John Selden Quotes

Old friends are best.

Never tell your resolution beforehand, or it's twice as onerous a duty.

They that are against Superstition oftentimes run into it of the wrong side. If I will wear all colours but black, then am I superstitious in not wearing black.

Ignorance of the law excuses no man; not that all men know the law, but because 'tis an excuse every man will plead, and no man can tell how to refute him.

There is no book on which we can rest in a dying moment but the Bible.

The House of Commons is called the Lower House, in twenty Acts of Parliament; but what are twenty Acts of Parliament amongst Friends?

The happiness of married life depends upon making small sacrifices with readiness and cheerfulness.

Equity is a roguish thing. For Law we have a measure, know what to trust to; Equity is according to the conscience of him that is Chancellor, and as that is larger or narrower, so is Equity. 'T is all one as if they should make the standard for the measure we call a "foot" a Chancellor's foot; what an uncertain measure would this be! One Chancellor has a long foot, another a short foot, a third an indifferent foot. 'T is the same thing in the Chancellor's conscience.

Idolatry is in a man's own thought, not in the opinion of another.

Ignorance of the law excuses no man.

A gallant man is above ill words.

A king is a thing men have made for their own sakes, for quietness sake. Just as in a family one man is appointed to buy the meat.

Tis not seasonable to call a man traitor, that has an army at his heels.

Religion is like the fashion, one man wears his doublet slashed, another lashed, another plain; but every man has a doublet; so every man has a religion. We differ about the trimming.

Thou little thinkest what a little foolery governs the world.

Prayer should be short, without giving God Almighty reasons why he should grant this, or that; he knows best what is good for us.

Humility is a virtue all preach, none practice; and yet everybody is content to hear.

He that has not religion to govern his morality, is not a dram better than my mastiff-dog; so long as you stroke him, and please him, and do not pinch him, he will play with you as finely as may be, he is a very good moral mastiff; but if you hurt him, he will fly in your face, and tear out your throat.

'Tis not the eating, nor 'tis not the drinking that is to be blamed, but the excess.

Pleasure is nothing else but the intermission of pain.

Abundance consists not alone in material possession, but in an uncovetous spirit.

The Parish makes the constable, and when the constable is made, he governs the Parish.

Commonly we say a judgment falls upon a man for something in him we cannot abide.

Nothing is text but what is spoken of in the Bible and meant there for person and place; the rest is application; which a discreet man may do well; but it is his scripture, not the Holy Ghost's. First, in your sermons use your logic, and then your rhetoric; rhetoric without logic is like a tree with leaves and blossoms, but no root.

He that hath a scrupulous conscience is like a horse that is not well weighed; he starts at every bird that flies out of the hedge.

Pleasures are all alike simply considered in themselves: he that hunts, or he that governs the commonwealth, they both please themselves alike, only we commend that, whereby we ourselves receive some benefit.

Old friends are best. King James used to call for his old shoes; they were the easiest for his feet.

No man is the wiser for his learning

In quoting of books, quote such authors as are usually read; others you may read for your own satisfaction, but not name them.

Women ought not to know their own wit, because they will still be showing it, and so spoil it.

Wit and wisdom differ; wit is upon the sudden turn, wisdom is bringing about ends.

Take a straw and throw it up into the air, you may see by that which way the wind is.

Ceremony keeps up things: 'tis like a penny glass to a rich spirit, or some excellent water; without it the water were spilt, and the spirit lost.

I have taken much pains to know everything that is esteemed worth knowing amongst men; but with all my reading, nothing now remains to comfort me at the close of this life but this passage of St. Paul: "It is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners." To this I cleave, and herein do I find rest.

Humility is a virtue all preach, none practise, and yet every body is content to hear. The master thinks it good doctrine for his servant, the laity for the clergy, and the clergy for the laity.

There was never a merry world since the fairies left off dancing.

Pleasure is nothing else but the intermission of pain, the enjoying of something I am in great trouble for till I have it.

In a troubled state we must do as in foul weather upon a river, not think to cut directly through, for the boat may be filled with water; but rise and fall as the waves do, and give way as much as we conveniently can.

More solid things do not show the complexion of the times so well as Ballads and Libels.

While you are upon earth, enjoy the good things that are here (to that end were they given), and be not melancholy, and wish yourself in heaven.

Philosophy is nothing but discretion.

The world cannot be governed without juggling.

To preach long, loud, and Damnation, is the way to be cried up. We love a man that damns us, and we run after him again to save us.

Scrutamini scripturas (Let us look at the scriptures). These two words have undone the world.

Preachers say, "Do as I say, not as I do." But if a physician had the same disease upon him that I have, and he should bid me do one thing and he do quite another, could I believe him?

We pick out a text here and there to make it serve our turn; whereas , if we take it all together, and considered what went before and what followed after, we should find it meant no such thing.

The Hall was the place where the great lord used to eat . . . He ate not in private, except in time of sickness . . . Nay, the king himself used to eat in the Hall, and his lords sat with him, and he understood men.

Marriage is a desperate thing.

Twas an unhappy Division that has been made between Faith and Works; though in my Intellect I may divide them, just as in the Candle I know there is both Light and Heat. But yet, put out the Candle, and they are both gone.

We measure the excellency of other men by some excellency we conceive to be in ourselves.