Ben Jonson
Ben Jonson
Benjamin "Ben" Jonsonwas an English playwright, poet, actor and literary critic of the 17th century, whose artistry exerted a lasting impact upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours. He is best known for the satirical plays Every Man in His Humour, Volpone, or The Foxe, The Alchemistand Bartholomew Fayre: A Comedyand for his lyric poetry; he is generally regarded as the second most important English dramatist, after William Shakespeare, during the reign of James I...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth11 June 1572
Of all wild beasts preserve me from a tyrant; and of all tame a flatterer.
Success produces confidence; confidence relaxes industry, and negligence ruins the reputation which accuracy had raised.
The dignity of truth is lost with much protesting.
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.
Memory, of all the powers of the mind, is the most delicate and frail.
Confound these ancestors... They've stolen our best ideas!
Ambition, like a torrent, never looks back.
There is no greater hell than to be a prisoner of fear.
No man so wise that he may not easily err if he takes no other counsel than his own. He that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master.
True happiness consists not in the multitude of friends, but in the worth and choice.
To speak and to speak well are two things. A fool may talk, but a wise man speaks.
Wherein the graver had a strife / With Nature to out-do the life.
Thy praise or dispraise is to me alike; One doth not stroke me, nor the other strike.
Heaven prepares good men with crosses; but no ill can happen to a good man.