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
Wherein the graver had a strife / With Nature to out-do the life.
Peace is never more than one thought away.
A good dog deserves a good bone.
... the best pilots have need of mariners, besides sails, anchor and other tackle.
True melancholy breeds your perfect fine wit.
It is less dishonor to hear imperfectly than to speak imperfectly. The ears are excused; the understanding is not.
Your highest female grace is silence.
Well, as he brews, so shall he drink.
No glass renders a man's form or likeness so true as his speech.
Whom hatred frights, let him not dream of sovereignty.
Love that is ignorant and hatred have almost the same ends.
Where guilty is, rage and courage doth abound.
Fear to do base, unworthy things is valor; if they be one to us, to suffer them is valor too.
Tis not the wholesome sharp mortality, Or modest anger of a satiric spirit, That hurts or wounds the body of a state, But the sinister application Of the malicious, ignorant, and base Interpreter; who will distort and strain The general scope and purpose of an author To his particular and private spleen.