| Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence. — In Defense of the British Soldiers on trial for the Boston Massacre, December 4, 1770 | — John Adams |
| Failure is more frequently from want of energy than want of capital. | — Daniel Webster |
| Faith keeps many doubts in her pay. If I could not doubt, I should not believe. | — Henry David Thoreau |
| Faith never makes a confession. | — Henry David Thoreau |
| Falsehood has an infinity of combinations, but truth has only one mode of being. | — Jean-Jacques Rousseau |
| Falsehoods not only disagree with truths, but usually quarrel among themselves. | — Daniel Webster |
| Fame is but the breath of people, and that often unwholesome. | — Jean-Jacques Rousseau |
| Fame is like a river, that beareth up things light and swollen, and drowns things weighty and solid. | — Francis Bacon |
| Fame is like a shaved pig with a greased tail, and it is only after it has slipped through the hands of some thousands, that some fellow, by mere chance, holds on to it! | — Davy Crockett |
| Fancy has an extensive influence in morals. Some of the most powerful and dangerous feelings in nature, as those of ambition and envy, derive their principal nourishment from a cause apparently so trivial. Its effect on the common affairs of life is greater than might be supposed. Naked reality would scarcely keep the world in motion. | — William Benton Clulow |
| Fantasy, abandoned by reason, produces impossible monsters; united with it, she is the mother of the arts and the origin of marvels. | — Francisco Goya |
| Far from being rivals or enemies, religion and law are twin sisters, friends, and mutual assistants. Indeed, these two sciences run into each other. The divine law, as discovered by reason and the moral sense, forms an essential part of both. | — James Wilson |
| Fashion is only the attempt to realize art in living forms and social intercourse. | — Francis Bacon |
| Fatigue is the best pillow. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Fear comes from uncertainty. When we are absolutely certain, whether of our worth or worthlessness, we are almost impervious to fear. | — William Congreve |
| Fear is the foundation of most governments; but it is so sordid and brutal a passion, and renders men in whose breasts it predominates so stupid and miserable, that Americans will not be likely to approve of any political institution which is founded on it. — Thoughts on Government, 1776 | — John Adams |
| Fear not, the people may be deluded for a moment, but cannot be corrupted. | — Andrew Jackson |
| Fearing no insult, asking for no crown, receive with indifference both flattery and slander, and do not argue with a fool. | — Alexander Pushkin |
| Felicity, the companion of content, is rather found in our own breasts than in the enjoyment of external things; and I firmly believe it requires but a little philosophy to make a man happy in whatever state he is. | — Daniel Boone |
| Few escape from all the storms of life unwrecked; but few are cheered amid the tempest with the hopes of such a haven as that which you have reached. | — Arthur Middleton |
| Few Indians only had breech cloths, most being wrapped in buffalo robes, otherwise quite naked. | — Zebulon Pike |
| Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder. | — George Washington |
| Figure-flingers and star-gazers pretend to foretell the fortunes of kingdoms, and have no foresight in what concerns themselves. | — Roger L'Estrange |
| Finally we shall place the Sun himself at the center of the Universe. All this is suggested by the systematic procession of events and the harmony of the whole Universe, if only we face the facts, as they say, 'with both eyes open'. | — Nicolaus Copernicus |
| Finally, there seem to be but three Ways for a Nation to acquire Wealth. The first is by War as the Romans did in plundering their conquered Neighbours. This is Robbery. The second by Commerce which is generally Cheating. The third by Agriculture the only honest Way; wherein Man receives a real Increase of the Seed thrown into the Ground, in a kind of continual Miracle wrought by the Hand of God in his favour, as a Reward for his innocent Life, and virtuous Industry.
