Francis Bacon Quotes

The greatest and noblest pleasure which we have in this world is to discover new truths, and the next is to shake off old prejudices.

I'm not quite pompous enough to think of myself as an educator or a man capable of definitive refutation of falsehoods.

It is impossible to begin to learn that which one thinks one already knows.

Whoever does not love knowledge, then there is no good in him.

Do not be an arrogant scholar, for scholarship cannot subsist with arrogance.

The more you think you know, the more closed-minded you'll be.

We absolutely must leave room for doubt or there is no progress and no learning. There is no learning without having to pose a question. And a question requires doubt. People search for certainty. But there is no certainty.

A man remains ignorant because he loves ignorance, and chooses ignorant thoughts; a man becomes wise because he loves wisdom and chooses wise thoughts.

No man really becomes a fool until he stops asking questions.

We must strive for literacy and education that teach us to never quit questioning and probing at the assumptions of the day.

Too much openness and you accept every notion, idea, and hypothesis-which is tantamount to knowing nothing. Too much skepticism-especially rejection of new ideas before they are adequately tested-and you're not only unpleasantly grumpy, but also closed to the advance of science. A judicious mix is what we need.

There are only two things one has to bear in mind. One has to be credulous - able to believe - and skeptical - able to not believe, because if you are not skeptical, you will believe rubbish. If you are not credulous you will learn nothing and the only way to balance those two is to recognize the mystery of things.

Don't hold strong opinions about things you don't truly understand.

Upon this first, and in one sense this sole, rule of reason, that in order to learn you must desire to learn, and in so desiring not be satisfied with what you already incline to think, there follows one corollary which itself deserves to be inscribed upon every wall of the city of philosophy: Do not block the way of inquiry.

No one ever died from an open mind.

Condemnation without investigation is the height of ignorance

Doubt . . . impels a search for the truth. It opens the door to knowledge. Faith puts a lock on the door. Indeed, . . . faith anesthetizes the desire to seek knowledge and truth.

Here you discover that so long as books are kept open, then minds can never be closed.

I believe that having an open mind is one of the most important qualities we can possess. Once our minds close, we stop evolving.

An open mind is not an end in itself but a means to the end of finding truth.

Where there is much desire to learn, there of necessity will be much arguing, much writing, many opinions; for opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making.

The surest way to lose truth is to pretend that one already wholly possesses it.

Minds are like parachutes - they only function when open.

Education is the process of driving a set of prejudices down your throat.

With science and reason throughout history, what people believed turned out to be false. So I like to keep an open mind to all perspectives and learn and become more fully realised as a person. I just feel we're never going to know what the full picture is.