Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested. States as great engines move slowly. The desire of power in excess caused the angels to fall; the desire of knowledge in excess caused man to fall. The greatest vicissitude of things amongst men is the vicissitude of sects and religions. The remedy is worse than the disease. Poesy was ever thought to have some participation of divineness, because it doth raise and erect the mind by submitting the shews of things to the desires of the mind. A little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men’s minds about to religion. There is as much difference between the counsel that a friend giveth, and that a man giveth himself, as there is between the counsel of a friend and a flatterer. Silence is the virtue of fools. The best part of beauty is that which no picture can express. | 
