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Who really said it

If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties

Written by Francis Bacon 1561–1626 · English philosopher, statesman & father of the scientific method
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Written by Bacon in ‘The Advancement of Learning’ (1605), First Book, section V.8. The popular wording matches the original English text word-for-word — it is one of Bacon’s genuine lines, not a later paraphrase.

Last verified 10 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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“If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties” Francis Bacon, The Advancement of Learning (1605), First Book, section V.8

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Provenance

The source

Work
The Advancement of Learning
Author
Francis Bacon (1561–1626)
Location
First Book, section V.8
First published
1605, London

For the two ways of contemplation are not unlike the two ways of action commonly spoken of by the ancients: the one plain and smooth in the beginning, and in the end impassable; the other rough and troublesome in the entrance, but after a while fair and even. So it is in contemplation: if a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.

Bacon is criticising “an impatience of doubt, and haste to assertion” — the line is his case for beginning inquiry in humility rather than false confidence.

Read the full First Book on Project Gutenberg

How we verified this

  • The line sits in the sourced section of Bacon’s Wikiquote page, cited to ‘The Advancement of Learning’ (1605), Book I, v, 8.
  • The exact sentence appears in the primary text on Project Gutenberg’s 1605 edition, in the section beginning “the two ways of contemplation”.
  • The Smithsonian American Art Museum holds a 20th-century ‘Great Ideas’ advertising print of the line, credited to Bacon and ‘The Advancement of Learning’ — though it uses the variant “end with doubts”.
Public domain

‘The Advancement of Learning’ was first published in 1605 and is long in the public domain in the United States; Bacon died in 1626. The original English text quoted here carries no subsisting copyright.

Fact-check

Often misattributed

This one is the rare feel-good line that is genuinely by the famous name attached to it. The confusion is not about who but about exact words and translation.

“…he shall end with doubts” variant

A common slip swaps “end in doubts” for “end with doubts.” Even the Smithsonian’s ‘Great Ideas’ print uses “end with doubts”; Bacon’s 1605 text reads “end in doubts.”

“If we begin with certainties…” paraphrase

A shorter first-person form (“if we begin with certainties, we shall end in doubts”) also circulates widely — the Online Library of Liberty, for instance, renders it in the first person while still citing ‘The Advancement of Learning’ (1605). Bacon’s original 1605 English, though, is the third-person “if a man will begin…”.

The attribution is sound: the exact popular wording is Bacon’s own, in ‘The Advancement of Learning’ (1605), First Book, section V.8, per Wikiquote’s sourced section and the primary text.

Context

Why it mattered

Bacon wrote ‘The Advancement of Learning’ as a manifesto for a new, evidence-driven way of pursuing knowledge, dedicated to King James I. The line about certainties and doubts is a compact statement of his whole programme: that dogmatic confidence is a dead end, while disciplined, patient doubt is the road to real understanding.

It became a touchstone for the scientific method — the idea that inquiry should start by questioning, not by assuming — and it still surfaces wherever people argue for intellectual humility over premature certainty.

If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Doubt Wisdom

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

The Advancement of Learning (full text)gutenberg.org

Project Gutenberg’s complete 1605 text; the line is in the First Book, section V.8.
Francis Bacon — Wikiquoteen.wikiquote.org

Sourced quotations page citing the line to ‘The Advancement of Learning’ (1605), Book I, v, 8.
Bacon on doubts & certaintiesoll.libertyfund.org

Online Library of Liberty note on the passage and its meaning.
Great Ideas print of the lineamericanart.si.edu

Smithsonian record of a 20th-century advertising print of the quote (variant wording).
Goodreads quotation recordgoodreads.com

Widely-shared record of the popular wording, attributed to Bacon.

The author

About Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon

1561–1626 · English philosopher, statesman & pioneer of the scientific method

Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Lord Chancellor under James I. He is remembered as a founder of empiricism and the inductive, experimental method — ideas he set out in ‘The Advancement of Learning’ (1605) and the ‘Novum Organum’ (1620). This line captures his core conviction that genuine knowledge grows from patient doubt rather than premature certainty.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Primary source — Chicago

Francis Bacon, The Advancement of Learning (London, 1605), First Book, section V.8.

MLA (9th ed.)

Bacon, Francis. The Advancement of Learning. London, 1605, bk. 1, sec. V.8.

APA (7th ed.)

Bacon, F. (1605). The advancement of learning. First Book, section V.8.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties’?” Last verified 10 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/if-a-man-will-begin-with-certainties-he-shall-end-in-doubts

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