Ben Jonson

Pray thee, take care, that tak'st my book in hand, To read it well: that is, to understand.

The Devil is an Ass, I do acknowledge it.

If he were To be made honest by an act of parliament I should not alter in my faith of him.

The Devil is an Ass! fool'd off! and beaten!

The burnt child dreads the fire.

I will eat exceedingly, and prophesy.

In the meantime, to all suits, to all entreaties, to all letters, to all tricks, I will be deaf as an adder, blind as a beetle, lay mine ear to the ground, and lock mine eyes i' my hand against all temptations.

It must be done like lightning.

Have paid scot and lot there any time this eighteen years.

Get money; still get money, boy, No matter by what means.

As he brews, so shall he drink.

Hang sorrow! care'll kill a cat.

It was a mighty while ago.

What gentle ghost, besprent with April dew, Hails me so solemnly to yonder yew?

Underneath this sable hearse Lies the subject of all verse,— Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother. Death, ere thou hast slain another, Learn'd and fair and good as she, Time shall throw a dart at thee.

Courses even with the sun Doth her mighty brother run.

Truth is the trial of itself And needs no other touch, And purer than the purest gold, Refine it ne'er so much.

Reader, look, Not at his picture, but his book.

So breaks the sun earth's rugged chains, Wherein rude winter bound her veins; So grows both stream and source of price, That lately fettered were with ice. So naked trees get crispèd heads, And coloured coats the roughest meads,

Ambition, like a torrent, ne'er looks back; And is a swelling, and the last affection A high mind can put off; being both a rebel Unto the soul and reason, and enforceth All laws, all conscience, treads upon religion, and offereth violence …

The dignity of truth is lost With much protesting.

Where it concerns himself, Who's angry at a slander makes it true.

Thou look'st like Antichrist in that lewd hat.

Subtle. No egg but differs from a chicken more Than metals in themselves. Surly. That cannot be. The egg's ordained by nature to that end