Ben Jonson Quotes

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

  Ben Jonson

  Motivational, Wise, Communication

  Ben Jonson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ben Jonson (Illustrated)”, p.3209, Delphi Classics

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

  Ben Jonson

  Friendship, Positive, Happiness

  'Cynthia's Revels' (1600) act 3, sc. 2

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

  Ben Jonson

  No Fear, Hell, Prisoner

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• 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.

  Ben Jonson

  Romantic, Food, Wine

  "To Celia" l. 1 (1616).

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

  Ben Jonson

  Art, Fighting, Winning

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

  Ben Jonson

  Memories, Mind, Frail

  Ben Jonson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ben Jonson (Illustrated)”, p.3182, Delphi Classics

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

  Ben Jonson

  Inspirational, Art, Fool

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• 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.

  Ben Jonson

  Sweet, Echoes, Air

  'Eupheme' (1640) no. 4 'The Mind'

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• 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.

  Ben Jonson

  Blow, Wind, Slumber

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• Ambition, like a torrent, never looks back.

  Ben Jonson

  Inspiration, Ambition, Looks

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• My thoughts and I were of another world.

  Ben Jonson

  World, Another World, My Thoughts

  Ben Jonson, William Gifford (1859). “The works of Ben Jonson”

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• Calumnies are answered best with silence.

  Ben Jonson

  Silence, Advice, Calumny

  'Volpone' (1605) act 2, sc. 2

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

  Ben Jonson

  Relax, Ruins, Reputation

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• 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!

  Ben Jonson

  Life, Dream, Struggle

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

  Ben Jonson

  Men, Giving, Virtue

  Ben Jonson (1892). “Discoveries Made Upon Men and Matter: And Some Poems”

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• What excellent fools religion makes of men.

  Ben Jonson

  Religious, Men, Religion

  Ben Jonson, Johanna Procter (1989). “The Selected Plays of Ben Jonson: Volume 1: Sejanus, Volpone, Epicoene Or the Silent Woman”, p.99, Cambridge University Press

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• The dignity of truth is lost with much protesting.

  Ben Jonson

  Life, Losing, Dignity

  Ben Jonson (1756). “The Works of Ben. Jonson: The alchemist. Catiline, his conspiracy. Bartholomew Fair”, p.201

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

  Ben Jonson

  Two, Envy, Honor

  Ben Jonson, William Gifford (1857). “The Works of Ben Jonson”, p.386

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• I remember, the players have often mentioned it as an honour to Shakespeare, that in his writing (whatsoever he penned) he never plotted out a line. My answer hath been, would he had blotted a thousand.

  Ben Jonson

  Writing, Player, Lines

  Timber: or Discoveries made upon Men and Matter (published 1640).

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

  Ben Jonson

  Home, House, Faces

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

  Ben Jonson

  Funny, Humor, Ideas

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• 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.

  Ben Jonson

  Wise, Men, May

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

  Ben Jonson

  Understanding, Ears, Speak

  Ben Jonson, William Gifford (1879). “The Works of Ben Jonson”

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• 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

  Sweet, Art, Eye

  Epicene act 1, sc. 1 (1609)

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

  Ben Jonson

  Praise, Strikes, Strokes

  Ben Jonson (1856). “Poetical Works of Ben Jonson. Edited by Robert Bell”, p.46

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