Ben Jonson Quotes

Quotes about:

• 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

  78 Copy quote

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

  Ben Jonson

  No Fear, Hell, Prisoner

  46 Copy quote

• Mischiefs feed / Like beasts, till they be fat, and then they bleed.

  Ben Jonson

  Beast, Fats, Mischief

  'Volpone' (1605) act 5, sc. 8

  3 Copy quote

• 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

  59 Copy quote

• That old bald cheater, Time.

  Ben Jonson

  Time, Cheater

  Ben Jonson, C. H. Herford, P. and E. Simpson, Evelyn Simpson (1986). “Complete Critical Edition: 4. Cynthia's Revels; Poetaster; Sejanus; Eastward Ho”, p.215, Oxford University Press

  4 Copy quote

• 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

  16 Copy quote

• 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).

  42 Copy quote

• True melancholy breeds your perfect fine wit.

  Ben Jonson

  Perfect, Melancholy, Fine

  Ben Jonson, William Gifford (1875). “The Works of Ben Jonson: With Notes Critical and Explanatory, and a Biographical Memoir”, p.63

  3 Copy quote

• They, who know no evil, will suspect none.

  Ben Jonson

  Evil, Knows, Suspects

  "Every Man in his Humour".

  8 Copy quote

• Books are faithful repositories, which may be awhile neglected or forgotten, but when they are opened again, will again impart their instruction.

  Ben Jonson

  Book, Faithful, May

  4 Copy quote

• Poets are far rarer birds than kings.

  Ben Jonson

  Kings, Bird, Poet

  3 Copy quote

• For a man to write well, there are required three necessaries: to read the best authors, observe the best speakers, and much exercise of his own style.

  Ben Jonson

  Writing, Exercise, Men

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

  5 Copy quote

• Opinion is a light, vain, crude, and imperfect thing.

  Ben Jonson

  Imperfect Things, Light, Opinion

  Ben Jonson, Robert S. Miola (2000). “Every Man in His Humour: Quarto Version”, p.92, Manchester University Press

  3 Copy quote

• 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.

  Ben Jonson

  Drinking, Sorrow, Use

  Ben Jonson, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher (1811). “The Dramatic Works of Ben Jonson, and Beaumont and Fletcher”, p.149

  10 Copy quote

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

  Ben Jonson

  Inspirational, Art, Fool

  27 Copy quote

• Fortune, that favors fools.

  Ben Jonson

  Favors, Fool, Fortune

  The Alchemist prologue (1610)

  7 Copy quote

• Peace is never more than one thought away.

  Ben Jonson

  Peace, Harmony

  6 Copy quote

• 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

  10 Copy quote

• Good men are the stars, the planets of the ages wherein they live, and illustrate the times.

  Ben Jonson

  Stars, Men, Good Man

  Ben Jonson (1838). “The Works of Ben Jonson”, p.751

  8 Copy quote

• 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

  30 Copy quote

• The poet is the nearest borderer upon the orator.

  Ben Jonson

  Oratory, Poet, Orators

  Ben Jonson (1756). “Underwoods. Timber; or, Discoveries made upon men and matter. Horace, Of the art of poetry [with an English translation by Jonson]. The English grammar. Leges convivales, rules for the Tavern Academy. The case is altered”, p.152

  63 Copy quote

• True gladness doth not always speak; joy, bred and born but in the tongue, is weak.

  Ben Jonson

  Joy, Tongue, Speak

  Ben Jonson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ben Jonson (Illustrated)”, p.2707, Delphi Classics

  3 Copy quote

• 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

  13 Copy quote

• Force works on servile natures, not the free.

  Ben Jonson

  Nature, Force

  Ben Jonson (1756). “Works: Collated with all the former editions, and corrected with notes critical and explanatory”, p.29

  6 Copy quote

• Calumnies are answered best with silence.

  Ben Jonson

  Silence, Advice, Calumny

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

  24 Copy quote

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