politician

Henry St. John

English Member of Parliament (died 1621)

Notable quotes

“Truth lies within a little and certain compass, but error is immense.”
— Reflections upon Exile (1716)
“We are born too late to see the beginning, and we die too soon to see the end of many things.”
— On the Study and Use of History
“They (Thucydides and Xenophon) maintained the dignity of history.”
— On the Study and Use of History, letter 5 (1752); compare Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, book xi. chap. ii.; Horace Walpole, Advertisement to Letter to Sir Horace Mann; Thomas Babington Macaulay, History of England, vol. i. chap. i.
“The landed men are the true owners of our political vessel, the moneyed men are no more than passengers in it.”
— Some Reflections on the Present State of the Nation (1753)
“It is the modest, not the presumptuous, inquirer who makes a real and safe progress in the discovery of divine truths. One follows Nature and Nature's God; that is, he follows God in his works and in his word.”
— Letter to Alexander Pope; compare: "Slave to no sect, who takes no private road, But looks through Nature up to Nature’s God", Alexander Pope, Essay on Man, epistle iv. line 331.
“The shortest and surest way of arriving at real knowledge is to unlearn the lessons we have been taught, to mount the first principles, and take nobody's word about them.”
— As quoted in Treasury of Wisdom, Wit and Humor, Odd Comparisons and Proverbs (1891) by Adam Woolever

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.

Occupation: politician
Position held: Member of Parliament in the Parliament of England, Member of the 1589 Parliament, Member of the 1593 Parliament
Citizenship: Kingdom of England
Born: 1586
Died: April 7, 1621

Family