Ben Jonson Quotes - Page 4

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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)

  16 Copy quote

• I glory, more in the cunning purchase of my wealth than in the glad possession.

  Ben Jonson

  Greed, Wealth, Glory

  1609 Volpone, act 1, sc.1.

  4 Copy quote

• If you succeed not, cast not away the quills yet, nor scratch the wainscot, beat not the poor desk, but bring all to the forge and file again; turn it new.

  Ben Jonson

  Scratches, Crafts, Succeed

  Ben Jonson, William GIFFORD (Editor of the Quarterly Review.) (1853). “The Works of Ben Jonson. With a Biographical Memoir, by William Gifford. A New Edition”, p.888

  4 Copy quote

• A prince without letters is a Pilot without eyes. All his government is groping.

  Ben Jonson

  Eye, Government, Letters

  Ben Jonson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ben Jonson (Illustrated)”, p.3197, Delphi Classics

  15 Copy quote

• Doing, a filthy pleasure is, and short; And done, we straight repent us of the sport: Let us not rush blindly on unto it, Like lustful beasts, that only know to do it: For lust will languish, and that heat decay, But thus, thus, keeping endless Holy-.

  Ben Jonson

  Sports, Lust, Decay

  Ben Jonson (1838). “The Works of Ben Jonson”, p.740

  6 Copy quote

• Let those that merely talk and never think, That live in the wild anarchy of drink

  Ben Jonson

  Drinking, Thinking, Anarchy

  Ben Jonson (1856). “Poetical Works of Ben Jonson. Edited by Robert Bell”, p.218

  8 Copy quote

• 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).

  9 Copy quote

• I see compassion may become a justice, though it be a weakness, I confess, and nearer a vice than a virtue.

  Ben Jonson

  Compassion, Justice, Weakness

  1614 Bartholomew Fair, act 4, sc.2.

  7 Copy quote

• Well, I will scourge those apes, And to these courteous eyes oppose a mirror, As large as is the stage whereon we act; Where they shall see the time's deformity Anatomised in every nerve, and sinew, With constant courage, and contempt of fear.

  Ben Jonson

  Time, Eye, Mirrors

  1600 Every Man out of His Humour, Induction.

  9 Copy quote

• Hell itself must yield to industry.

  Ben Jonson

  Yield, Hell, Industry

  Ben Jonson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ben Jonson (Illustrated)”, p.2391, Delphi Classics

  7 Copy quote

• If men will impartially, and not asquint, look toward the offices and function of a poet, they will easily conclude to themselves the impossibility of any man's being a good poet without first being a good man.

  Ben Jonson

  Men, Office, Good Man

  Ben Jonson (2016). “Volpone”, p.34, Ben Jonson

  15 Copy quote

• Princes that would their people should do well
  Must at themselves begin, as at the head;
  For men, by their example, pattern out
  Their limitations, and regard of laws:
  A virtuous court a world to virtue draws.

  Ben Jonson

  Men, Law, People

  32 Copy quote

• Get money, still get money, boy, no matter by what means.

  Ben Jonson

  Money, Mean, Boys

  Ben Jonson, Robert S. Miola (2000). “Every Man in His Humour: Quarto Version”, p.253, Manchester University Press

  17 Copy quote

• A lily of a day
  Is fairer far in May,
  Although it fall and die that night,
  It was the plant and flower of light.
  In small proportions we just beauties see,
  And in short measures life may perfect be.

  Ben Jonson

  Flower, Fall, Night

  'To the Immortal Memory...of...Sir Lucius Carey and Sir H. Morison' (1640)

  117 Copy quote

• 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

  Time, Sleep, Wind

  Ben Jonson (1756). “Works: Collated with All the Former Editions, and Corrected with Notes Critical and Explanatory”, p.134

  8 Copy quote

• He threatens many that hath injured one.

  Ben Jonson

  Crime, Injured

  Ben Jonson, William Gifford (1816). “The Works of Ben Jonson ...: With Notes Critical and Explanatory, and Biographical Memoir”, p.59

  9 Copy quote

• Many might go to heaven with half the labour they go to hell, if they would venture their industry the right way.

  Ben Jonson

  Heaven, Half, Venture

  Ben Jonson (1838). “The Works of Ben Jonson”, p.743

  8 Copy quote

• Each petty hand
  Can steer a ship becalm'd; but he that will
  Govern and carry her to her ends, must know
  His tides, his currents, how to shift his sails;
  What she will bear in foul, what in fair weathers;
  Where her springs are, her leaks, and how to stop 'em;
  What strands, what shelves, what rocks do threaten her.

  Ben Jonson

  Spring, Hands, Weather

  Ben Jonson (1756). “The alchemist. Catiline, his conspiracy. Bartholomew Fair”, p.188

  4 Copy quote

• I do honor the very flea of his dog.

  Ben Jonson

  Dog, Hero, Honor

  Ben Jonson, William Gifford (1857). “The Works of Ben Jonson”, p.114

  5 Copy quote

• Let argument bear no unmusical sound.

  Ben Jonson

  Sound, Bears, Argument

  Ben Jonson (1856). “Poetical Works of Ben Jonson”, p.286

  9 Copy quote

• He that departs with his own honesty For Vulgar , doth it too dearly buy.

  Ben Jonson

  Honesty, Vulgar

  Ben Jonson (1856). “Poetical Works of Ben Jonson. Edited by Robert Bell”, p.27

  7 Copy quote

• Nor for my peace will I go far, As wanderers do, that still do roam, But make my strengths, such as they are, Here in my bosom, and at home.

  Ben Jonson

  Home, Stills, Wanderers

  1616 The Forest,'To the World'.

  6 Copy quote

• 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.

  Ben Jonson

  Queens, Sleep, Light

  Cynthia's Revels act 5, sc. 3 (1600)

  14 Copy quote

• 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

  Art, Lying, Book

  Ben Jonson (1985). “Ben Jonson”, Oxford University Press, USA

  7 Copy quote

• The burnt child dreads the fire.

  Ben Jonson

  Children, Fire, Dread

  Ben Jonson, Peter Happe (1996). “The Devil Is An Ass”, p.69, Manchester University Press

  8 Copy quote

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