It was prettily devised of Aesop, The fly sat on the axle tree of the chariot wheel and said, what dust do I raise!
There is no greater wisdom than well to time the beginnings and onsets of things.
The best armor is to keep out of gunshot.
There is nothing makes a man suspect much, more than to know little, and therefore men should remedy suspicion by procuring to know more, and not keep their suspicions in smother.
There is no secrecy comparable to celerity.
In all superstition wise men follow fools.
There is superstition in avoiding superstition.
There is no such flatterer as is a man’s self.
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.
Philosophers make imaginary laws for imaginary commonwealths, and their discourses are as the stars, which give little light because they are so high.
Truth is a naked and open daylight.
If there be fuel prepared, it is hard to tell whence the spark shall come that shall set it on fire.
Excusations, cessions, modesty itself well governed, are but arts of ostentation.
The colors that show best by candlelight are white, carnation, and a kind of sea-water green.
Perils commonly ask to be paid in pleasures.
He that cannot possibly mend his own case will do what he can to impair another’s.
States, as great engines, move slowly.
It is nothing won to admit men with an open door, and to receive them with a shut and reserved countenance.
Wounds cannot be cured without searching.
Learning teaches how to carry things in suspense, without prejudice, till you resolve it.