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

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John Selden
Age: 69 †
Born: 1584
Born: December 16
Died: 1654
Died: November 30
Jurist
Politician
Writer
Law
Tell
Every
Men
Refute
Plead
Excuses
Excuse
Ignorance

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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.
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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.
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Abundance consists not alone in material possession, but in an uncovetous spirit.
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There is no book on which we can rest in a dying moment but the Bible.
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Wit and wisdom are born with a man.
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The world cannot be governed without juggling.
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The House of Commons is called the Lower House, in twenty Acts of Parliament but what are twenty Acts of Parliament amongst Friends?
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Philosophy is nothing but discretion.
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Take a straw and throw it up into the air, you may see by that which way the wind is.
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Idolatry is in a man's own thought, not in the opinion of another.
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Never tell your resolution beforehand, or it's twice as onerous a duty.
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Few men make themselves masters of the things they write or speak.
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More solid things do not show the complexion of the times so well as Ballads and Libels.
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A gallant man is above ill words.
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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.
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Prayer should be short, without giving God Almighty reasons why He should grant this or that He knows best wheat is good for us. If your boy should ask you for a suit of clothes and give you reasons, would you endure it? You know his needs better than he let him ask for a suit of clothes.
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We measure the excellency of other men by some excellency we conceive to be in ourselves.
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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.
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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.
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Scrutamini scripturas (Let us look at the scriptures). These two words have undone the world.
John Selden