Quotes

“For if I thought my judgment were of years, / I should commit thee surely with thy peers, / And tell how far thou didst our Lily outshine, / Or sporting Kyd, or Marlow’s mighty line. / And though thou hadst small Latin and less Greek, / From thence to honour thee, I will not seek / For names…”
To the Memory of My Beloved, the Author, Mr. William Shakespeare
“I remember the players have often mentioned it as an honor to Shakespeare, that in his writing, whatsoever he penned, he never blotted out a line. My answer hath been, “Would he had blotted a thousand”.”
Timber: or Discoveries
“They say princes learn no art truly, but the art of horsemanship. The reason is, the brave beast is no flatterer. He will throw a prince as soon as his groom.”
Timber: or Discoveries
“Follow a shadow, it still flies you; / Seem to fly it, it will pursue: / So court a mistress, she denies you; / Let her alone, she will court you.”
The Forest
“The voice so sweet, the words so fair, / As some soft chime had stroked the air; / And, though the sound were parted thence, / Still left an echo in the sense.”
Underwoods, Part 4

Books by Ben Jonson in order

Books by Ben Jonson in the order they were published, from Every Man in His Humour (1601) to Every Man in His Humor (2018).