Suspicions amongst thoughts are like bats amongst birds, they ever fly by twilight. (Francis Bacon)
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Suspicious thoughts are most active in times of uncertainty
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Nghĩ ngờ hoạt động mạnh nhất trong thời kỳ bất ổn
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: bats flying amongst birds at twilight
Examples
His suspicions amongst thoughts are like bats amongst birds, they ever fly by twilight
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-01; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “Suspicions amongst thoughts are like bats amongst birds, they ever fly by twilight. (Francis Bacon)” mean?
Suspicious thoughts are most active in times of uncertainty Literally: bats flying amongst birds at twilight
Is “Suspicions amongst thoughts are like bats amongst birds, they ever fly by twilight. (Francis Bacon)” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.