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He that would have his virtue published, is not the servant of virtue, but glory.

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
Published
Servant
Glory
Virtue
Would

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I glory, more in the cunning purchase of my wealth than in the glad possession.
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All discourses but my own afflict me they seem harsh, impertinent, and irksome
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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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Drink today, and drown all sorrow You shall perhaps not do it tomorrow Best, while you have it, use your breath There is no drinking after death.
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Each petty hand Can steer a ship becalm'd but he that will Govern and carry her to her ends, must know His tides, his currents, how to shift his sails What she will bear in foul, what in fair weathers Where her springs are, her leaks, and how to stop 'em What strands, what shelves, what rocks do threaten her.
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It strikes! one, two, Three, four, five, six. Enough, enough, dear watch, Thy pulse hath beat enough. Now sleep and rest Would thou could'st make the time to do so too I'll wind thee up no more.
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Poor worms, they hiss at me, whilst I at home Can be contented to applaud myself, . . . with joy To see how plump my bags are and my barns.
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What excellent fools religion makes of men.
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Memory, of all the powers of the mind, is the most delicate and frail.
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There is no greater hell than to be a prisoner of fear.
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It is less dishonor to hear imperfectly than to speak imperfectly. The ears are excused the understanding is not.
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The poet is the nearest borderer upon the orator.
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Success produces confidence confidence relaxes industry, and negligence ruins the reputation which accuracy had raised.
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Fortune, thou hadst no deity, if men Had wisdom.
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Tis not the wholesome sharp mortality, Or modest anger of a satiric spirit, That hurts or wounds the body of a state, But the sinister application Of the malicious, ignorant, and base Interpreter who will distort and strain The general scope and purpose of an author To his particular and private spleen.
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True melancholy breeds your perfect fine wit.
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If all you boast of your great art be true Sure, willing poverty lives most in you.
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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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Silence in woman is like speech in man.
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Who will not judge him worthy to be robbed That sets his doors wide open to a thief, And shows the felon where his treasure lies?
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