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
It is as natural to die as to be born; and to a little infant, perhaps, the one is as painful as the other.
Interpretation
Death and birth are natural processes, and both can be equally challenging for an infant.
In this quote, Francis Bacon suggests that both birth and death are integral parts of life, and he highlights the pain associated with both experiences from the perspective of an infant. This reflection emphasizes the inevitability and naturalness of these life events, each bearing its own emotional weight, suggesting that fear or sorrow towards them is inherent to the human experience of existence.
In practice
During a speech on the cycle of life, one could use this quote to highlight the naturalness of life and death.
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.
Our obligation to fight pollution traces the roots of its persuasion to that same moral mountaintop from which my father lent his voice to the voiceless. The pursuit of civil equality in health helped build our environmental laws.
Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays.
The release of atomic power has changed everything except our way of thinking ... the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker. (1945)
The best way to make every one poor is to insist on equality of wealth.
If neurotic is wanting two mutually exclusive things at one and the same time, then I'm neurotic as hell. I'll be flying back and forth between one mutually exclusive thing and another for the rest of my days.
What terrified me will terrify others; and I need only describe the spectre which had haunted my midnight pillow.
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