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
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.
For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such, As what he loves may never like too much.
Give me a look, give me a face, That makes simplicity a grace Robes loosely flowing, hair as free Such sweet neglect more taketh me Than all the adulteries of art: They strike mine eyes, but not my heart.
I am now past the craggy paths of study, and come to the flowery plains of honor and reputation.
The burnt child dreads the fire.
Reader look, not on his picture but his book.
You learn nothing about someone by the way they win the fight, you learn everything about the way they lose and keep coming back.
Man and wife make one fool.
Who falls for love of God, shall rise a star.
... the best pilots have need of mariners, besides sails, anchor and other tackle.
A good dog deserves a good bone.
They that know no evil will suspect none.
Tis the common disease of all your musicians that they know no mean, to be entreated, either to begin or end.
Men that talk of their own benefits are not believed to talk of them because they have done them, but to have done them because they might talk of them.