“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

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 14, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Rhyme, the rack of finest wits, That expresseth but by fits, True conceit, Spoiling senses of their treasure, Cozen…" by Ben Jonson?
Ben Jonson photo
Ben Jonson 93
English writer 1572–1637

Related quotes

Ludwig Wittgenstein photo
John Milton photo
Omar Khayyám photo

“A Hair perhaps divides the False and True;
Yes; and a single Alif were the clue —
Could you but find it — to the Treasure-house,
And peradventure to The Master too;”

Omar Khayyám (1048–1131) Persian poet, philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer

Source: The Rubaiyat (1120)

Don DeLillo photo

“A person rises on a word and falls on a syllable.”

Source: Cosmopolis

Douglas Hofstadter photo
Albert Einstein photo

“The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the measure and the sense in which he has attained to liberation from the self.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

1940s, The World As I See It (1949)

Haruki Murakami photo
Jerry Falwell photo

“If one removes the first two letters from this word 'spoil' he soon realizes what Russia will really be after — obviously, oil.”

Jerry Falwell (1933–2007) American evangelical pastor, televangelist, and conservative political commentator

Interpreting the significance of the English version of Ezekiel 38:12 as evidence of the USSR's belligerence toward Israel, on the Old Time Gospel Hour (1979); as quoted in What Should We Believe? (1987) by Aurelia T. Fule, Ch. VIII: "Why Should the "New Teaching" Trouble Us?" http://www.religion-online.org/showbook.asp?title=406

Related topics