Ben Jonson Quotes

A lily of a day Is fairer far in May, Although it fall and die that night, It was the plant and flower of light. In small proportions we just beauties see, And in short measures life may perfect be.

To speak and to speak well are two things. A fool may talk, but a wise man speaks.

Honor's a good brooch to wear in a man's hat at all times.

The poet is the nearest borderer upon the orator.

The voice so sweet, the words so fair, As some soft chime had stroked the air; And though the sound had parted thence, Still left an echo in the sense.

True happiness consists not in the multitude of friends, but in the worth and choice.

A good man will avoid the spot of any sin. The very aspersion is grievous, which makes him choose his way in his life, as he would in his journey.

There is no greater hell than to be a prisoner of fear.

Drink to me only with thine eyes, And I will pledge with mine; Or leave a kiss but in the cup And I'll not look for wine.

Success produces confidence; confidence relaxes industry, and negligence ruins the reputation which accuracy had raised.

Memory, of all the powers of the mind, is the most delicate and frail.

Princes that would their people should do well Must at themselves begin, as at the head; For men, by their example, pattern out Their limitations, and regard of laws: A virtuous court a world to virtue draws.

Ambition, like a torrent, never looks back.

The pipe marks the point at which the orangutan ends and man begins.

He who is taught only by himself has a fool for a master.

Blueness doth express trueness.

The dignity of truth is lost with much protesting.

Calumnies are answered best with silence.

A new disease? I know not, new or old, but it may well be called poor mortals plague for, like a pestilence, it doth infect the houses of the brain till not a thought, or motion, in the mind, be free from the black poison of suspect.

Great honours are great burdens, but on whom They are cast with envy, he doth bear two loads.

Chance will not do the work. Chance sends the breeze; But if the pilot slumber at the helm, The very wind that wafts us tow'rds the port May dash us on the shoals. The steersman's part Is vigilance, or blow it rough or smooth.

Get money, still get money, boy, no matter by what means.

You learn nothing about someone by the way they win the fight, you learn everything about the way they lose and keep coming back.

Give me a look, give me a face, That makes simplicity a grace Robes loosely flowing, hair as free Such sweet neglect more taketh me Than all the adulteries of art: They strike mine eyes, but not my heart.

A prince without letters is a Pilot without eyes. All his government is groping.

Woman, the more careful she is about her face, the more careless about her house.

Of all wild beasts preserve me from a tyrant; and of all tame a flatterer.

If men will impartially, and not asquint, look toward the offices and function of a poet, they will easily conclude to themselves the impossibility of any man's being a good poet without first being a good man.

Thy praise or dispraise is to me alike; One doth not stroke me, nor the other strike.

Confound these ancestors... They've stolen our best ideas!

If I freely may discover What should please me in my lover, I would have her fair and witty, Savouring more of court than city; A little proud, but full of pity; Light and humorous in her toying, Oft building hopes, and soon destroying, Long, but sweet in the enjoying; Neither too easy nor to hard; All extremes I would have barr'd.

No man so wise that he may not easily err if he takes no other counsel than his own. He that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master.

Queen and huntress, chaste and fair Now the sun is laid to sleep, Seated in thy silver chair, State in wonted manner keep: Hesperus entreats thy light Goddess, excellently bright.

I have no urns, no dusty monuments; No broken images of ancestors, Wanting an ear, or nose; no forged tales Of long descents, to boast false honors from.

We are persons of quality, I assure you, and women of fashion, and come to see and to be seen.

The Devil is an Ass , I do acknowledge it.

Tis not the wholesome sharp mortality, Or modest anger of a satiric spirit, That hurts or wounds the body of a state, But the sinister application Of the malicious, ignorant, and base Interpreter; who will distort and strain The general scope and purpose of an author To his particular and private spleen.

Court a mistress, she denies you; let her alone, she will court you.

My thoughts and I were of another world.

It is virtue that gives glory; that will endenizen a man everywhere.

It is less dishonor to hear imperfectly than to speak imperfectly. The ears are excused; the understanding is not.

Drink today, and drown all sorrow; You shall perhaps not do it tomorrow; Best, while you have it, use your breath; There is no drinking after death.

To struggle when hope is banished! To live when life's salt is gone! To dwell in a dream that's vanished- To endure, and go calmly on!

In the hope to meet Shortly again, and make our absence sweet.

Follow a shadow, it still flies you, Seem to fly, it will pursue: So court a mistress, she denies you; Let her alone, she will court you. Say are not women truly, then, Styled but the shadows of us men?

Who will not judge him worthy to be robbed That sets his doors wide open to a thief, And shows the felon where his treasure lies?

Poor worms, they hiss at me, whilst I at home Can be contented to applaud myself, . . . with joy To see how plump my bags are and my barns.

Nothing is more short-lived than pride.

You are not now to think what's best to do, As in beginnings, but what must be done, Being thus enter'd; and slip no advantage That may secure you. Let them call it mischief; When it is past, and prosper'd , 'twill be virtue.

If you be sick, your own thoughts make you sick