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.
BEN JONSONIt 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.
More Ben Jonson Quotes
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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.
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We are persons of quality, I assure you, and women of fashion, and come to see and to be seen.
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When a virtuous man is raised, it brings gladness to his friends, grief to his enemies, and glory to his posterity.
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Sweet Swan of Avon! What a sight it were To see thee in our water yet appear.
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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.
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Poets are far rarer birds than kings.
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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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How Fortune piles her sports when she begins to practise them!
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I see compassion may become a justice, though it be a weakness, I confess, and nearer a vice than a virtue.
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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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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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I’ll give anything for a good copy now, be it true or false, so it be news.
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A good man should and must Sit rather down with loss than rise unjust.
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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.
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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.
BEN JONSON