Ben Jonson Quotes: Sources, Meanings & Themes
Browse quotations by Ben Jonson with named works, context notes, meanings and recurring themes.
Source identified1
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“Stand for truth, and ’tis enough.”
Meaning & context
Jonson argues that loyalty should attach to what is true rather than to a teacher, sect or personal faction.
Source details
Timber, or Discoveries Made Upon Men and Matter, represented by Project Gutenberg #5134. Jonson follows the sentence with his refusal to have readers defend a position merely because it is his; the aphorism belongs to a direct prose reflection on independent judgment and truth.
Source identified2
Image design Rose Studio
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“Drink to me only with thine eyes, And I will pledge with mine;”
Meaning & context
Jonson’s lyric speaker imagines exchanged looks as a sufficient pledge of affection, replacing an ordinary drinking toast with an idealized form of intimacy.
Source details
“To Celia,” first published in The Forest in 1616. The couplet belongs to a stylized Renaissance love lyric whose imagery develops through wine, nectar, kisses and a returned wreath.
Source identified3
Image design Lavender
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“Good morning to the day; and next, my gold: Open the shrine, that I may see my Saint.”
Meaning & context
Volpone’s opening worship of his hoarded gold immediately turns wealth into an object of devotion, establishing the comedy’s satire of avarice.
Source details
Volpone, Act I, Scene 1, Project Gutenberg #4039. Volpone opens the comedy by greeting his gold as a saint while Mosca reveals the hoard; the religious imagery establishes his avarice. It is fictional dramatic speech, not Ben Jonson autobiography, financial advice or a literal religious claim.