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
Category: Quote of the Day
Aphorisms, proverbs, wise sayings and other witty, pithy stuff
29SEP2026 – Quote of the Day
Property can exist only under the guardianship of the State.
John Robert Seeley
28SEP2026 – Quote of the Day
The chief forces which hold a community together and cause it to constitute one State are three, common nationality, common religion, and common interest.
John Robert Seeley
27SEP2026 – Quote of the Day
We seem, as it were, to have conquered and peopled half the world in a fit of absence of mind.
John Robert Seeley
26SEP2026 – Quote of the Day
It is a favourite maxim of mine that history, while it should be scientific in its method, should pursue a practical object. That is, it should not merely gratify the reader’s curiosity about the past, but modify his view of the present and his forecast of the future.
John Robert Seeley
25SEP2026 – Quote of the Day
Under the little crosses where they rise
The soldier rests. Now round him undismayed
The cannon thunders, and at night he lies
At peace beneath the eternal fusillade.
I love to think that if my blood should be
So privileged to sink where his has sunk,
I shall not pass from Earth entirely
But when the banquet rings, when healths are drunk,
Be mindful of the men they were, and raise
Your glasses to them in one silent toast.
Alan Seeger
24SEP2026 – Quote of the Day
I have a rendezvous with Death
At some disputed barricade,
When Spring comes round with rustling shade
And apple blossoms fill the air—
I have a rendezvous with Death
When Spring brings back blue days and fair.
Alan Seeger
23SEP2026 – Quote of the Day
For lo! the days are hastening on,
By prophet-bards foretold,
When with the ever-circling years,
Comes round the age of gold;
When Peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling
And the whole world send back the song
Which now the angels sing.
Edmund Sears
22SEP2026 – Quote of the Day
It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From Angels bending near the earth
To touch their harps of gold;
“Peace on the earth, good will to man
From Heaven’s all gracious King.”
The world in solemn stillness lay
To hear the angels sing.
Edmund Sears
21SEP2026 – Quote of the Day
Death is a stage in human progress, to be passed as we would pass from childhood to youth, or from youth to manhood, and with the same consciousness of an everlasting nature.
Edmund Sears