QUOTES FROM THE BARD

To you your father should be as a god

PLAY: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Theseus
CONTEXT:
THESEUS
What say you, Hermia? Be advised, fair maid:
To you your father should be as a god,
One that composed your beauties, yea, and one
To whom you are but as a form in wax,
By him imprinted and within his power
To leave the figure or disfigure it.
Demetrius is a worthy gentleman.
HERMIA
So is Lysander.
THESEUS
In himself he is.
But in this kind, wanting your father’s voice,
The other must be held the worthier.

DUTCH:
Wat zegt gij, Hermia? wees wijs, schoon kind;
Uw vader moet u gelden voor een god,
Die uwe schoonheid schiep;


MORE:
Proverb: Soft wax will take any impression

Be advised=Think carefully
A form in wax=The impression of a seal in wax
Voice=Consent, support
Compleat:
Advised=Geraaden, beraaden, bedacht
Voice=Stem, recht van stemmen
To wax (grow)=Worden

Topics: advice, relationship, respect, proverbs and idioms

Make not your thoughts your prison

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 5.2
SPEAKER: Caesar
CONTEXT:
CLEOPATRA
Be it known that we, the greatest, are misthought
For things that others do, and when we fall
We answer others’ merits in our name,
Are therefore to be pitied.
CAESAR
Cleopatra,
Not what you have reserved nor what acknowledged
Put we i’ th’ roll of conquest. Still be ’t yours.
Bestow it at your pleasure, and believe
Caesar’s no merchant, to make prize with you
Of things that merchants sold. Therefore be cheered.
Make not your thoughts your prison. No, dear Queen,
For we intend so to dispose you as
Yourself shall give us counsel. Feed and sleep.
Our care and pity is so much upon you
That we remain your friend. And so, adieu.

DUTCH:
Schep uit gedachten geen gevang’nis

MORE:
Misthought=Misjudged
Answer=Are responsible for
Merits=Deserts (good or bad)
Make prize=Negotiate, haggle
Dispose=Treat
Compleat:
Misjudge=Quaalyk oordeelen
To answer for=Verantwoorden, voor iets staan, borg blyven
Merits=Verdiensten
To dispose=Beschikken, schikken, bestellen

Burgersdijk notes:
Een knaap. Men bedenke, dat op Sh.’s tooneel de vrouwenrollen door knapen en aankomende jongelingen gespeeld werden.

Topics: advice, emotion and mood, wellbeing

Delay leads impotent and snail-paced beggary

PLAY: Richard III
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: King Richard III
CONTEXT:
RATCLIFFE
Bad news, my lord. Morton is fled to Richmond,
And Buckingham, backed with the hardy Welshmen,
Is in the field, and still his power increaseth.
RICHARD
Ely with Richmond troubles me more near
Than Buckingham and his rash-levied strength.
Come, I have learned that fearful commenting
Is leaden servitor to dull delay;
Delay leads impotent and snail-paced beggary;
Then fiery expedition be my wing,
Jove’s Mercury, and herald for a king.
Go, muster men. My counsel is my shield.
We must be brief when traitors brave the field.

DUTCH:
Dit heb ik geleerd, dat angstig wikken
De looden dienaar is van traag verzuim,
Verzuim slaktrage, macht’looze armoe brengt .

MORE:
Proverb: As slow as a snail

Troubles me more near=Is a more immediate concern
Rash-levied=Hastily recruited
Strength=Army
Leaden=Slow
Beggary=Ruin
Expedition=Speed
Counsel is my shield=My shield is my advisor
Brief=Act quickly
Brave the field=Go to battle
Compleat:
Rash=Voorbaarig, haastig, onbedacht, roekeloos
To levy=(soldiers) Soldaaten ligten, krygsvolk werven
Strength=Sterkte, kracht
To gather strength=Zyne krachten weer krygen
Beggary=Bedelaary
Expeditious=Vaerdig, afgerecht
Brief=Kort
To brave=Trotsen, braveeren, trotseeren; moedig treeden

Topics: proverbs and idioms, haste, advice, defence

I have learned that fearful commenting is leaden servitor to dull delay

PLAY: Richard III
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Richard
CONTEXT:
RATCLIFFE
Bad news, my lord. Morton is fled to Richmond,
And Buckingham, backed with the hardy Welshmen,
Is in the field, and still his power increaseth.
RICHARD
Ely with Richmond troubles me more near
Than Buckingham and his rash-levied strength.
Come, I have learned that fearful commenting
Is leaden servitor to dull delay;
Delay leads impotent and snail-paced beggary;
Then fiery expedition be my wing,
Jove’s Mercury, and herald for a king.
Go, muster men. My counsel is my shield.
We must be brief when traitors brave the field.

DUTCH:
Dit heb ik geleerd, dat angstig wikken
De looden dienaar is van traag verzuim,
Verzuim slaktrage, macht’looze armoe brengt .

MORE:
Proverb: As slow as a snail

Troubles me more near=Is a more immediate concern
Rash-levied=Hastily recruited
Strength=Army
Leaden=Slow
Beggary=Ruin
Expedition=Speed
Counsel is my shield=My shield is my advisor
Brief=Act quickly
Brave the field=Go to battle
Compleat:
Rash=Voorbaarig, haastig, onbedacht, roekeloos
To levy=(soldiers) Soldaaten ligten, krygsvolk werven
Strength=Sterkte, kracht
To gather strength=Zyne krachten weer krygen
Beggary=Bedelaary
Expeditious=Vaerdig, afgerecht
Brief=Kort
To brave=Trotsen, braveeren, trotseeren; moedig treeden

Topics: proverbs and idioms, haste, advice, defence

And what’s he then that says I play the villain? When this advice is free I give and honest

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Iago
CONTEXT:
IAGO
And what’s he then that says I play the villain?
When this advice is free I give and honest,
Probal to thinking and indeed the course
To win the Moor again? For ’tis most easy
Th’ inclining Desdemona to subdue
In any honest suit. She’s framed as fruitful
As the free elements. And then for her
To win the Moor, were to renounce his baptism,
All seals and symbols of redeemèd sin,
His soul is so enfettered to her love,
That she may make, unmake, do what she list,
Even as her appetite shall play the god
With his weak function. How am I then a villain
To counsel Cassio to this parallel course,
Directly to his good? Divinity of hell!
When devils will the blackest sins put on
They do suggest at first with heavenly shows
As I do now. For whiles this honest fool
Plies Desdemona to repair his fortune
And she for him pleads strongly to the Moor,
I’ll pour this pestilence into his ear:
That she repeals him for her body’s lust.
And by how much she strives to do him good
She shall undo her credit with the Moor.
So will I turn her virtue into pitch
And out of her own goodness make the net
That shall enmesh them all.

DUTCH:
En wie beweert, dat ik den schurk hier speel?
De raad, dien ik hem geef, is goed en eerlijk,
Verstandig en de ware weg om weder
Den Moor te winnen.

MORE:
Proverb: The devil can transform himself into an angel of light.

Put on=Incite
Repeal=Recall from exile
Credit=A good opinion entertained of a p. and influence derived from it: Reputation
Pitch=1) Something odious; 2) blackness; 3) with power to ensnare
Compleat:
Pitch=Pik
Credit=Geloof, achting, aanzien, goede naam
Repeal=Herroepen, afschaffen, weer intrekken

Topics: advice, honesty, manipulation, proverbs and idioms

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