— Positions to be Examined, April 4, 1769 | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Fine art is that in which the hand, the head, and the heart of man go together. | — John Ruskin |
| Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; Some blunders and absurdities have crept in. Forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered by your old nonsense. | — Ralph Waldo Emerson |
| Fire and swords are slow engines of destruction, compared to the tongue of a Gossip. | — Richard Steele |
| Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples' liberty's teeth. | — George Washington |
| First feelings are always the most natural. | — Louis XIV |
| First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen, he was second to none in humble and enduring scenes of private life. Pious, just humane, temperate, and sincere; uniform dignified, and commanding; his example was as edifying to all around him as were the effects of that example lasting correct throughout, vice shuddered in his presence and virtue always felt his fostering hand. The purity of his private charter gave effulgence to his public virtues. Such was the man for whom our nation morns — official eulogy of George Washington, delivered by Richard Henry Lee, December 26, 1799 | — John Marshall |
| Firstly I commit my Soul into the hands of God, its great and benevolent author. — Last Will and Testament | — Josiah Bartlett |
| Fish and visitors smell in three days.
— Poor Richard's Almanack | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear. — Letter to Peter Carr (1787) | — Thomas Jefferson |
| Fond memory brings the light of other days around me. | — Thomas Moore |
| Fools admire, but men of sense approve. | — Alexander Pope |
| Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. | — Alexander Pope |
| For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security. | — Thomas Jefferson |
| For all sad words of tongue and pen, The saddest are these, 'It might have been'. | — John Greenleaf Whittier |
| For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind. | — Ralph Waldo Emerson |
| For example. If the system be established on basis of Income, and his just proportion on that scale has been already drawn from every one, to step into the field of Consumption, and tax special articles in that, as broadcloth or homespun, wine or whiskey, a coach or a wagon, is doubly taxing the same article. For that portion of Income with which these articles are purchased, having already paid its tax as Income, to pay another tax on the thing it purchased, is paying twice for the same thing; it is an aggrievance on the citizens who use these articles in exoneration of those who do not, contrary to the most sacred of the duties of a government, to do equal and impartial justice to all its citizens.
— Letter to Joseph Milligan, April 6, 1816 | — Thomas Jefferson |
| For Forms of Government let fools contest; whatever is best administered is best. | — Alexander Pope |
| For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions, even on important subjects, which I once thought right but found to be otherwise. | — Benjamin Franklin |
| For I agree with you that there is a natural aristocracy among men. The grounds of this are virtue and talents.
— October 28, 1813 | — Thomas Jefferson |
| For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight, His can't be wrong whose life is in the right. | — Alexander Pope |
| For my name and memory I leave to men's charitable speeches, and to foreign nations and the next ages. | — Francis Bacon |
| For myself the delay [in assuming the office of the President] may be compared with a reprieve; for in confidence I assure you, with the world it would obtain little credit that my movements to the chair of Government will be accompanied by feelings not unlike those of a culprit who is going to the place of his execution: so unwilling am I, in the evening of a life nearly consumed in public cares, to quit a peaceful abode for an Ocean of difficulties, without that competency of political skill, abilities and inclination which is necessary to manage the helm.
— Comment to General Henry Knox, March 1789 | — George Washington |
| For myself, therefore, I desire to declare that the principle that will govern me in the high duty to which my country calls me is a strict adherence to the letter and spirit of the Constitution as it was designed by those who framed it. | — Martin Van Buren |
| For popular purposes, at least, the aim of literary artists should be similar to that of Rubens in his landscapes, of which, without neglecting the minor traits or finishing, he was chiefly solicitous to present the leading effect, or what we may call the inspiration. | — William Benton Clulow |
| For the information of young hunters, I will just say, in this place, that whenever a fellow gets bad lost, the way home is just the way he don't think it is. This rule will hit nine times out of ten. | — Davy Crockett |
| For the laws of nature (as justice, equity, modesty, mercy, and, in sum, doing to others as we woud be done to) of themselves, without the terror of some power, to cause them to be observed, are contrary to our natural passions, that carry us to partiality, pride, revenge and the like. — from Leviathan, 1651, Pt. I, ch. 1 | — Thomas Hobbes |
| For the same reason that the members of the State legislatures will be unlikely to attach themselves sufficiently to national objects, the members of the federal legislature will be likely to attach themselves too much to local objects.
