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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 Table Talk (1689)

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Knowledge

More quotes by John Selden

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)

Humility is a virtue all preach, none practise, and yet every body is content to hear.

Table Talk: Being the Discourses (1786)

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

Table Talk (1689)

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You have to start with the truth. The truth is the only way that we can get anywhere. Because any decision-making that is based upon lies or ignorance can't lead to a good conclusion.

Julian Assange

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.

H. P. Lovecraft The Call of Cthulhu (1926)

It is not in the books of the Philosophers, but in the religious symbolism of the Ancients, that we must look for the footprints of Science, and re-discover the Mysteries of Knowledge.

Albert Pike Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (1871)

Men are born ignorant, not stupid; they are made stupid by education.

Bertrand Russell

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: John Selden (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.