吴炳于万历四十七年(公元1619年)中进士后，任湖北武昌府蒲圻县知县。吴炳严谨执法，不徇私情，深得民心。后任江西提学副使，不久又调任工部都水司主事。这时，正值修建被烧的三殿，吴炳对工匠很体贴，关心他们的生活疾苦，深受工匠爱戴。在任福州知府时，福建沼海一带的刘香老为寇，扰乱沿海居民，十分猖獗。抚军熊文旵兵败舟焚，想没收外国商人的金银财物，作为赔偿这笔费用，嘱吴炳伪造外国商人的罪状，打人监狱。吴炳说道:"杀人媚人，吾不忍也。"福建有个叫陈晃的人，因为向权贵行贿而得禄位的事败露，企图逃脱罪责，便托库使曾士高用千金贿赂吴炳，也被他严辞拒绝。后来吴炳因看不惯官场中的营私舞弊，便托病告归乡里。吴炳回乡以后，居住宜城南门外五云庄的"粲花别墅"，潜心诗文与戏剧创作。

崇祯年间(公元1628年-公元1644年)，吴炳由大司马陆完学推荐，担任江西提学副使。在明毅宗崇祯皇帝朱由检自缢(公元1644年)之后，他便流寓广东。隆武二年(清顺治三年，公元1646年)十月，桂王朱由崧在广东肇庆即帝位，改次年(公元1647年)为永历元年。一月，吴炳被授为兵部右侍郎，从至桂林。二月被拜为礼部尚书兼东阁大学士(宰相)，仍兼兵部右侍郎的职务。四月，随同永历帝至湖南武冈地区。八月二十四日，听说清兵将到，便急忙和永历帝一起奔向湖南靖州。当时情势十分危急，永历帝命吴炳护送王太子到湖南城步，同往的只有吏部主事侯伟时。到达时，城池已经被清兵占领，稍战即为清兵所俘，囚于衡州湘山寺。吴炳被俘后坚贞不屈，永历二年(清顺治五年，公元1648年)正月十八日，连续绝食7天而亡，年仅54岁。他在临终前写了一首绝命诗，诗中有"荒山谁与收枯骨，明月长留照短缨"之句。清乾隆四十一年(公元1776年)赐谥"忠节"。葬宜城南门外山门村石亭埠，后人将他和族侄吴贞毓一道供奉在宜城西庙巷"二忠节祠"内。

 吴炳著有《说易》、《雅俗稽言》、《绝命诗》等，同时，还精心编撰剧本多种，尤以《绿牡丹》、《画中人》、《西园记》、《情邮记》、《疗妒羹》5个剧本最为著名，后人把这5个戏剧合称《粲花五种》(又名《石渠五种曲》、《粲花斋五种曲》)。其中《绿牡丹》名列《中国十大古典喜剧集》，为越剧保留剧目，久演不衰;《西园记》为昆剧传统剧目之一，并相继与《画中人》搬上银幕。

 吴炳为官清廉、忠贞，不仅是明皇朝的一代忠良，而且喜好吟诗作赋，又爱好书法，尤其擅长编剧作曲，造诣精深，是一位杰出的戏剧家。我国著名作家、文学史家郑振铎在《插图本中国文学史》中称吴炳、孟称舜、范文若"同为临川派的最伟大的剧作家"。

 Wu Bing was appointed Zhixian County, Puqi County, Wuchang Prefecture, Hubei Province, after he was a scholar in the forty-seventh year of Wanli (1619 A.D.). Wu Bing enforces the law rigorously, does not favor selfish feelings, and has won the hearts and minds of the people. Later, he was appointed Deputy Envoy of Jiangxi University, and soon he was appointed Director of Dushui Department of Ministry of Works. At this time, when the three halls burned were being built, Wu Bing was very considerate to the craftsmen and cared about their lives, and was deeply loved by the craftsmen. During his tenure as the prefecture of Fuzhou, Liu Xiang in the marshland area of Fujian Province was an aggressor, disturbing the coastal residents, and was rampant. Fujun Xiong Wen-jun lost his boat and burned his boat. He wanted to confiscate the gold and silver property of foreign businessmen to compensate for the cost. He ordered Wu Bing to forge the charges of foreign businessmen and beat them up in prison. Wu Bing said, "I can't bear killing and charming people. "There was a man named Chen Huang in Fujian who tried to escape the responsibility of bribing powerful and powerful people for gaining a position. So he asked Zeng Shigao to bribe Wu Bing with thousands of gold, which he refused severely. Later, Wu Bing returned to his hometown on the basis of his illness because he was not accustomed to fraud in official circles. After Wu Bing returned to his hometown, he lived in the "Bean Flower Villa" in Wuyunzhuang, outside the South Gate of Yicheng City, and devoted himself to poetry and drama creation.

During the period of Chongzhen (1628 - 1644), Wu Bing was recommended by Masi Lu as an assistant envoy of Jiangxi. After Emperor Zhu Youzhan, Emperor Chongzhen of Ming Yi Zong, hanged himself up in 1644, he moved to Guangdong. In October of the second year of Longwu (three years of Shunzhi in Qing Dynasty, 1646 A.D.), Zhu Yusong, king of Gui, became emperor in Zhaoqing, Guangdong Province, and the next year (1647 A.D.) was the first year of Yongli. In January, Wu Bing was awarded the right-hand waiter of the army from Guilin. In February, he was worshipped as a Bachelor of Rites and a Bachelor of East Pavilion University (Prime Minister), and still served as a right-hand waiter in the Ministry of Military Affairs. In April, he accompanied Emperor Yongli to Wugang, Hunan. On August 24, when I heard that the Qing troops were approaching, I rushed to Jingzhou, Hunan Province, with Emperor Yongli. At that time, the situation was very critical. Emperor Yongli ordered Wu Bing to escort Prince Wang to the city of Hunan. Only Hou Weishi, the chief official of the ministry, was with him. By the time they arrived, the city had been occupied by the Qing soldiers, who had captured them in the slightest battle and were imprisoned at the Xiangshan Temple in Hengzhou. Wu Bing remained unyielding after being captured. He died on the eighteenth day of the first month of the second year of Yongli (five years of Shunzhi in Qing Dynasty, 1648 A.D.) on a seven-day hunger strike. He was only 54 years old. Before his death, he wrote a poem of desperation, in which he wrote the sentence "Who is the barren hill and who is the bone collector? The moon is long and the photo is short". In the forty-first year of Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1776 AD), loyalty was granted. He was buried in Shiting Port, Shanmen Village outside the South Gate of Yicheng City. He and his nephew Wu Zhenyu were enshrined in the "Erzhong Festival Temple" of Ximiao Lane in Yicheng City.