Chance will not do the work. Chance sends the breeze; But if the pilot slumber at the helm, The very wind that wafts us tow’rds the port May dash us on the shoals. The steersman’s part Is vigilance, or blow it rough or smooth.
BEN JONSONThe 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.
More Ben Jonson Quotes
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Tell troth and shame the devil.
BEN JONSON -
Whosoever 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 JONSON -
Ready writing makes not good writing, but good writing brings on ready writing.
BEN JONSON -
Fortune, thou hadst no deity, if men Had wisdom.
BEN JONSON -
Now we are all fallen, youth from their fear, And age from that which bred it, good example.
BEN JONSON -
The poet is the nearest borderer upon the orator.
BEN JONSON -
Ambition, like a torrent, ne’er looks back; And is a swelling, and the last affection A high mind can put off; being both a rebel Unto the soul and reason, and enforceth All laws, all conscience, treads upon religion, and offereth violence to nature’s self.
BEN JONSON -
Well, as he brews, so shall he drink.
BEN JONSON -
To men pressed by their wants all change is ever welcome.
BEN JONSON -
Money never made any man rich, but his mind. He that can order himself to the law of nature, is not only without the sense, but the fear of poverty.
BEN JONSON -
Spread yourself upon his bosom publicly, whose heart you would eat in private.
BEN JONSON -
Nor for my peace will I go far, As wanderers do, that still do roam, But make my strengths, such as they are, Here in my bosom, and at home.
BEN JONSON -
Who casts to write a living line, must sweat.
BEN JONSON -
Where it concerns himself, Who’s angry at a slander, makes it true.
BEN JONSON -
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.
BEN JONSON