Is The Fortune Of Another.
Men
Stupidity
Fortune
Every Person Born In The Usa Is Endowed With Life, Liberty, And A Substantial Share Of The National Debt.
Usa
Liberty
Modern Life
Again Men Have Been Kept Back As By A Kind Of Enchantment From Progress In Science By Reverence For Antiquity, By The Authority Of Men Counted Great In Philosophy, And Then By General Consent.
Philosophy
Men
Progress
Of All Virtues And Dignities Of The Mind, Goodness Is The Greatest
Kindness
Kids
Caring
No Artist Knows In His Own Lifetime Whether What He Does Will Be The Slightest Good, Because It Takes At Least Seventy-five To A Hundred Years Before The Thing Begins To Sort Itself Out.
Time
Artist
Years
It Is As Hard And Severe A Thing To Be A True Politician As To Be Truly Moral.
Politics
Moral
Fierce
The Person Is A Poor Judge Who By An Action Can Be Disgraced More In Failing Than They Can Be Honored In Succeeding.
Judging
Honor
Succeed
Some Men Covet Knowledge Out Of A Natural Curiosity And Inquisitive Temper; Some To Entertain The Mind With Variety And Delight; Some For Ornament And Reputation; Some For Victory And Contention; Many For Lucre And A Livelihood; And But Few For Employing The Divine Gift Of Reason To The Use And Benefit Of Mankind.
Knowledge
Men
Curiosity
The Desire Of Power In Excess Caused The Angels To Fall; The Desire Of Knowledge In Excess Caused Man To Fall: But In Charity There Is No Excess; Neither Can Angel Nor Man Come In Danger By It.
Life
Fall
Angel
It Is Natural To Die As To Be Born.
Death
Dying
Natural
Learning Hath His Infancy, When It Is But Beginning And Almost Childish; Then His Youth, When It Is Luxuriant And Juvenile; Then His Strength Of Years, When It Is Solid And Reduced; And Lastly His Old Age, When It Waxeth Dry And Exhaust.
Learning
Years
Age
The Genius Of Any Single Man Can No More Equal Learning, Than A Private Purse Hold Way With The Exchequer.
Learning
Men
Genius
Men Of Noble Birth Are Noted To Be Envious Towards New Men When They Rise. For The Distance Is Altered, And It Is Like A Deceit Of The Eye, That When Others Come On They Think Themselves Go Back.
Distance
Eye
Men
The Job Of The Artist Is Always To Deepen The Mystery.
Life
Beauty
Beautiful
No Pleasure Is Comparable To The Standing Upon The Vantage-ground Of Truth.
Truth
Lying
Inspirational Life
The Ill And Unfit Choice Of Words Wonderfully Obstructs The Understanding.
Choices
Understanding
Statistics
For Many Parts Of Nature Can Neither Be Invented With Sufficient Subtlety, Nor Demonstrated With Sufficient Perspicuity, Nor Accommodated Unto Use With Sufficient Dexterity, Without The Aid And Intervening Of The Mathematics, Of Which Sort Are Perspective, Music, Astronomy, Cosmography, Architecture, Engineery, And Divers Others.
Nature
Science
History
I Think I Tend To Destroy The Better Paintings, Or Those That Have Been Better To A Certain Extent. I Try And Take Them Further, And They Lose All Their Qualities, And They Lose Everything. I Think I Would Say That I Destroy All The Better Paintings.
Thinking
Trying
Quality
Next To Religion, Let Your Care Be To Promote Justice.
Justice
Care
Next
For A Crowd Is Not Company; And Faces Are But A Gallery Of Pictures; And Talk But A Tinkling Cymbal, Where There Is No Love.
Love
Loneliness
Real Friends
Read Not To Contradict And Confute; Nor To Believe And Take For Granted; Nor To Find Talk And Discourse; But To Weigh And Consider. Some Books Are To Be Tasted, Others To Be Swallowed, And Some Few To Be Chewed And Digested: That Is, Some Books Are To Be Read Only In Parts, Others To Be Read, But Not Curiously, And Some Few To Be Read Wholly, And With Diligence And Attention.
Believe
Book
Attention
Brutes By Their Natural Instinct Have Produced Many Discoveries, Whereas Men By Discussion And The Conclusions Of Reason Have Given Birth To Few Or None.
Science
Men
Discovery
In Mathematics I Can Report No Deficiency, Except It Be That Men Do Not Sufficiently Understand The Excellent Use Of Pure Mathematics.
Men
Use
Statistics
It Cannot Be Denied That Outward Accidents Conduce Much To Fortune, Favor, Opportunity, Death Of Others, Occasion Fitting Virtue; But Chiefly, The Mold Of A Man's Fortune Is In His Own Hands
Opportunity
Men
Hands
The Greatest Vicissitude Of Things Amongst Men, Is The Vicissitude Of Sects And Religions.
Men
Religion
Vicissitudes
For Friends... Do But Look Upon Good Books: They Are True Friends, That Will Neither Flatter Nor Dissemble.
True Friend
Book
Looks
There Is Nothing More Certain In Nature Than That It Is Impossible For Any Body To Be Utterly Annihilated.
Science
Body
Matter
The Master Of Superstition, Is The People; And In All Superstition, Wise Men Follow Fools; And Arguments Are Fitted To Practice, In A Reversed Order.
Wise
Men
Order
So That Every Wand Or Staff Of Empire Is Forsooth Curved At Top.
Government
Empires
Staff
Base And Crafty Cowards Are Like The Arrow That Flieth In The Dark.
Dark
Arrows
Coward
The Natures And Dispositions Of Men Are, Not Without Truth, Distinguished From The Predominance Of The Planets.
Men
Astrology
Disposition
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