— Federalist No. 46 | — James Madison |
| For too long people have backed companies on hope value rather than solid products coming out. Now we are coming out the other side. | — Daniel Morgan |
| For true patriots to be silent, is dangerous. — 1766 | — Samuel Adams |
| For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. — Sermon to his fellow Puritans on their way to Massachusetts in 1630. | — John Winthrop |
| For when you assemble a Number of Men to have the Advantage of their joint Wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those Men all their Prejudices, their Passions, their Errors of Opinion, their local Interests, and their selfish Views. From such an Assembly can a perfect Production be expected? It therefore astonishes me, Sir, to find this System approaching so near to Perfection as it does; and I think it will astonish our Enemies, who are waiting with Confidence to hear that our Councils are confounded, like those of the Builders of Babel, and that our States are on the Point of Separation, only to meet hereafter for the Purpose of cutting one anothers Throats.
— Speech on Sept. 17 1787 | — Benjamin Franklin |
| Force does not constitute right... obedience is due only to legitimate powers. | — Jean-Jacques Rousseau |
| Force is the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism. | — Thomas Jefferson |
| Force may make hypocrites, but it can never make converts. | — William Penn |
| Force may subdue, but love gains, and he that forgives first wins the laurel. | — William Penn |
| Foreign influence is truly the Grecian horse to a republic. We cannot be too careful to exclude its influence.
— Pacificus, No. 6, July 17, 1793 | — Alexander Hamilton |
| Foreign powers do not seem to appreciate the true character of our government. | — James K. Polk |
| Fortitude is the marshal of thought, the armor of the will, and the fort of reason. | — Francis Bacon |
| Fortune is always on the side of the largest battalions.
— Lettres | — Marie de Rabutin-Chantal |
| Fortune is like the market, where, many times, if you can stay a little, the price will fall. | — Francis Bacon |
| Free people, remember this maxim: we may acquire liberty, but it is never recovered if it is once lost. | — Jean-Jacques Rousseau |
| Freedom had been hunted round the globe; reason was considered as rebellion; and the slavery of fear had made men afraid to think. But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing. — Rights of Man, 1791 | — Thomas Paine |
| Freedom of discussion, unaided by power, is… sufficient for the propagation and protection of truth
— Second Inaugural Address, 1805 | — Thomas Jefferson |
| Freedom of thought and the right of private judgment, in matters of conscience, driven from every other corner of the earth, direct their course to this happy country as their last asylum. — Speech at the State House, Philadelphia, August 1, 1776 | — Samuel Adams |
| Friends are thieves of time. | — Francis Bacon |
| Friends... they cherish one another's hopes. They are kind to one another's dreams. | — Henry David Thoreau |
| Friendship increases in visiting friends, but in visiting them seldom. | — Francis Bacon |
| Friendship is a plant of slow growth and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation. | — George Washington |
| Friendship is but another name for an alliance with the follies and the misfortunes of others. Our own share of miseries is sufficient: why enter then as volunteers into those of another? | — Thomas Jefferson |
| From my tribe I take nothing, I am the maker of my own fortune. | — Tecumseh |
| From plants that wake when others sleep, from timid jasmine buds that keep their odour to themselves all day, but when the sunlight dies away let the delicious secret out to every breeze that roams about. | — Thomas Moore |
| From several of the Indian tribes inhabiting the country bordering on Lake Erie purchases have been made of lands on conditions very favorable to the United States, and, as it is presumed, not less so to the tribes themselves. | — James Monroe |
| From the death of the old the new proceeds, and the life of truth from the death of creeds. | — John Greenleaf Whittier |
| From the top of a high rock, I obtained a good few of the most extensive and dreary wilderness I ever beheld. It chilled the heart to gaze on these barrens of Labrador. Indeed, I now dread every change of harbor, so horridly rugged and dangerous is the whole coast and country to the eye, and to the experienced man either of the sea or the land. | — John James Audubon |
| Front yards are not made to walk in, but, at most, through, and you could go in the back way. | — Henry David Thoreau |
| Frugality is an enriching virtue, a virtue I never could acquire in myself, but I was once lucky enough to find it in a wife, who thereby became a fortune to me.
— To Miss Alexander (24 June 1782) | — Benjamin Franklin |
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