Best quotes by Ben Jonson

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

Man and wife make one fool.

Who will not judge him worthy to be robbed That sets his doors wide open to a thief, And shows the felon where his treasure lies?

Whom the disease of talking still once posses-seth, he can never hold his peace.

Tell troth and shame the devil.

Honor's a good brooch to wear in a man's hat at all times.

Folly often goes beyond her bounds, but impudence knows none.

A good man should and must Sit rather down with loss than rise unjust.

You are not now to think what's best to do, As in beginnings, but what must be done, Being thus enter'd; and slip no advantage That may secure you. Let them call it mischief; When it is past, and prosper'd , 'twill be virtue.

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.

All discourses but my own afflict me; they seem harsh, impertinent, and irksome

Ods me I marle what pleasure or felicity they have in taking their roguish tobacco. It is good for nothing but to choke a man, and fill him full of smoke and embers.

One woman reads another's character Without the tedious trouble of deciphering

Well, as he brews, so shall he drink.

Affliction teacheth a wicked person sometime to pray; prosperity never.

No simple word That shall be uttered at our mirthful board, Shall make us sad next morning; or affright The liberty that we'll enjoy to-night.

Words borrowed of Antiquity do lend a kind of Majesty to style, and are not without their delight sometimes. For they have the authority of years, and out of their intermission do win to themselves a kind of grace-like newness. But the eldest of the present, and newest of the past Language, is the best.

Silence in woman is like speech in man.

Sweet Swan of Avon! What a sight it were To see thee in our water yet appear.

He was not of an age, but for all time!

Nothing is more short-lived than pride.

That I might live alone once with my gold! O, 'tis a sweet companion! kind and true: A man may trust it when his father cheats him, Brother, or friend, or wife. O wondrous pelf! That which makes all men false, is true itself.

The Devil is an Ass , I do acknowledge it.

How near to good is what is fair!

Vice Is like a fury to the vicious mind, And turns delight itself to punishment.

A good man will avoid the spot of any sin. The very aspersion is grievous, which makes him choose his way in his life, as he would in his journey.

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

Still may syllables jar with time, Still may reason war with rhyme, Resting never!

Were Guilt is, Rage and Courage doth abound.

Out of clothes out of countenance, out of countenance out of wit.

Good men but see death, the wicked taste it.

Love that is ignorant and hatred have almost the same ends.

Rich apparel has strange virtues; it makes him that hath it without means esteemed for an excellent wit; he that enjoys it with means puts the world in remembrance of his means.

All concord's born of contraries.

Tis not the wholesome sharp mortality, Or modest anger of a satiric spirit, That hurts or wounds the body of a state, But the sinister application Of the malicious, ignorant, and base Interpreter; who will distort and strain The general scope and purpose of an author To his particular and private spleen.

Hell itself must yield to industry.

Nor shall our cups make any guilty men; But at our parting, we will be, as when We innocently met.

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

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

The poet is the nearest borderer upon the orator.

He that is respectless in his courses oft sells his reputation at cheap market.

A thankful man owes a courtesy ever; the unthankful but when he needs it.

The soul of man is infinite in what it covets.

It is a note Of upstart greatness to observe and watch For these poor trifles, which the noble mind Neglects and scorns.

O, for an engine, to keep back all clocks, or make the sun forget his motion!

Our whole life is like a play.

Ambition makes more trusty slaves than need

We are persons of quality, I assure you, and women of fashion, and come to see and to be seen.

He threatens many that hath injured one.

Neither do thou lust after that tawny weed tobacco.

He that would have his virtue published, is not the servant of virtue, but glory.

Art hath an enemy call'd ignorance .

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

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

Many punishments sometimes, and in some cases, as much discredit a prince as many funerals a physician.

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

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

Popular men, They must create strange monsters, and then quell them, To make their arts seem something.

It is an art to have so much judgment as to apparel a lie well, to give it a good dressing.

Ready writing makes not good writing, but good writing brings on ready writing.

Who casts to write a living line, must sweat.

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.

For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such, As what he loves may never like too much.

Let argument bear no unmusical sound.

When a virtuous man is raised, it brings gladness to his friends, grief to his enemies, and glory to his posterity.

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.

There is no bounty to be showed to such As have real goodness: Bounty is A spice of virtue; and what virtuous act Can take effect on them that have no power Of equal habitude to apprehend it?

It is the highest of earthly honors to be descended from the great and good. They alone cry out against a noble ancestry who have none of their own.

Tis no sin love's fruits to steal; But the sweet thefts to reveal; To be taken, to be seen, These have crimes accounted been.

Sweet meat must have sour sauce.

Still to be neat, still to be drest, As you were going to a feast, Still to be powder'd, all perfum'd. Lady, it is to be presumed, Though art's hid causes are not found, All is not sweet, all is not sound.

Wine it is the milk of Venus, And the poet's horse accounted: Ply it and you all are mounted.

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.

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.

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.