Ben Jonson Quotes
-
The Devil is an Ass, I do acknowledge it.
-
They say princes learn no art truly, but the art of horsemanship. The reason is, the brave beast is no flatterer. He will throw a prince as soon as his groom.
-
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.
-
If he were To be made honest by an act of parliament I should not alter in my faith of him.
-
Art hath an enemy call'd ignorance.
-
Those that merely talk and never think, That live in the wild anarchy of drink.
-
Preserving the sweetness of proportion and expressing itself beyond expression.
-
Get money; still get money, boy, No matter by what means.
-
The world knows only two, - that's Rome and I.
-
Truth is the trial of itself And needs no other touch, And purer than the purest gold, Refine it ne'er so much.
-
Thus, in his belly, can he change a sin, Lust it comes out, that gluttony went in.
-
I will eat exceedingly, and prophesy.
-
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.
-
Opinion is a light, vain, crude, and imperfect thing.
-
Still to be neat, still to be drest, As you were going to a feast.
-
Rhyme, the rack of finest wits, That expresseth but by fits, True conceit, Spoiling senses of their treasure, Cozening judgement with a measure, But false weight. Wresting words from their true calling; Propping verse, for fear of falling To the ground. Jointing syllables, drowning letters, Fastening vowels, as with fetters They were bound!
-
Still may syllabes jar with time, Still may reason war with rhyme, Resting never!
-
Come my Celia, let us prove, While we can, the sports of love; Time will not be ours forever, He at length our good will sever. Spend not then his gifts in vain; Suns that set may rise again, But if once we lose this light, 'Tis with us perpetual night. Why should we defer our joys? Fame and rumour are but toys.
-
Underneath this stone doth lie As much beauty as could die; Which in life did harbor give To more virtue than doth live.
-
The voice so sweet, the words so fair, As some soft chime had stroked the air; And, though the sound were 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 cripple in the way out-travels a footman or a post out of the way.