John Selden
John Selden
John Seldenwas an English jurist and a scholar of England's ancient laws and constitution and scholar of Jewish law. He was known as a polymath showing true intellectual depth and breadth; John Milton hailed Selden in 1644 as "the chief of learned men reputed in this land."...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionStatesman
Date of Birth16 December 1584
money men laughing
Money makes a man laugh.
ends wit wit-and-wisdom
Wit and wisdom differ; wit is upon the sudden turn, wisdom is bringing about ends.
wit spoil stills
Women ought not to know their own wit, because they will still be showing it, and so spoil it.
philosophy men two
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.
thinking giving world
Opinion is something wherein I go about to give reasons why all the world should think as I think.
wise men world
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.
reading men comfort
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.
fashion men religion
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.
knives religion mouths
We look after religion as the butcher did after his knife, when he had it in his mouth.
moving judging lions
We see the judges look like lions, but we do not see who moves them.
christian country hate
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.
men gallantry gallant
A gallant man is above ill words.
fall cutting thinking
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.
men roots tree
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.