Francis Bacon |
Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand - and melting like a snowflake.
It is a strange desire, to seek power, and to lose liberty; or to seek power over others, and to lose power over a man`s self.
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.
All superstition is much the same whether it be that of astrology, dreams, omen, retributive judgment, or the like, in all of which the deluded believers observe events which are fulfilled, but neglect and pass over their failure, though it be much more common.
The general root of superstition [is] that men observe when things hit, and not when they miss, and commit to memory the one, and forget and pass over the other.