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Imagination was given to man to compensate for what he is not, and a sense of humor to console him for what he is.

— Francis Bacon Disputed

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Source, in full

Attributed to Bacon without citation of work in Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists (2007) by James Geary, p. 112; this is sometimes attributed to others, also without citation of works, but is most often quoted as an anonymous aphorism, with no published sources yet located prior to The Deke Quarterly, Vol. 56, No. 3 (1938)

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Imagination

More quotes by Francis Bacon

For all knowledge and wonder (which is the seed of knowledge) is an impression of pleasure in itself.

The Advancement of Learning (1605)

But men must know that in this theater of man's life it is reserved only for God and angels to be lookers on.

The Advancement of Learning (1605)

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

The Advancement of Learning (1605)

Truth will sooner come out from error than from confusion.

Novum Organum (1620)

The monuments of wit survive the monuments of power.

Essex's Device (1595)

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Nothing is more dangerous to reason than the flights of the imagination, and nothing has been the occasion of more mistakes among philosophers.

David Hume A Treatise of Human Nature (1739)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Francis Bacon (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.