Ben Jonson
Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – 6 August 1637) was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems. A man of vast reading and a seemingly insatiable appetite for controversy, Jonson had an unparalleled breadth of influence on Jacobean and Caroline playwrights and poets.
Read more about Ben Jonson: Relationship With Shakespeare, Reception and Influence, Biographies of Ben Jonson
Famous quotes by ben jonson:
“Follow a shaddow, it still flies you;
Seeme to flye it, it will pursue:
So court a mistris, shee denyes you;
Let her alone, shee will court you.
Say, are not women truely, then,
Stil’d but the shaddowes of us men?
At morne, and even, shades are longest;
At noone, they are or short, or none:
So men at weakest, they are strongest,
But grant us perfect, they’re not knowne.
Say, are not women truely, then,
Stil’d but the shaddowes of us men?”
—Ben Jonson (1572–1637)
“‘Tis no sin love’s fruit to steal;
But the sweet theft to reveal,
To be taken, to be seen,
These have crimes accounted been.”
—Ben Jonson (1572–1637)
“Donne, for not keeping of accent, deserved hanging ... Shakespeare wanted art ... Sharpham, Day, Dekker, were all rogues.”
—Ben Jonson (c. 1572–1637)
“My title’s sealed. Those that for claps do write,
Let pui’nies, porters’, players’ praise delight,
And, till they burst, their backs like asses load:
A man should seek great glory, and not broad.”
—Ben Jonson (1572–1637)
“Some bring a capon, some a rural cake,
Some nuts, some apples; some that think they make
The better cheeses bring ‘em, or else send
By their ripe daughters, whom they would commend
This way to husbands, and whose baskets bear
An emblem of themselves in plum or pear.”
—Ben Jonson (1572–1637)