Books are faithful repositories, which may be awhile neglected or forgotten, but when they are opened again, will again impart their instruction.
BEN JONSONAll the wise world is little else, in nature, But parasites or subparasites.
More Ben Jonson Quotes
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Language most shows a man, speak that I may see thee.
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Aristotle was the first accurate critic and truest judge nay, the greatest philosopher the world ever had; for he noted the vices of all knowledges, in all creatures, and out of many men’s perfections in a science he formed still one Art.
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God wisheth none should wreck on a strange shelf: To him man’s dearer than to himself.
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Out of clothes out of countenance, out of countenance out of wit.
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The soul of man is infinite in what it covets.
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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.
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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.
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A good life is a main argument.
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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.
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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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The two chief things that give a man reputation in counsel, are the opinion of his honesty, and the opinion of his wisdom; the authority of those two will persuade.
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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.
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A good king is a public servant.
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He threatens many that hath injured one.
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Tis the common disease of all your musicians that they know no mean, to be entreated, either to begin or end.
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True melancholy breeds your perfect fine wit.
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Ambition, like a torrent, never looks back.
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Indeed there’s a woundy luck in names.
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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.
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The voice so sweet, the words so fair, As some soft chime had stroked the air; And though the sound had parted thence, Still left an echo in the sense.
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Forbear, you things That stand upon the pinnacles of state, To boast your slippery height! when you do fall, You dash yourselves in pieces, ne’er to rise: And he that lends you pity, is not wise.
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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!
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Weigh the meaning and look not at the words.
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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.
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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.
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The burnt child dreads the fire.
BEN JONSON