5 Ben Jonson Quotes on Beauty

Ben Jonson quotes on beauty

9. Preserving the sweetness of proportion and expressing itself beyond expression.

10. Still to be neat, still to be drest, As you were going to a feast; Still to be powder'd, still perfum'd, Lady, it is to be presum'd, Though art's hid causes are not found, All is not sweet, all is not sound. Give me a look, give me a face, That makes simplicity a grace; Robes loosely flowing, hair as free, Such sweet neglect more taketh me Than all the adulteries of art: They strike mine eyes, but not my heart.

26. Underneath this stone doth lie As much beauty as could die; Which in life did harbor give To more virtue than doth live.

41. It is not growing like a tree In bulk, doth make man better be; Or standing long an oak, three hundred year, To fall a log, dry, bald and sere: A lily of a day, Is fairer far, in May, Although it fall, and die that night; It was the plant and flower of light. In small proportions we just beauties see, And in short measures life may perfect be.

42. The voice so sweet, the words so fair, As some soft chime had stroked the air; And, though the sound were parted thence, Still left an echo in the sense.