I would rather have a plain down-right wisdom than a foolish and affected eloquence.
BEN JONSONThe world knows only two, that’s Rome and I.
More Ben Jonson Quotes
-
-
No man so wise that he may not easily err if he takes no other counsel than his own. He that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master.
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 -
Many might go to heaven with half the labour they go to hell, if they would venture their industry the right way.
BEN JONSON -
Tell troth and shame the devil.
BEN JONSON -
Affliction teacheth a wicked person sometime to pray; prosperity never.
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 -
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 JONSON -
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.
BEN JONSON -
Hell itself must yield to industry.
BEN JONSON -
I’ll give anything for a good copy now, be it true or false, so it be news.
BEN JONSON -
We are persons of quality, I assure you, and women of fashion, and come to see and to be seen.
BEN JONSON -
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.
BEN JONSON -
It is an art to have so much judgment as to apparel a lie well, to give it a good dressing.
BEN JONSON -
If you succeed not, cast not away the quills yet, nor scratch the wainscot, beat not the poor desk, but bring all to the forge and file again; turn it new.
BEN JONSON -
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 JONSON







