John Selden Quotes

Quotes about:

• Old friends are best.

  John Selden

  Inspirational, Old Friends

  'Table Talk' (1689) 'Friends'

  82 Copy quote

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

  John Selden

  New Year, Resolution, Happy New Year

  36 Copy quote

• 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.

  John Selden

  Ignorance, Men, Law

  Table-Talk "Law" (1689) See Proverbs 153

  16 Copy quote

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

  John Selden

  Humility, Practice, Virtue

  "Table Talk: Being the Discourses of John Selden (Humility)". Book by John Selden and Richard Milward, 1689.

  7 Copy quote

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

  John Selden

  Book, Dying, Moments

  15 Copy quote

• A wise man should never resolve upon anything, at least, never let the world know his resolution, for if he cannot reach that he is ashamed.

  John Selden

  Wise, Men, World

  3 Copy quote

• All things are God's already; we can give him no right, by consecrating any, that he had not before, only we set it apart to his service - just as a gardener brings his master a basket of apricots, and presents them; his lord thanks him, and perhaps gives him something for his pains, and yet the apricots were as much his lord's before as now.

  John Selden

  Pain, Giving, Apricots

  John Selden (1819). “Table talk: being the discourses of John Selden, esq”, p.44

  4 Copy quote

• 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.

  John Selden

  Dog, Hurt, Play

  John Selden (1800). “The Table-talk: Of John Selden, Esq. Being His Sense of Various Matters of Weight and High Consequence; Relating Especially to Religion and State”, p.75

  7 Copy quote

• 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.

  John Selden

  Love, Running, Men

  John Selden (1819). “Table talk: being the discourses of John Selden, esq”, p.48

  7 Copy quote

• Talk what you will of the Jews,--that they are cursed: they thrive wherever they come; they are able to oblige the prince of their country by lending him money; none of them beg; they keep together; and as for their being hated, why, Christians hate one another as much.

  John Selden

  Christian, Country, Hate

  John Selden (1786). “Table Talk: Being the Discourses”, p.65

  3 Copy quote

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

  John Selden

  Spirit, Abundance, Possession

  7 Copy quote

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

  John Selden

  Happiness, Happy, Marriage

  13 Copy quote

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

  John Selden

  Dance, Dancing, World

  7 Copy quote

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

  John Selden

  Drinking, Alcohol, Excess

  "English Belles-lettres: From A. D. 901 to 1834".

  7 Copy quote

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

  John Selden

  Made, Parish

  John Selden, Richard Milward (1821). “Seldeniana: with a biographical preface”, p.100

  7 Copy quote

• Pleasure is nothing else but the intermission of pain.

  John Selden

  Pain, Pleasure, Intermission

  'Table Talk' (1689) 'Pleasure'

  7 Copy quote

• 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; yet more are taken with rhetoric than logic, because they are caught with fine expressions when they understand not reason.

  John Selden

  Taken, Expression, Roots

  3 Copy quote

• 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.

  John Selden

  Jesus, Pain, Taken

  6 Copy quote

• The clergy would have us believe them against our own reason, as the woman would have her husband against his own eyes.

  John Selden

  Husband, Believe, Eye

  John Selden (1847). “The Table-talk of John Selden Esq: With a Biographical Preface and Notes”, p.42

  3 Copy quote

• Patience is the chiefest fruit of study; a man that strives to make himself different from other men by much reading gains this chiefest good, that in all fortunes he hath something to entertain and comfort himself withal.

  John Selden

  Reading, Men, Comfort

  John Selden, Richard Milward (1821). “Seldeniana: with a biographical preface”, p.98

  3 Copy quote

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

  John Selden

  House, Twenties, Parliament

  John Selden (1716). “Table-talk: the discourses of J. Selden [ed. by R. Milward.].”, p.26

  15 Copy quote

• A glorious Church is like a magnificent feast; there is all the variety that may be, but every one chooses out a dish or two that he likes, and lets the rest alone: how glorious soever the Church is, every one chooses out of it his own religion, by which he governs himself, and lets the rest alone.

  John Selden

  Two, Religion, Church

  John Selden (1821). “Selden's table talk”, p.37

  3 Copy quote

• Casting out devils is mere juggling; they never cast out any but what they first cast in.

  John Selden

  Devil, Casting, Firsts

  John Selden, Samuel Weller Singer, Edward FitzGerald (1860). “Table Talk: With a Biographical Pref. and Notes”, p.144

  3 Copy quote

• Opinion is something wherein I go about to give reasons why all the world should think as I think.

  John Selden

  Thinking, Giving, World

  John Selden (1716). “Table-talk: the discourses of J. Selden [ed. by R. Milward.].”, p.79

  3 Copy quote

• Few men make themselves masters of the things they write or speak.

  John Selden

  Writing, Men, Speak

  John Selden, Samuel Weller Singer, Edward FitzGerald (1860). “Table Talk: With a Biographical Pref. and Notes”, p.183

  3 Copy quote

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