Quotes by Ben Jonson

“Drink today, and drown all sorrow; You shall perhaps not do it tomorrow; Best, while you have it, use your breath; There is no drinking after death”

“True happiness consists not in the multitude of friends, but in the worth and choice.”

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

“Follow a shadow, it still flies you,Seem to fly it, it will pursue.So court a mistress, she denies you;Let her alone, she will court you.Say, are not women truly, thenStyled but the shadows of us men?”

“There is no greater hell than to be a prisoner of fear.”

“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.”

“A woman, the more curious she is about her face, is commonly the more careless about her house”

“She is Venus when she smiles; / But shes Juno when she walks, / And Minerva when she talks.”

“Art hath an enemy called Ignorance.”

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

Words borrowed of antiquity do lend a kind of majesty to style, and are not without their delight sometimes.

The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

Queen and huntress, chaste and fair,Now the sun is laid to sleep,Seated in thy silver chair,State in wonted manner keep:Hesperus entreats thy light,Goddess excellently bright.Earth, let not thy envious shadeDare itself to interpose,Cynthias shining orb was madeHeaven to clear when day did close:Bless us then with wished sight,Goddess excellently bright.Lay thy bow of pearl apart,And thy crystal-shining quiver,Give unto the flying hartSpace to breath, how short soever:Thou that makst a day of night-Goddess excellently bright.

Language most shews a man: Speak, that I may see thee.

There was never a great genius without a touch of madness.

I feel my griefs too, and there scarce is groundUpon my flesh tinflict another wound.Yet dare I not complain, or wish for deathWith holy Paul; lest it be thought the breathOf discontent; or that these prayers beFor weariness of life, not love of thee.

Many might go to heaven with half the labor they go to hell.

For a man to write well, there are required three necessaries—to read the best authors, observe the best speakers, and much exercise of his own style.

Mischiefs feed / Like beasts, till they be fat, and then they bleed.

Riches, the dumb god that givst all men tongues, / That canst do nought, and yet makst men do all things; / The price of souls; even hell, with thee to boot, / Is made worth heaven!