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 JONSONIf 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.
More Ben Jonson Quotes
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Good men but see death, the wicked taste it.
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How Fortune piles her sports when she begins to practise them!
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Still may syllables jar with time, Still may reason war with rhyme, Resting never!
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It is as great a spite to be praised in the wrong place, and by a wrong person, as can be done to a noble nature.
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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.
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Folly often goes beyond her bounds, but impudence knows none.
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Thy praise or dispraise is to me alike; One doth not stroke me, nor the other strike.
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He was not of an age, but for all time!
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In the hope to meet Shortly again, and make our absence sweet.
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Spread yourself upon his bosom publicly, whose heart you would eat in private.
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O! How vain and vile a passion is this fear! What base uncomely things it makes men do.
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Opinion is a light, vain, crude, and imperfect thing.
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Success produces confidence; confidence relaxes industry, and negligence ruins the reputation which accuracy had raised.
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To speak and to speak well are two things. A fool may talk, but a wise man speaks.
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A good king is a public servant.
BEN JONSON