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Quotation from Novum Organum by Francis Bacon
“Man, as the minister and interpreter of nature, does and understands as much as his observations on the order of nature, either with regard to things or the mind, permit him, and neither knows nor is capable of more”
Novum Organum, Book I, Aphorism I, trans. Joseph Devey (ed.), 1902
The opening aphorism grounds all knowledge in observation and sets the limit of what the mind can know without it.
Citation: "Man, as the minister and interpreter of nature, does and understands as much as his observations on the order of nature, either with regard to things or the mind, permit him, and neither knows nor is capable of more" — Francis Bacon, Novum Organum, Book I, Aphorism I, trans. Joseph Devey (ed.), 1902. (id novum-organum-q1)
Portrait: Portrait of Francis Bacon., Paul van Somer I / Formerly attributed to Frans Pourbus the Younger, Public domain.
