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JONSON, Ben Quotes
(1573-1637), English dramatist
No man is so foolish but he may sometimes give another good counsel, and 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.
It is the highest of earthly honors to be descended from the great and good. —They alone cry out against a noble ancestry who have none of their own.
I am beholden to calumny, that she hath so endeavored to belie me.—It shall make me set a surer guard on myself, and keep a better watch upon my actions.
The soul of man is infinite in what it covets.
Out of clothes, out of countenance; out of countenance, out of wit.
Talking and eloquence are not the same.—To speak and to speak well are two things.—A fool may talk, but a wise man speaks.
Envy sets the stronger seal on desert; if he have no enemies, I should esteem his fortune most wretched.
The covetous man never has money; the prodigal will have none shortly.
Bad men excuse their faults; good men will leave them.
Of all wild beasts preserve me from a tyrant; and of all tame, from a flatterer.
Ill fortune never crushed that man whom good fortune deceived not.
I would not have you stand so much on your gentility, which is an airy and mere borrowed thing from dead men's dust and bones, and none of yours, except you make and hold it.
Men might go to heaven with half the labor they put forth to go to hell, if they would but venture their industry in the right way.
They that know no evil will suspect none.
In sovereignty it is a most happy thing not to be compelled, but so it is a most miserable thing not to be counselled.
Leave but a kiss in the cup, and I'll not look for wine.
A soft lip would tempt you to eternity of kissing.
Language most shows a man; speak that I may see thee; it springs out of the most retired and inmost part of us.
What a deal of cold business doth a man misspend the better part of life in! In scattering compliments, tendering visits, gathering and venting news, following feasts and plays, making a little winter-love in a dark corner.
Who falls for the love of God, shall rise a star.
The covetous man never has money; the prodigal will have none shortly.
The difference between the covetous man and the prodigal, is, that the former never has money, and the latter will have none shortly.
Let them call it mischief; when it's past and prospered, it will be virtue.
A secret in his mouth is like a wild bird put into a cage; whose door no sooner opens, but it is out.
Silence in woman is like speech in men; deny it who can.
Success produces confidence; confidence relaxes industry, and negligence ruins the reputation which accuracy had raised.
Let them call it mischief; when it is past and prospered, it will be virtue.
He was a man versed in the world, as pilot in his compass; the needle pointed ever to that interest which was his loadstar; and he spread his sails with vantage to the gale of others' passions.
Fear to do base and unworthy things is valor; if they be done to us, to suffer them is also valor.
To men pressed by their wants all change is ever welcome.
Very few men are wise by their own counsel, or learned by their own teaching; for he that was only taught by himself had a fool to his master.
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