Scientia potentia est Scientia potentia est The phrase "scientia potentia est"" (or "scientia est potentia" or also "scientia potestas est")" is a Latin aphorism meaning "knowledge is power". It is commonly attributed to Sir Francis Bacon, although there is no known occurrence of this precise phrase in Bacon's English or Latin writings. However, the expression ""ipsa scientia potestas est"" ('knowledge itself is power') occurs in Bacon's "Meditationes Sacrae" (1597). The exact phrase ""scientia potentia est"" was written for the first time in the 1668 version of the work "Leviathan" by Thomas Hobbes, who was secretary to Bacon as a young man. The related
Et facere et pati fortia Romanum est had ordered to torture him. Porsena was so impressed by this, that he gave up the besiegement of Rome. In this way Mucius Cordus became an example for a brave and audacious Roman burgess. He is assumed to have got his byname “"Scaevola"” ("The “left-hand”") because of his act. Cicero was later famously to use the phrase "Civis Romanus sum" in a different context. Et facere et pati fortia Romanum est Et facere et pati fortia Romanum est is a Latin phrase meaning "Acting and suffering bravely is the attribute of a Roman." Its comes from Livy's "Ab Urbe condita"