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Where 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 The Works of Ben Jonson, Second Folio (1640)

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More quotes by Ben Jonson

The world knows only two, — that's Rome and I.

Sejanus (1603)

Drink to me only with thine eyes,
And I will pledge with mine;
Or leave a kiss but in the cup
And I'll not look for wine.

The Works of Ben Jonson, First Folio (1616)

There's reason good, that you good laws should make:
Men's manners ne'er were viler, for your sake.

The Works of Ben Jonson, First Folio (1616)

Neither do thou lust after that tawney weed tobacco.

True happiness
Consists not in the multitude of friends,
But in the worth and choice.

Cynthia's Revels (1600)

All Ben Jonson quotes →

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Ben Jonson (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.