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Ben Jonson Quotes (1572-1637)
Actor, Poet
About Ben Jonson
Benjamin Jonson (11 June 1572 – 6 August 1637) was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor, most famous for his plays Volpone and The Alchemist, his lyrics, his influence on Jacobean and Caroline poets, his theory of humours, his contentious personality, and his friendship and rivalry with William Shakespeare.
Best Ben Jonson Quotes
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Explore our curated collection of the most famous and impactful Ben Jonson quotes.
“That Shakespeare wanted Art.”
“I will eat exceedingly, and prophesy.”
“Thou look'st like Antichrist in that lewd hat.”
“Though the most be players, some must be spectators.”
“The dignity of truth is lost
With much protesting.”
With much protesting.”
“That Donne himself, for not being understood, would perish.”
“The Devil is an Ass, I do acknowledge it.”
“A cripple in the way out-travels a footman or a post out of the way.”
Ben Jonson Quotes by Topic
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Ben Jonson on Eating 3 quotes
View all 3 quotes on Eating →Ben Jonson on Toasts 3 quotes
“To the old, long life and treasure; To the young, all health and pleasure.”
Ben Jonson on Prince 3 quotes
“A prince without letters is a Pilot without eyes. All his government is groping.”
Ben Jonson on Books 3 quotes
“Pray thee, take care, that tak'st my book in hand, To read it well; that is to understand.”
Ben Jonson on Crime 2 quotes
View all 2 quotes on Crime →Ben Jonson on Defamation 2 quotes
“Cut Men's throats with whisperings.”
Ben Jonson on Clothing 2 quotes
View all 2 quotes on Clothing →Ben Jonson on Guilt 2 quotes
View all 2 quotes on Guilt →Ben Jonson on Kissing 2 quotes
View all 2 quotes on Kissing →Ben Jonson on Money 2 quotes
View all 2 quotes on Money →Ben Jonson on Navigation 2 quotes
“Yet the best pilots have need of mariners, besides sails, anchor and other tackle.”
Ben Jonson on Poetry 2 quotes
“Still may syllables jar with time, Still may reason war with rhyme, Resting never!”
What Ben Jonson Said About Others
Discover personal opinions Ben Jonson shared regarding contemporaries.
Ben Jonson on William Shakespeare 7 quotes
View all 7 quotes on William Shakespeare →Ben Jonson on Women 5 quotes
“One woman reads another's character Without the tedious trouble of deciphering.”
Ben Jonson on Richard Hooker
“Of their Nation, Hookers Ecclesiasticall historie...for church matters.”
Ben Jonson on Heinrich Heine
Ben Jonson on Virgil
Ben Jonson on Aristotle
“Aristotle was the first accurate critic and truest judge — nay, the greatest philosopher the world ever had; for he noted the vices of all knowledges, in all creatures, and out of many men's perfections in a science he formed still one Art.”
Quotes About Ben Jonson
Gain deeper perspective through quotes about Ben Jonson from others.
I. Bernard Cohen on Ben Jonson
Walter Raleigh on Ben Jonson
John Addington Symonds on Ben Jonson
“Those who have most deeply studied Jonson and most truly felt his power, will hesitate the longest before pronouncing a decisive judgment on the place he occupies among the foremost poets of our literature. One thing, however, can be considered as certain in any estimate which we may form. His throne is not with the Olympians but with the Titans; not with those who share the divine gifts of creative imagination and inevitable instinct, but with those who compel our admiration by their untiring energy and giant strength of intellectual muscle. What we most marvel at in his writings, is the prodigious brain-work of the man, the stuff of constant and inexhaustible cerebration they contain. Moreover, we shall not be far wrong in saying that, of all the English poets of the past, he alone, with Milton and Gray, deserves the name of a great and widely learned scholar.”
Peter Whalley on Ben Jonson
“To make a proper estimation of his merits as a dramatic writer, we are to consider what was the state of the drama and the usual practice of the stage-writers in those early times; and what alterations and improvements it received from the plays of Jonson. Shakespear, and Beaumont and Fletcher, are the only contemporary writers that can be put in competition with him; and as they have excellencies of genius superior to those of Jonson, they have weaknesses and defects which are proportionably greater. If they transcend him in the creative powers, and the astonishing flights of imagination, their judgment is much inferior to his; and if he doth not at any time rise so high, neither perhaps doth he sink so low as they have done.”
About Ben Jonson
Benjamin Jonson (11 June 1572 – 6 August 1637) was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor, most famous for his plays Volpone and The Alchemist, his lyrics, his influence on Jacobean and Caroline poets, his theory of humours, his contentious personality, and his friendship and rivalry with William Shakespeare.