Ben Jonson quotes - page 3

Still to be powder'd, still perfum'd, Lady, it is to be presum'd, Though art's hid causes are not found, All is not sweet, all is not sound. 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. (Ben Jonson)
There's reason good, that you good laws should make: Men's manners ne'er were viler, for your sake. View quote
Ben Jonson
In the meantime, to all suits, to all entreaties, to all letters, to all tricks, I will be deaf as an adder, blind as a beetle, lay mine ear to the ground, and lock mine eyes i' my hand against all temptations. View quote
Ben Jonson
Follow a shadow, it still flies you; Seem to fly it, it will pursue: So court a mistress, she denies you; Let her alone, she will court you. View quote
Ben Jonson
A gentleman reading a poem that began withWhere is that man that never yet did hear Of fair Penelope, Ulysses' queen?[Jonson] calling his cook, asked if he had ever heard of her, who answering "No," demonstrate to him Lo, there the man that never yet did hear Of fair Penelope, Ulysses' queen. View quote
Ben Jonson
For if I thought my judgment were of years, I should commit thee surely with thy peers, And tell how far thou didst our Lily outshine, Or sporting Kyd, or Marlow's mighty line. And though thou hadst small Latin and less Greek, From thence to honour thee, I will not seek For names... View quote
Ben Jonson
Courses even with the sun Doth her mighty brother run. View quote
Ben Jonson
Truth is the trial of itself And needs no other touch, And purer than the purest gold, Refine it ne'er so much. View quote
Ben Jonson
His opinion of verses. That he wrote all his first in prose, for so his master Camden had learned him.That verses stood by sense without either colours or accent; which yet other times he denied. View quote
Ben Jonson
To speak and to speak well are two things. A fool may talk, but a wise man speaks. View quote
Ben Jonson
What excellent fools religion makes of men. (Ben Jonson)
Success produces confidence; confidence relaxes industry, and negligence ruins the reputation which accuracy had raised. View quote
Ben Jonson
Weigh the meaning and look not at the words. View quote
Ben Jonson
A woman, the more curious she is about her face, is commonly the more careless about her house. View quote
Ben Jonson
Fortune, that favors fools. View quote
Ben Jonson
He threatens many that hath injured one. View quote
Ben Jonson
Neither do thou lust after that tawny weed tobacco. View quote
Ben Jonson
O, for an engine, to keep back all clocks, or make the sun forget his motion! View quote
Ben Jonson
Vice Is like a fury to the vicious mind, And turns delight itself to punishment. View quote
Ben Jonson
Folly often goes beyond her bounds, but impudence knows none. View quote
Ben Jonson
Shakespeare, in a play, brought in a number of men saying they had suffered shipwreck in Bohemia, where there is no sea by some 100 miles. (Ben Jonson)
A cripple in the way out-travels a footman or a post out of the way. View quote
Ben Jonson
Preserving the sweetness of proportion and expressing itself beyond expression. View quote
Ben Jonson
Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy! My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy. Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay, Exacted by thy fate, on the just day. O, could I lose all father now. For why Will man lament the state he should envy? To have soon 'scaped world's and flesh's rage, And, if no other misery, yet age! Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say here doth lie Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry: For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such, As what he loves may never like too much. View quote
Ben Jonson
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. View quote
Ben Jonson