Francis Bacon Quotes

Just because something is traditional is no reason to do it, of course.

Frankly, I like new things. I feel like I made a contribution to building a more interactive world. And I'm proud of that.

The greatest of the changes that science has brought is the acuity of change; the greatest novelty the extent of novelty.

But genius looks forward: the eyes of men are set in his forehead, not in his hindhead: man hopes: genius creates.

Each work has to pass through these stages—ridicule, opposition, and then acceptance. Those who think ahead of their time are sure to be misunderstood.

I'm in favor of progress; it's change I don't like.

Is it not evident, in these last hundred years (when the Study of Philosophy has been the business of all the Virtuosi in Christendome) that almost a new Nature has been revealed to us? that more errours of the School have been detected, more useful Experiments in Philosophy have been made, more Noble Secrets in Opticks, Medicine, Anatomy, Astronomy, discover'd, than in all those credulous and doting Ages from Aristotle to us? So true it is that nothing spreads more fast than Science, when rightly and generally cultivated.

I like the present. I'm always interested in new ideas, and what's happening. I'm not nostalgic.

Great steps in human progress are made by things that don't work the way philosophy thought they should. If things always worked the way they should, you could write the history of the world from now on. But they don't, and it is those deviations from the normal that make human progress.

Old ways will always remain unless some one invents a new way and then lives and dies for it

Our industry does not respect tradition - it only respects innovation.

Innovation is very important to me, especially professionally. The alternative, standing pat, leads to complacency, rigidity and eventually failure.

If you wish to understand what Revolution is, call it Progress; and if you wish to understand what Progress is, call it Tomorrow.

We should stay on the right track to the 21st century. Opportunity alone is not enough. I want to build an America in the 21st century in which all Americans take personal responsibility for themselves, their families, their communities and their country.

I'm always interested in what's next or what is the new kind of thinking.

I do not believe that every person, in every walk of life, can succeed in spite of any handicap. That would be perfection. But I do believe that what I was able to attain came to be because we put behind us (no matter how slowly) the dogmas of the past: to discover the truth of today; and perhaps the greatness of tomorrow.

Our philosophy is about reaching back to move forward. We have something different to say with a sensibility that is both old and new.

It's not the genius who is 100 years ahead of his time but average man who is 100 years behind it.

It's important to have a non-nostalgic view and say, let's look forward, because if we don't, all we'll hear are voices telling us to go back.

Encourage innovation. Change is our lifeblood, stagnation our death knell.

The world is for newness, not for oldness. New, new things we have to create. Then only the world will progress. If not, we will come to feel that there is nothing new under the sun. We have to create new things to keep our joy. If there is no newness, how can we have enthusiasm? And if there is no enthusiasm, do we make any progress?

The intelligent use of science and technology are the tools with which to achieve a new direction.

All economic activity is by definition "high risk." And defending yesterday--that is, not innovating--is far more risky than making tomorrow.

My call is not to those who believe they belong to the past. My call is to those who believe in the future.

There's something about the American spirit -– inherent in the American spirit -- we don't hang on to the past. We always move forward.... We are going to leave something better for our children –- not just here in the United States, but all around the world.