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
What this quote means
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.
Themes
DeathBirthLifeNaturalPain
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech on the cycle of life, one could use this quote to highlight the naturalness of life and death.
More from Francis Bacon
All quotes →Nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise.
Francis BaconRead
Truth emerges more readily from error than from confusion.
Francis BaconRead
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
Francis BaconRead
Wise men make more opportunities than they find.
Francis BaconRead
Knowledge and human power are synonymous.
Francis BaconRead
Similar quotes
Drinking when we are not thirsty and making love at all seasons, madam: that is all there is to distinguish us from other animals.
Pierre BeaumarchaisRead
There's a victory, and defeat; the first and best of victories, the lowest and worst of defeats which each man gains or sustains at the hands not of another, but of himself.
PlatoRead
This person has just arrived on this planet, knows nothing about it, has no standards by which to judge it. This person does not care what it becomes. It is eager to become absolutely anything it is supposed to be.
Kurt VonnegutRead
We have this day restored the Sovereign to Whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let His kingdom come.
Samuel AdamsRead
Who will observe the observers?
Arthur EddingtonRead
He must not merely cling to life, for then he will be a coward, and will not escape. He must not merely wait for death, for then he will be a suicide, and will not escape. He must seek his life in a spirit of furious indifference to it.
Gilbert K. ChestertonRead