Salomon saith, There is no new thing upon the earth. So that as Plato had an imagination, that all knowledge was but remembrance; so Salomon giveth his sentence, that all novelty is but oblivion.
Francis BaconRead
Fame is like a river, that beareth up things light and swollen, and drowns things weighty and solid.
Interpretation
Fame can elevate superficial aspects while obscuring deeper truths.
In this quote, Francis Bacon uses the metaphor of a river to illustrate how fame can elevate trivial or insubstantial qualities, much like lighter objects floating on water. In contrast, it can drown out the more meaningful and substantial qualities that are too heavy to be carried by the currents of public attention. This highlights the often misleading nature of fame, where popular recognition does not equate to true value or significance.
In practice
During a speech about the nature of success, one could use this quote to emphasize the importance of substance over superficial acclaim.
Salomon saith, There is no new thing upon the earth. So that as Plato had an imagination, that all knowledge was but remembrance; so Salomon giveth his sentence, that all novelty is but oblivion.
Nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise.
Truth emerges more readily from error than from confusion.
Great art is always a way of concentrating, reinventing what is called fact, what we know of our existence- a reconcentration… tearing away the veils, the attitudes people acquire of their time and earlier time. Really good artists tear down those veils
Wise men make more opportunities than they find.
Knowledge and human power are synonymous.
The government of the United States has been emphatically termed a government of laws, and not of men. It will certainly cease to deserve this high appellation, if the laws furnish no remedy for the violation of a vested legal right.
I recognize in thieves, traitors and murderers, in the ruthless and the cunning, a deep beauty - a sunken beauty.
'It is my duty to warn you that it will be used against you,' cried the Inspector, with the magnificent fair play of the British criminal law.
I met a lot of people in Europe. I even encountered myself.
Most men are scantily nourished on a modicum of happiness and a number of empty thoughts which life lays on their plates. They are kept in the road of life through stern necessity by elemental duties which they cannot avoid.
Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.
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