126 quotes
One woman reads another's character
Without the tedious trouble of deciphering.
To the old, long life and treasure;
To the young, all health and pleasure.
And Venus, thou, with timely seed,
Which may their after-comforts breed,
Inform the gentle womb;
Nor let it prove a tomb.
My thoughts and I were of another world.
Underneath this sable hearse
Lies the subject of all verse,—
Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother.
Death, ere thou hast slain another,
Learn'd and fair and good as she,
Time shall throw a dart at thee.
And where she went, the flowers took thickest root,
As she had sow'd them with her odorous foot.
Her treading would not bend a blade of grass,
Or shake the downy blow-ball from his stalk!
It is an art to have so much judgment as to apparel a lie well, to give it a good dressing.
The Works of Ben Jonson, Second Folio (1640)
He that departs with his own honesty
For vulgar praise, doth it too dearly buy.
Blest be the hour wherein I bought this book;
His studies happy that composed the book,
And the man fortunate that sold the book.
Underneath this sable herse
Lyes the subject of all verse.
I will eat exceedingly, and prophesy.
Bartholomew Fair (1614)
As he brews, so shall he drink.
Every Man in His Humour (1598)
It must be done like lightning.
Every Man in His Humour (1598)
Underneath this stone doth lie
As much beauty as could die;
Which in life did harbor give
To more virtue than doth live.
The Works of Ben Jonson, First Folio (1616)
A cripple in the way out-travels a footman or a post out of the way.
The Works of Ben Jonson, Second Folio (1640)
'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.
That Donne himself, for not being understood, would perish.
Conversations with William Drummond of Hawthornden (1711)
Opinion is a light, vain, crude, and imperfect thing.
The Works of Ben Jonson, Second Folio (1640)
Though the most be players, some must be spectators.
The Works of Ben Jonson, Second Folio (1640)