Ben Jonson: Trending quotes (page 5)

“Truth is the trial of itself
And needs no other touch,
And purer than the purest gold,
Refine it ne'er so much.”

Ben Jonson

The Touchstone of Truth (1624), lines 1-4

Truth

“They say princes learn no art truly, but the art of horsemanship. The reason is, the brave beast is no flatterer. He will throw a prince as soon as his groom.”

Ben Jonson

The Works of Ben Jonson, Second Folio (1640), Timber: or Discoveries

Art , Learning

“Get money; still get money, boy,
No matter by what means.”

Ben Jonson Every Man in His Humour

Act ii, Scene 3. Compare: "Get place and wealth,—if possible, with grace; If not, by any means get wealth and place", Alexander Pope, Horace, book i. epistle i. line 103
Every Man in His Humour (1598)

Money , Boy

“I never thought an angry person valiant:
Virtue is never aided by a vice.”

Ben Jonson The New Inn

Lovel, Act IV, Scene iii
The New Inn, or The Light Heart (licensed 19 January 1629; printed 1631)

Personality

“Opinion is a light, vain, crude, and imperfect thing.”

Ben Jonson

The Works of Ben Jonson, Second Folio (1640), Timber: or Discoveries

Light

“It was a mighty while ago.”

Ben Jonson Every Man in His Humour

Act i, Scene 3
Every Man in His Humour (1598)

“Rhyme, the rack of finest wits,
That expresseth but by fits,
True conceit,
Spoiling senses of their treasure,
Cozening judgement with a measure,
But false weight.
Wresting words from their true calling;
Propping verse, for fear of falling
To the ground.
Jointing syllables, drowning letters,
Fastening vowels, as with fetters
They were bound!”

Ben Jonson

XXIX, A Fit of Rhyme Against Rhyme, lines 1-12
The Works of Ben Jonson, Second Folio (1640), Underwoods

Fear , Sense , Falseness

“His opinion of verses.
That he wrote all his first in prose, for so his master Camden had learned him.

That verses stood by sense without either colours or accent; which yet other times he denied.”

Ben Jonson

Conversations with William Drummond of Hawthornden (1711)

Sense , Learning , Time

“Though the most be players, some must be spectators.”

Ben Jonson

The Works of Ben Jonson, Second Folio (1640), Timber: or Discoveries

“He is a narrow-minded man, that affects a triumph in any glorious study; but to triumph in a lie, and a lie themselves have forged, is frontless. Folly often goes beyond her bounds; but Impudence knows none.”

Ben Jonson

The Works of Ben Jonson, Second Folio (1640), Timber: or Discoveries

Lie , Study

“The Devil is an Ass, I do acknowledge it.”

Ben Jonson

"Pug"; Act IV, scene 4
The Devil Is an Ass (performed 1616; published 1631)

“It must be done like lightning.”

Ben Jonson Every Man in His Humour

Act iv, Scene v
Every Man in His Humour (1598)

“He knows not his own strength that hath not met adversity.”

Ben Jonson