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Fortune, thou hadst no deity, if men Had wisdom.

Ben Jonson

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Ben Jonson
Age: 65 †
Born: 1572
Born: June 21
Died: 1637
Died: August 6
Actor
Literary Critic
Playwright
Poet
Writer
City of Westminster
Benjamin Jonson
Wisdom
Men
Hadst
Deity
Deities
Thou
Fortune

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A good man should and must Sit rather down with loss than rise unjust.
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Come, my Celia, let us prove, While we can, the sports of love, Time will not be ours for ever, He, at length, our good will sever Spend not then his gifts in vain: Suns that set may rise again But if once we lose this light, 'Tis with us perpetual night. Why should we defer our joys? Fame and rumour are but toys.
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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.
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Memory, of all the powers of the mind, is the most delicate and frail.
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He that would have his virtue published, is not the servant of virtue, but glory.
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If you succeed not, cast not away the quills yet, nor scratch the wainscot, beat not the poor desk, but bring all to the forge and file again turn it new.
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Of all wild beasts preserve me from a tyrant and of all tame a flatterer.
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He was not of an age, but for all time!
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Doing, a filthy pleasure is, and short And done, we straight repent us of the sport: Let us not rush blindly on unto it, Like lustful beasts, that only know to do it: For lust will languish, and that heat decay, But thus, thus, keeping endless Holy-.
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I see compassion may become a justice, though it be a weakness, I confess, and nearer a vice than a virtue.
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All discourses but my own afflict me they seem harsh, impertinent, and irksome
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The voice so sweet, the words so fair, As some soft chime had stroked the air And though the sound had parted thence, Still left an echo in the sense.
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I'll give anything for a good copy now, be it true or false, so it be news.
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Freedom doth with degree dispense.
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True melancholy breeds your perfect fine wit.
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Custom is the most certain mistress of language, as the public stamp makes the current money.
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Ready writing makes not good writing, but good writing brings on ready writing.
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I would rather have a plain down-right wisdom than a foolish and affected eloquence.
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The way to rise is to obey and please.
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O, for an engine, to keep back all clocks, or make the sun forget his motion!
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