Skip to content

Quotes from Table Talk — John Selden

1584–1654 England

← All quotes by John Selden

24 quotes

Wise men say nothing in dangerous times.

Table Talk (1689)

Take a straw and throw it up into the air — you may see by that which way the wind is.

Table Talk (1689)

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.

Table Talk (1689)

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

Table Talk (1689)

Thou little thinkest what a little foolery governs the world.

Table Talk (1689)

Gentelmen heve ever been more temperate in their religion than common people, as having more reason.

Table Talk (1689)

Pleasure is nothing else but the intermission of pain.

Table Talk (1689)

Preachers say, Do as I say, not as I do.

Table Talk (1689)

Old friends are best. King James used to call for his old shoes; they were easiest for his feet.

Table Talk (1689)

The parish makes the constable, and when the constable is made he governs the parish.

Table Talk (1689)

'Tis not the drinking that is to be blamed, but the excess.

Table Talk (1689)

They that govern the most make the least noise.

Table Talk (1689)

Commonly we say a judgement falls upon a man for something in him we cannot abide.

Table Talk (1689)

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.

Table Talk (1689)

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

Table Talk (1689)

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.

Table Talk (1689)

Never tell your resolution beforehand.

Table Talk (1689)

Philosophy is nothing but discretion.

Table Talk (1689)

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.

Table Talk (1689)

Marriage is a desperate thing.

Table Talk (1689)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: John Selden (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.