Top 85 Quotes & Sayings by John Selden
Explore popular quotes and sayings by an English statesman John Selden.
Last updated on April 14, 2025.
Pleasure is nothing else but the intermission of pain.
Philosophy is nothing but discretion.
The world cannot be governed without juggling.
In quoting of books, quote such authors as are usually read; others you may read for your own satisfaction, but not name them.
Wise people say nothing in dangerous times.
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.
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.
Prayer should be short, without giving God Almighty reasons why he should grant this, or that; he knows best what is good for us.
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.
Old friends are best.
It's not the drinking to be blamed, but the excess.
Idolatry is in a man's own thought, not in the opinion of another.
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.
They that govern the most make the least noise.
Tis not seasonable to call a man traitor, that has an army at his heels.
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.
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 Parish makes the constable, and when the constable is made, he governs the Parish.
Pleasure is nothing else but the intermission of pain, the enjoying of something I am in great trouble for till I have it.
The clergy would have us believe them against our own reason, as the woman would have her husband against his own eyes.
There is no book on which we can rest in a dying moment but the Bible.
We measure the excellency of other men by some excellency we conceive to be in ourselves.
Abundance consists not alone in material possession, but in an uncovetous spirit.
Thou little thinkest what a little foolery governs the world.
Few men make themselves masters of the things they write or speak.
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.
The happiness of married life depends upon making small sacrifices with readiness and cheerfulness.
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.
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.
No man is the wiser for his learning
Marriage is a desperate thing.
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.
More solid things do not show the complexion of the times so well as Ballads and Libels.
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.
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.
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.
Old friends are best. King James used to call for his old shoes; they were the easiest for his feet.
We see the judges look like lions, but we do not see who moves them.
Those that govern most make least noise.
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.
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.
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.
Never king dropped out of the clouds.
Wit and wisdom are born with a man.
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.
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.
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.
Humility is a virtue all preach, none practice; and yet everybody is content to hear.
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.
'Tis not the eating, nor 'tis not the drinking that is to be blamed, but the excess.
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.
Pride may be allowed to this or that degree, else a man cannot keep up his dignity.
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.
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.
Commonly we say a judgment falls upon a man for something in him we cannot abide.
Ignorance of the law excuses no man.
Never tell your resolution beforehand, or it's twice as onerous a duty.
The House of Commons is called the Lower House, in twenty Acts of Parliament; but what are twenty Acts of Parliament amongst Friends?
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.
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