Ben Jonson Quotes

174 Sourced Quotes

It strikes! one, two, Three, four, five, six. Enough, enough, dear watch, Thy pulse hath beat enough. Now sleep and rest; Would thou could'st make the time to do so too; I'll wind thee up no more.

Ben Jonson
Thou art not, Penshurst, built to envious show
Of touch or marble, nor canst boast a row
Of polished pillars, or a roof of gold;
Thou hast no lantern whereof tales are told,
Or stair, or courts; but standst an ancient pile,
And these grudged at, art reverenced the while.

Ben Jonson
I remember the players have often mentioned it as an honor to Shakespeare, that in his writing, whatsoever he penned, he never blotted out a line. My answer hath been, "Would he had blotted a thousand".

Ben Jonson
I sent thee late a rosy wreath,
Not so much honoring thee As giving it a hope that there It could not wither'd be.
But thou thereon didst only breathe,
And sent'st it back to me;
Since when it grows and smells, I swear,
Not of itself, but thee.

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…

Ben Jonson
You that would last long, list to my song,
Make no more coil, but buy of this oil.
Would you be ever fair and young?
Stout of teeth and strong of tongue?
Tart of palate, quick of ear?
Sharp of sight, of nostril clear?
Moist of hand and light of foot?
(Or, I will come nearer to it)
Would you live free from all diseases,
Do the act your mistress pleases;
Yet fright all aches from your bones?
Here's a medicine for the nones.

Ben Jonson
It holds for good polity ever, to have that outwardly in vilest estimation, which inwardly is most dear to us.

Ben Jonson
Greatness of name in the father oft-times overwhelms the son; they stand too near one another. The shadow kills the growth: so much, that we see the grandchild come more and oftener to be heir of the first.

Ben Jonson
Soul of the age!
The applause, delight, the wonder of our stage!
My Shakespeare, rise; I will not lodge thee by
Chaucer or Spenser, or bid Beaumont lie
A little further, to make thee a room;
Thou art a monument, without a tomb,
And art alive still, while thy book doth live,
And we have wits to read, and praise to give.

Ben Jonson
Those that merely talk and never think,
That live in the wild anarchy of drink.

Ben Jonson
As the multitude call timber-trees, promiscuously growing, a wood or forest; so am I bold to entitle these lesser poems, of later growth, by this of Underwood, out of the analogy they hold to the Forest in my former book.

Ben Jonson
Though the most be players, some must be spectators.

Ben Jonson
Have paid scot and lot there any time this eighteen years.

Ben Jonson
Ambition, like a torrent, ne'er looks back;
And is a swelling, and the last affection
A high mind can put off; being both a rebel
Unto the soul and reason, and enforceth
All laws, all conscience, treads upon religion,
and offereth violence to nature's self.

Ben Jonson
Underneath this stone doth lie
As much beauty as could die;
Which in life did harbor give
To more virtue than doth live.

Ben Jonson
A cripple in the way out-travels a footman or a post out of the way.

Ben Jonson
I loved the man [Shakespeare] and do honor his memory, on this side idolatry, as much as any.

Ben Jonson
Sweet swan of Avon! what a sight it were
To see thee in our water yet appear,
And make those flights upon the banks of Thames,
That so did take Eliza, and our James.
But stay, I see thee in the hemisphere
Advanc'd, and made a constellation there!
Shine forth, thou star of poets, and with rage,
Or influence, chide, or cheer the drooping stage,
Which, since thy flight from hence, hath mourn'd like night,
And despairs day, but for thy volumes light.

Ben Jonson
The players have often mentioned it as an honour to Shakespeare that in his writing, whatsoever he penned, he never blotted out a line. My answer hath been 'Would he had blotted a thousand'…But he redeemed his vices with his virtues. There was ever more in him to be praised than to be pardoned.

Ben Jonson
If he were
To be made honest by an act of parliament
I should not alter in my faith of him.

Ben Jonson
I perceive affection makes a fool Of any man too much the father.

Ben Jonson
The two chief things that give a man reputation in counsel, are the opinion of his honesty, and the opinion of his wisdom; the authority of those two will persuade.

Ben Jonson
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.

Ben Jonson
Heaven prepares good men with crosses; but no ill can happen to a good man.

Ben Jonson
A valiant man Ought not to undergo, or tempt a danger, But worthily, and by selected ways, He undertakes with reason, not by chance. His valor is the salt t' his other virtues, They're all unseason'd without it.

Ben Jonson
As it is a great point of art, when our matter requires it, to enlarge and veer out all sail, so to take it in and contract it is of no less praise when the argument doth ask it.

Ben Jonson
I would rather have a plain down-right wisdom than a foolish and affected eloquence.

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

Ben Jonson
No man is so foolish but may give another good counsel sometimes; and no man is so wise, but may easily err, if he will take no others counsel but his own. But very few men are wise by their own counsel; or learned by their own teaching. For he that was only taught by himself had a fool to his master.

Ben Jonson
Take heed, sickness, what you do, I shall fear you'll surfeit too. Live not we, as all they stalls, Spittles, pest-house, Hospitals, Scarce will take our present store?

Ben Jonson