Men suppose their reason has command over their words; still it happens that words in return exercise authority on reason

The root of all superstition is that men observe when a thing hits, but not when it misses.

All authority must be out of a man's self, turned . . . either upon an art, or upon a man. - Francis Bacon,

I hold every man a debtor to his profession; from the which as men of course do seek to receive countenance and profit, so ought they of duty to endeavour themselves by way of amends to be a help and ornament thereunto.

Such is the way of all superstition, whether in astrology, dreams, omens, divine judgments, or the like; wherein men, having a delight in such vanities, mark the events where they are fulfilled, but where they fail, though this happen much oftener, n

Nothing destroys authority more than the unequal and untimely interchange of power stretched too far and relaxed too much.