John Selden Quotations

Of all actions of a man's life, his marriage does least concern other people, yet of all actions of our life tis most meddled with by other people.

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

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

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

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

No man is the wiser for his learning; it may administer matter to work in, or objects to work upon; but wit and wisdom are born with a man.

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

It's not the drinking to be blamed, but the excess.

Pleasure is nothing else but the intermission of pain.

They that govern the most make the least noise.

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.

Humanity is a Virtue all preach, none practice, and yet every body is content to hear

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

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

Tis a fine thing for children to learn to make verse; but when they come to be men, they must speak like other men, or else they will be laughed at

Never tell your resolution beforehand, or it's twice asonerous a duty

In my intellect, I may divide (faith and works), just as in the candle I know there is both light and heat; yet put out the candle, and both are gone

While you are upon the earth, enjoy the good things that are here.

Gentelmen heve ever been more temperate in their religion than common people, as having more reason.

Thou little thinkest what a little foolery governs the world.

Never king dropped out of the clouds.

The law against witches does not prove there be any; but it punishes the malice of those people that use such means to take away men's lives.

Fine wits destroy themselves with their own plots, in meddling with great affairs of state.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

Wit and wisdom are born with a man.

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

Ignorance of the law excuses no man.

Every law is a contract between the king and the people and therefore to be kept.

Those that govern most make least noise.

You will want a book which contains not man's thoughts, but God's - not a book that may amuse you, but a book that can save you - not even a book that can instruct you, but a book on which you can venture an eternity - not only a book which can give relief to your spirit, but redemption to your soul - a book which contains salvation, and conveys it to you, one which shall at once be the Saviour's book and the sinner's.

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.

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

Money makes a man laugh.

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

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

When men comfort themselves with philosophy, 'tis not because they have got two or three sentences, but because they have digested those sentences, and made them their own: philosophy is nothing but discretion.

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

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.

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.

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.

We look after religion as the butcher did after his knife, when he had it in his mouth.

We see the judges look like lions, but we do not see who moves them.

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.

A gallant man is above ill words.

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.

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.

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?

Preaching, in the first sense of the word, ceased as soon as ever the gospel was written.

Men say they are of the same religion, for quietness' sake; but if the matter were well examined, you would scarce find three anywhere of the same religion on all points.

Pride may be allowed to this or that degree, else a man cannot keep up his dignity.

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.

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.

If the prisoner should ask the judge whether he would be content to be hanged, were he in his case, he would answer no. Then, says the prisoner, do as you would be done to.

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

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

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

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.

Wise people say nothing in dangerous times.

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.

Of all the actions of a man's life, his marriage does least concern other people, yet of all the actions of our lives, 'tis the most meddled with by other people.

Pride may be allowed to this or that degree, else a man cannot keep up dignity. In gluttony there must be eating, in drunkenness there must be drinking; 'tis not the eating, and 'tis not the drinking that must be blamed, but the excess. So in pride.

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.

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

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

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

Humility is a virtue all men preach, none practice, and yet everybody is content to hear. The master thinks it good doctrine for his servants, the laity for the clergy, and the clergy for the laity.

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.

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

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.

Marriage is a desperate thing.

No man is the wiser for his learning

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.

The world cannot be governed without juggling.

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

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.

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

Philosophy is nothing but discretion.

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

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.

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

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

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

Old friends are best.