Francis Bacon on Memorial Day
1561–1626 England
← All quotes by Francis Bacon
9 quotes
Nay, number (itself) in armies, importeth not much, where the people is of weak courage; for (as Virgil saith) it never troubles the wolf how many the sheep be.
Essays or Counsels Civil and Moral (1597)
The pomp of death alarms us more than death itself.
Men fear death, as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other.
It is as natural to die as to be born; and to a little infant, perhaps, the one is as painful as the other.
I have often thought upon death, and I find it the least of all evils.
What then remains but that we still should cry
Not to be born, or, being born, to die?
The World (1629)
Croesus said to Cambyses; That peace was better than war; because in peace the sons did bury their fathers, but in wars the fathers did bury their sons.
It is worthy the observing, that there is no passion in the mind of man, so weak, but it mates, and masters, the fear of death; and therefore, death is no such terrible enemy, when a man hath so many attendants about him, that can win the combat of him. Revenge triumphs over death; love slights it; honor aspireth to it; grief flieth to it; fear preoccupieth it.
Essays (1625)
Death is a friend of ours; and he that is not ready to entertain him is not at home.
Disputed