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

John Selden

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John Selden
Age: 69 †
Born: 1584
Born: December 16
Died: 1654
Died: November 30
Jurist
Politician
Writer
Write
Writing
Make
Things
Men
Masters
Speak

More quotes by John Selden

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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.
John Selden
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The world cannot be governed without juggling.
John Selden
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Abundance consists not alone in material possession, but in an uncovetous spirit.
John Selden
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A gallant man is above ill words.
John Selden
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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.
John Selden
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Philosophy is nothing but discretion.
John Selden
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Prayer should be short, without giving God Almighty reasons why he should grant this, or that he knows best what is good for us.
John Selden
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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.
John Selden
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Take a straw and throw it up into the air, you may see by that which way the wind is.
John Selden
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Commonly we say a judgment falls upon a man for something in him we cannot abide.
John Selden
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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.
John Selden
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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.
John Selden
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Those that govern most make least noise.
John Selden
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More solid things do not show the complexion of the times so well as Ballads and Libels.
John Selden
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There is no book on which we can rest in a dying moment but the Bible.
John Selden
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Humility is a virtue all preach, none practice and yet everybody is content to hear.
John Selden
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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.
John Selden
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No man is the wiser for his learning
John Selden
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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.
John Selden
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We measure the excellency of other men by some excellency we conceive to be in ourselves.
John Selden