“If all you boast of your great art be true; Sure, willing poverty lives most in you.”

— Ben Jonson, First Folio, 1616, Epigram VI

About Ben Jonson

1572 – 1637

English playwright and poet, author of "Volpone".

“Thou art but gone before, whither the world must follow.”

“Art hath an enemy call'd ignorance.”

“Of all wild beasts preserve me from a tyrant; and of all tame, a flatterer.”

“Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life.”

“The great moral teachers of humanity were, in a way, artistic geniuses in the art of living.”

“Art is long, life short, judgment difficult, opportunity transient.”

“At some point in life the world's beauty becomes enough. You don't need to photograph, paint or even remember it.”

“I know of nothing useful in life except what is beautiful or creates beauty.”

“Life is earnest, art is gay.”