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

—  John Selden

Humility.
Table Talk (1689)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Tis not the drinking that is to be blamed, but the excess." by John Selden?
John Selden photo
John Selden28
English jurist and scholar of England's ancient laws and co… 1584–1654

Related quotes

Oscar Levant photo

“I envy people who drink — at least they know what to blame everything on.”

Oscar Levant (1906–1972) American comedian, composer, pianist and actor

As quoted in The Portable Curmudgeon (1992) by Jon Winokur, p. 88.

“The chief reason for drinking is the desire to behave in a certain way, and to be able to blame it on alcohol.”

Mignon McLaughlin (1913–1983) American journalist

The Complete Neurotic's Notebook (1981), Unclassified

Joseph Merrick photo

“Tis true, my form is something odd
but blaming me, is blaming God,
Could I create myself anew
I would not fail in pleasing you.”

Joseph Merrick (1862–1890) English man with severe deformities

This is a rhyme used in Merrick's sideshow pamphlet, and which he is said to have often repeated, and used to sign his letters, followed by a quotation from "False Greatness" by Isaac Watts, first published in Horae Lyricae (1706) Bk. II:
If I could reach from pole to pole
or grasp the ocean with a span,
I would be measured by the soul
The mind's the standard of the Man.

Pythagoras photo

“By the air which I breathe, and by the water which I drink, I will not endure to be blamed on account of this discourse.”

Pythagoras (-585–-495 BC) ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher

As reported by Heraclides Ponticus (c. 360 BC), and Diogenes Laërtius, in Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, "Pythagoras", Sect. 6, in the translation of C. D. Yonge (1853)

William Shakespeare photo

“We are oft to blame in this, -
'tis too much proved, - that with devotion's visage,
and pios action we do sugar o'er
the devil himself.”

William Shakespeare Hamlet

Source: Hamlet

Patrick Rothfuss photo

“Ah,' the innkeeper said. 'So you were getting ready to drink then?'
'Tiny Gods, yes,' Bast said. 'To great excess. What the hell else is there to do?”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

Arthur Hugh Clough photo

“Tis possible, young sir, that some excess
Mars youthful judgment and old men’s no less;
Yet we must take our counsel as we may
For (flying years this lesson still convey),
’Tis worst unwisdom to be overwise,
And not to use, but still correct one’s eyes.”

Arthur Hugh Clough (1819–1861) English poet

Thesis and Antithesis http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/C/CloughArthurHugh/verse/poemsproseremains/antithesis.html, st. 4.

Mark Knopfler photo

“The caretaker was crucified for sleeping at his post
They're refusing to be pacified, it's him they blame the most.
The watchdog's got rabies, the foreman's got the fleas.
And everyone's concerned about Industrial Disease.
There's panic on the switchboard, tongues are tied in knots.
Some come out in sympathy, some come out in spots.
Some blame the management, some blame the employees.
And everybody knows it's the Industrial Disease.”

Mark Knopfler (1949) English guitarist

Industrial Disease
Song lyrics, Love over Gold (1982)

Edgar Guest photo

“Strange thoughts come to the man alone;
'Tis then, if ever, he talks with God,
And views himself as a single clod
In the soil of life where the souls are grown.
'Tis then he questions the why and where,
The start and end of his years and days,
And what is blame and what is praise,
And what is ugly and what is fair.”

Edgar Guest (1881–1959) American writer

Source: The Path to Home (1919), p.145 - Alone, stanza 1.

“Been drinking 3 weeks in a row just to forget
About the pain and the tears and the shame and the fears
And I blame her for these but she ain’t really here
She walked away”

Mogimike

Source: Song A Little Too Much

Related topics