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 hard and severe a thing to be a true politician as to be truly moral.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Being a genuine politician requires a level of integrity and difficulty comparable to that of being a moral person.
This quote by Francis Bacon highlights the challenge of authenticity in both politics and morality. It suggests that true politicians must navigate complex ethical landscapes, similar to the moral dilemmas faced by individuals striving to live ethically and upright. Hence, it points out how both roles demand resilience, commitment, and a strong sense of duty, often against significant odds.
Themes
PoliticsMoralityIntegrityEthicsTruth
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about ethical leadership, one might quote Bacon to emphasize the difficulties in politics.
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
I don't blame the average seventeen-year-old punk-rock kid for calling me a sellout. I understand that. And maybe when they grow up a little bit, they'll realize there's more things to life than living out your rock & roll identity so righteously.
Kurt CobainRead
What is mind but motion in the intellectual sphere?
Oscar WildeRead
Life will not, it will never, make sense to your mind. The secret is to see life from the soul's perspective; to add to the mind's experience the soul's wisdom, awareness, and total knowing.
Neale Donald WalschRead
The probability of apocalypse soon cannot be realistically estimated, but it is surely too high for any sane person to contemplate with equanimity.
Noam ChomskyRead
Here halt, I pray you, make a little stay. O wayfarer, to read what I have writ, And know by my fate what thy fate shall be. What thou art now, so shall thou be. The world's delight I followed with a heart Unsatisfied: ashes am I, and dust.
AlcuinRead
People who think you could wave a magic wand and the legacy of the past will be over are blind.
Ruth Bader GinsburgRead