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Ben Jonson
100 quotes
“Art hath an enemy call'd ignorance.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) first seen 1598 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Every Man out of His Humour (1598), Act I, scene 1
“There shall be no love lost.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) first seen 1598 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Every Man out of His Humour (1598), Act II, scene 1. Compare: "There is no love lost between us", Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote, part ii, chapter xxxiii
“Slow, slow, fresh fount, keep time with my salt tears: Yet, slower, yet; O faintly, gentle springs: List to the heavy part the music bears, Woe weeps out her division, when she sings. Droop herbs, and flowers, Fall grief in showers, Our beauties are not ours; O, I could still, Like melting snow upon some craggy hill, Drop, drop, drop, drop, Since nature's pride is now, a withered daffodil.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) first seen 1600 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Cynthia's Revels (1600), Act I, scene i
“True happiness Consists not in the multitude of friends, But in the worth and choice.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) first seen 1600 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Cynthia's Revels (1600), Act III, scene ii
“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 (1572–1637) first seen 1600 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Cynthia's Revels (1600), Act V, scene iii
“That old bald cheater, Time.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) first seen 1601 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Poetaster (1601), Act I, scene i
“Of all wild beasts preserve me from a tyrant; and of all tame, a flatterer.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) first seen 1603 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sejanus (1603), Act I
“The world knows only two, — that's Rome and I.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) first seen 1603 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sejanus (1603), Act V, scene 1
“Calumnies are answered best with silence.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) first seen 1606 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Volpone (1606), Act II, scene ii
“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 (1572–1637) first seen 1606 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Volpone (1606), Act II, scene ii
“Preserving the sweetness of proportion and expressing itself beyond expression.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) first seen 1606 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Masque of Hymen (1606)
“Still to be neat, still to be drest, As you were going to a feast.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) first seen 1609 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Epicene, or The Silent Woman (1609), Act I, scene i; a translation from Bonnefonius
“Still to be powder'd, still perfum'd, Lady, it is to be presum'd, Though art's hid causes are not found, All is not sweet, all is not sound. 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 (1572–1637) first seen 1609 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Epicene, or The Silent Woman (1609), Act I, scene i
“Subtle. No egg but differs from a chicken more Than metals in themselves. Surly. That cannot be. The egg's ordained by nature to that end And is a chicken in potentia. Subtle. The same we say of lead and other metals, Which would be gold if they had time. ...for 'twere absurd To think that nature in the earth bred gold Perfect in the instant; something went before. There must be remote matter.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) first seen 1610 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Alchemist (1610) Act II, scene ii
“Thou look'st like Antichrist in that lewd hat.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) first seen 1610 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Alchemist (1610), Act IV, scene vii
“Where it concerns himself, Who's angry at a slander makes it true.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) first seen 1611 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Catiline His Conspiracy (1611), Act III, scene i
“The dignity of truth is lost With much protesting.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) first seen 1611 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Catiline His Conspiracy (1611), Act III, scene ii
“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 (1572–1637) first seen 1611 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Catiline His Conspiracy (1611), Act III, scene ii
“So breaks the sun earth's rugged chains, Wherein rude winter bound her veins; So grows both stream and source of price, That lately fettered were with ice. So naked trees get crispèd heads, And coloured coats the roughest meads, And all get vigour, youth and spright, That are but looked on by his light.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) first seen 1613 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Irish Masque at Court (1613)
“Reader, look, Not at his picture, but his book.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) first seen 1618 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To the Reader [On the portrait of Shakespeare prefixed to the First Folio] (1618), lines 9-10
“Truth is the trial of itself And needs no other touch, And purer than the purest gold, Refine it ne'er so much.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) first seen 1624 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Touchstone of Truth (1624), lines 1-4
“Courses even with the sun Doth her mighty brother run.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Gipsies Metamorphosed, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“Underneath this sable hearse Lies the subject of all verse,— Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother. Death, ere thou hast slain another, Learn'd and fair and good as she, Time shall throw a dart at thee.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Epitaph on the Countess of Pembroke, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). This epitaph is generally ascribed to Ben Jonson. It appears in the editions of his Works; but in a manuscript collection…
“What gentle ghost, besprent with April dew, Hails me so solemnly to yonder yew?”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Elegy on the Lady Jane Pawlet, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919); comparable to "What beckoning ghost along the moonlight shade / Invites my steps, and points to yonder glade?", Alexander Pope,…
“It was a mighty while ago.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Hang sorrow! care'll kill a cat.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As he brews, so shall he drink.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Get money; still get money, boy, No matter by what means.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Have paid scot and lot there any time this eighteen years.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It must be done like lightning.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I will eat exceedingly, and prophesy.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The burnt child dreads the fire.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: English proverb (english)
“The Devil is an Ass! fool'd off! and beaten!”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If he were To be made honest by an act of parliament I should not alter in my faith of him.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Devil is an Ass, I do acknowledge it.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Pray thee, take care, that tak'st my book in hand, To read it well: that is, to understand.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If all you boast of your great art be true; Sure, willing poverty lives most in you.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There's reason good, that you good laws should make: Men's manners ne'er were viler, for your sake.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He that fears death, or mourns it, in the just, Shows of the resurrection little trust.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy! My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy. Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay, Exacted by thy fate, on the just day. O, could I lose all father now. For why Will man lament the state he should envy? To have soon 'scaped world's and flesh's rage, And, if no other misery, yet age! Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say here doth lie Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry: For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such, As what he loves may never like too much.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Thy praise or dispraise is to me alike; One doth not stroke me, nor the other strike.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The ports of death are sins; of life, good deeds: Through which our merit leads us to our meeds. How willful blind is he then, that would stray, And hath it in his powers, to make his way! This world death's region is, the other life's: And here, it should be one of our first strifes, So to front death, as men might judge us past it. For good men but see death, the wicked taste it.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Thus, in his belly, can he change a sin, Lust it comes out, that gluttony went in.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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 (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Follow a shadow, it still flies you; Seem to fly it, it will pursue: So court a mistress, she denies you; Let her alone, she will court you.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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. The thirst that from the soul doth rise Doth ask a drink divine; But might I of Jove's nectar sup, I would not change for thine. I sent thee late a rosy wreath, Not so much honoring thee As giving it a hope that there It could not withered 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 (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Not to know vice at all, and keep true state, Is virtue, and not fate: Next to that virtue is to know vice well, And her black spite expel.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Whilst that for which all virtue now is sold, And almost every vice — almighty gold.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source