The burnt child dreads the fire.
BEN JONSONThe burnt child dreads the fire.
BEN JONSONOf all wild beasts preserve me from a tyrant; and of all tame a flatterer.
BEN JONSONI 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 JONSONLanguage most shows a man; speak that I may see thee; it springs out of the most retired and inmost parts of us, and is the image of the parent of it, the mind. No glass renders a man’s form or likeness so true as his speech.
BEN JONSONAll concord’s born of contraries.
BEN JONSONForce works on servile natures, not the free.
BEN JONSONCut Men’s throats with whisperings.
BEN JONSONLanguage most shows a man, speak that I may see thee.
BEN JONSONWhosoever loves not picture is injurious to truth, and all the wisdom of poetry. Picture is the invention of heaven, the most ancient and most akin to nature. It is itself a silent work, and always one and the same habit.
BEN JONSONI glory, more in the cunning purchase of my wealth than in the glad possession.
BEN JONSONSuccess hath made me wanton.
BEN JONSONOur whole life is like a play.
BEN JONSONHow near to good is what is fair!
BEN JONSONA 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.
BEN JONSONSweet meat must have sour sauce.
BEN JONSONWhere dost thou careless lie, Buried in ease and sloth? Knowledge that sleeps, doth die; And this security, It is the common moth, That eats on wits and arts, and oft destroys them both.
BEN JONSON