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Who really said it

In this theater of man's life it is reserved only for God and angels to be lookers on

Not Pythagoras — actually Francis Bacon Francis Bacon 1561–1626 · English philosopher & statesman
Disputed Free to reuse

Bacon wrote it in The Advancement of Learning (1605), Book II, xx, 8. He first retells Pythagoras’s comparison of life to the Olympic games, where the onlookers are the best class of people. Then he turns it around: “But men must know, that in this theatre of man’s life it is reserved only for God and angels to be lookers on.” The line is a rebuttal of Pythagoras, not a saying of his.

Last verified 3 Nov 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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“In this theater of man's life it is reserved only for God and angels to be lookers on” Francis Bacon, The Advancement of Learning (1605), Book II, xx, 8. Often misattributed to Pythagoras. · Verbatim: “But men must know, that in this theatre of man's life it is reserved only for God and angels to be lookers on.”

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Provenance

Where it comes from

Work
The Advancement of Learning
Author
Francis Bacon
First published
1605
Location
Book II, chapter XX, section 8

For first, it decideth the question touching the preferment of the contemplative or active life, and decideth it against Aristotle. … not much unlike to that comparison which Pythagoras made for the gracing and magnifying of philosophy and contemplation, who being asked what he was, answered, “That if Hiero were ever at the Olympian games, he knew the manner, that some came to try their fortune for the prizes, and some came as merchants to utter their commodities, and some came to make good cheer and meet their friends, and some came to look on; and that he was one of them that came to look on.” But men must know, that in this theatre of man’s life it is reserved only for God and angels to be lookers on. Book II, xx, 8

The text follows Henry Morley’s edition with modernized spelling, as transcribed by Project Gutenberg from the 1893 Cassell & Company printing. The popular version drops “But men must know, that,” uses the American spelling “theater,” and so hides that Bacon is disagreeing with Pythagoras.

The Advancement of Learning, full text (Project Gutenberg)

How we traced it

  • The sentence appears word for word in Bacon’s The Advancement of Learning, Book II, chapter XX, section (8), right after Bacon retells Pythagoras’s Olympic-games comparison: Project Gutenberg text ↗.
  • Wikiquote’s Pythagoras page lists the line under “Misattributed” and credits it to Francis Bacon, The Advancement of Learning (1605), Book II, xx, 8: Wikiquote: Pythagoras ↗.
  • Wikiquote’s Francis Bacon page gives the full sentence (“But men must know that…”) among its Advancement of Learning quotations, cited to Book II, xx, 8: Wikiquote: Francis Bacon ↗.
  • The idea Bacon is answering really is attributed to Pythagoras. In Cicero’s Tusculan Disputations, Book V, Pythagoras says the spectators at the games were “by far the best”: C. D. Yonge translation, Project Gutenberg ↗.
Public domain

Bacon wrote the line in English in The Advancement of Learning, first published in 1605, so it has long been in the public domain in the United States. The modernized-spelling text shown here comes from the 1893 Cassell edition, which is also pre-1931.

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

Fact-check

Why it gets pinned on Pythagoras

The sentence follows straight on from Bacon’s retelling of a famous Pythagoras story. Lifted out of the paragraph, it is easy to credit to the man named just before it.

Pythagoras Misattributed

Wikiquote’s Pythagoras page files this exact wording under “Misattributed” and gives the true source as Francis Bacon, The Advancement of Learning (1605), Book II, xx, 8 (Wikiquote ↗). Pythagoras’s actual view, as Cicero reports it, was the opposite: the onlookers at the games were “by far the best” (Tusculan Disputations, Book V ↗).

Francis Bacon wrote it in The Advancement of Learning (1605), Book II, xx, 8, to reject Pythagoras’s praise of the onlooker (full text ↗).

Context

What Bacon meant

Bacon was weighing the contemplative life against the active life, and he decided the question “against Aristotle.” He compared Aristotle’s reasons for contemplation to Pythagoras’s famous answer when asked what he was. People come to the Olympic games to compete, to trade or to meet friends, and some come only to watch; Pythagoras counted himself among the watchers.

Bacon’s reply is the line now credited to Pythagoras. Human life is a stage where everyone has a part, and only God and the angels may simply watch. He goes on: “for contemplation which should be finished in itself, without casting beams upon society, assuredly divinity knoweth it not.”

It is reserved only for God and angels to be lookers on.

Pythagoras’s own version

The story Bacon retells survives in Cicero’s Tusculan Disputations, Book V, which cites Heraclides Ponticus. There, Pythagoras tells Leon, prince of the Phliasii, that the spectators at the games, who seek neither glory nor profit, are “by far the best,” and that in life, too, contemplation “greatly exceeds every other pursuit.” Bacon’s retelling names the listener as Hiero instead (Yonge translation ↗).

Explore

Filed under

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

Purpose Courage Humility

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

Bacon’s 1605 work; the line is in Book II, chapter XX, section 8
Wikiquote: Pythagorasen.wikiquote.org

Lists this line under Misattributed and credits Bacon
Wikiquote: Francis Baconen.wikiquote.org

Full sentence, cited to The Advancement of Learning, Book II, xx, 8
Cicero, Tusculan Disputationsgutenberg.org

C. D. Yonge translation; Book V gives Pythagoras’s Olympic-games comparison
The Advancement of Learning (Wikipedia)en.wikipedia.org

Background on Bacon’s 1605 book

The real author

Who wrote it

Francis Bacon

1561–1626 · English philosopher, essayist & Lord Chancellor

Francis Bacon was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James I. He argued for natural philosophy guided by the scientific method. The Advancement of Learning (1605), his survey of human knowledge written in English, contains this line.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Primary source

Bacon, Francis. The Advancement of Learning. 1605. Book II, chap. XX, sec. 8. Edited by Henry Morley. London: Cassell & Company, 1893. Project Gutenberg eBook #5500.

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