Francis Bacon

I have watched men cling to offices long past their use, thinking duty binds them when in truth only fear does. They stay while the roof rots and the walls lean, waiting for a command to depart that never comes. This is not prudence but a sickness of the spirit; they mistake their own decay for a station worth holding. I tell you, when the floor shakes beneath your feet,…

I remember a council chamber where a young lawyer stood before me, his logic flawless and his reputation rising like smoke from a fresh fire. I felt a sharp heat behind my ribs, not because he was wrong, but because he was right. My own mind, weary of the same old arguments, sought to dim his light by finding faults in his attire or questioning his lineage. I did not…

I have watched men ruin their own hands by pretending they are afraid when they mean to strike. When a captain hides his true plan, he may surprise the enemy once, but he loses the confidence of his crew forever. They no longer follow him because they cannot tell if he is leading them to victory or to a trap. A man who must always wear a mask walks alone;…