John Selden

Those that govern most make least noise.

— John Selden

Philosophy is nothing but discretion.

— John Selden

A gallant man is above ill words.

— John Selden

Never king dropped out of the clouds.

— John Selden

Money makes a man laugh

— John Selden

Ignorance of the law excuses no man.

— John Selden

Old friends are best.

— John Selden

Wit and wisdom are born with a man.

— John Selden

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

— John Selden

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

— John Selden

Pleasure is nothing else but the intermission of pain.

— John Selden

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

— John Selden

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

— John Selden

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

— John Selden

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

— John Selden

Wise people say nothing in dangerous times.

— John Selden

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

— John Selden

In spite of our wisdom and sensible talking, we on our feet must go plodding and walking

— John Selden

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

— John Selden

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

— John Selden

Of all the actions of a man's life, his marriage does least concern other people, yet of all the actions of our…

— John Selden

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

— John Selden

They that are against Superstition oftentimes run into it of the wrong side. If I will wear all colours but black, then…

— John Selden

Ignorance of the law excuses no man; not that all men know the law, but because 'tis an excuse every man will…

— John Selden

Pride may be allowed to this or that degree, else a man cannot keep up dignity. In gluttony there must be eating,…

— John Selden

First, in your sermons, use your logic, and then your rhetoric; Rhetoric without logic, is like a tree with leaves and blossoms,…

— John Selden

Preachers say, "Do as I say, not as I do." But if a physician had the same disease upon him that I…

— John Selden

The Hall was the place where the great lord used to eat . . . He ate not in private, except in…

— John Selden

Religion is like the fashion, one man wears his doublet slashed, another lashed, another plain; but every man has a doublet; so…

— John Selden

Patience is the chiefest fruit of study; a man that strives to make himself different from other men by much reading gains…

— John Selden

Nothing is text but what is spoken of in the Bible and meant there for person and place; the rest is application;…

— John Selden

When men comfort themselves with philosophy, 'tis not because they have got two or three sentences, but because they have digested those…

— John Selden

You will want a book which contains not man's thoughts, but God's - not a book that may amuse you, but a…

— John Selden

I have taken much pains to know everything that is esteemed worth knowing amongst men; but with all my reading, nothing now…

— John Selden

All things are God's already; we can give him no right, by consecrating any, that he had not before, only we set…

— John Selden

Equity is a roguish thing. For Law we have a measure, know what to trust to; Equity is according to the conscience…

— John Selden

No man is the wiser for his learning

— John Selden

Marriage is a desperate thing.

— John Selden

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

— John Selden

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

— John Selden