It was well said by Themistocles to the King of Persia, 'That speech was like cloth of arras opened and put abroad, whereby the imagery doth appear in figure; whereas in thought they lie in packs.' Neither is this second fruit of friendship, in opening the understanding, restrained only to such friends as are able to give a man counsel.
(They are, indeed, best.) But even without that, a man learneth of himself, and bringeth his own thoughts to light, and whetteth his wits against a stone which itself cuts not.

In a word, a man were better relate himself to a _statua_ or a picture, than to suffer his thoughts to pass in smother." Bacon, as has been said, was a great maker of notes and note-books: he was careful not of the thought only, but of the very words in which it presented itself; everything was collected that might turn out useful in his writing or speaking, down to alternative modes of beginning or connecting or ending a sentence.

He watched over his intellectual appliances and resources much more strictly than over his money concerns.

He never threw away and never forgot what could be turned to account.

He was never afraid of repeating himself, if he thought he had something apt to say.