QUOTES FROM THE BARD

Let me o’erleap that custom

PLAY: Coriolanus ACT/SCENE: 2.2 SPEAKER: Coriolanus CONTEXT: MENENIUS
The senate, Coriolanus, are well pleased
To make thee consul.
CORIOLANUS
I do owe them still
My life and services.
MENENIUS
It then remains
That you do speak to the people.
CORIOLANUS
I do beseech you,
Let me o’erleap that custom, for I cannot
Put on the gown, stand naked and entreat them,
For my wounds’ sake, to give their suffrage: please you
That I may pass this doing.
SICINIUS
Sir, the people
Must have their voices; neither will they bate
One jot of ceremony.
MENENIUS
Put them not to’t:
Pray you, go fit you to the custom and
Take to you, as your predecessors have,
Your honour with your form. DUTCH: Stel mij, bid ik,
Van die gewoonte vrij; ik kan dat kleed
Niet aandoen, niet ontbloot staan,, hen niet smeeken,
Ter wille van mijn wonden, om hun stemmen;
ik bid u, laat mij vrij.
MORE: O’erleap=Skip
Gown=Gown of humility (candidates for public office in Rome wore plain white togas)
Suffrage=Votes
Bate=Curtail
Jot=Moment, small part
Put them not to ‘t=Don’t push them
Form=Formalities (also showing body through the gown, displaying scars as sign of honour)
Compleat:
To leap over=Overspringen
Suffrage=Een stem, keurstem
Bate=Verminderen, afkorten, afslaan
Jot=Zier
To put to=Opdringen, toedringen
Form=Fatzoen, figuur, gestalte, formaat; manier, wyze Topics: authority, work, custom
Categories: , , |

Nay, ’tis strange, ’tis very strange, that is the brief and the tedious of it

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Parolles
CONTEXT:
PAROLLES
Nay, ’tis strange, ’tis very strange, that is the
brief and the tedious of it; and he’s of a most
facinerious spirit that will not acknowledge it to be
the—
LAFEW
Very hand of heaven.
PAROLLES
Ay, so I say.
LAFEW
In a most weak—and debile minister, great power, great
transcendence: which should, indeed, give us a further
use to be made than alone the recovery of the king, as
to be—generally thankful.
PAROLLES
I would have said it; you say well. Here comes the
king.

DUTCH:
Ja, ‘t is wonderbaar, ‘t is recht wonderbaar, dat is het korte en het lange er van ; en hij is zeker een vervloekte vrijgeest, die niet wil erkennen, dat het –

MORE:
Brief and tedious=Short and long
Facinerious=Wicked
Debile=Feeble
Minister=Agent
Generally=Universally
Compleat:
Brief=Kort
Tedious=Langwylig; verdrietig
Debiltiy=Zwakte, zieklykheyd

Topics: custom, authority, remedy

How use doth breed a habit in a man!

PLAY: The Two Gentlemen of Verona
ACT/SCENE: 5.4
SPEAKER: Valentine
CONTEXT:
VALENTINE
How use doth breed a habit in a man!
This shadowy desert, unfrequented woods,
I better brook than flourishing peopled towns:
Here can I sit alone, unseen of any,
And to the nightingale’s complaining notes
Tune my distresses and record my woes.
O thou that dost inhabit in my breast,
Leave not the mansion so long tenantless,
Lest, growing ruinous, the building fall
And leave no memory of what it was!
Repair me with thy presence, Silvia;
Thou gentle nymph, cherish thy forlorn swain!
What halloing and what stir is this to-day?
These are my mates, that make their wills their law,
Have some unhappy passenger in chase.
They love me well; yet I have much to do
To keep them from uncivil outrages.
Withdraw thee, Valentine: who’s this comes here?

DUTCH:
Wat maakt gewoonte ras den mensch iets eigen!
Deez’ donkere eenzaamheid, dit stille woud,
Behaagt mij meer dan rijke woel’ge steden.

MORE:
Proverb: Once a use and ever a custom

Unfrequented=Deserted
Brook=Bear, endure; put up with
Record=Sing
Mansion=Dwelling
Growing ruinous=Falling into ruin
Swain=Young lover
Stir=Commotion
Passenger=Traveller
Compleat:
To frequent=Steeds bywonen, verkeeren, omgaan
Brook=Verdraagen, uitstaan
To record=Overhands zingen, gelyk vogelen
A mansion=Een wooning, woonplaats; ‘t huys van een hofstede of heerlykheyd
Ruining=Bederving, verwoesting; bedervende
Ruinous=Bouwvallig
Stir=Gewoel, geraas, beroerte, oproer
Passenger=Een reyzer, reyziger; passagier

Topics: proverbs and idioms, invented or popularised, custom

These are my mates, that make their wills their law

PLAY: The Two Gentlemen of Verona
ACT/SCENE: 5.4
SPEAKER: Valentine
CONTEXT:
VALENTINE
How use doth breed a habit in a man!
This shadowy desert, unfrequented woods,
I better brook than flourishing peopled towns:
Here can I sit alone, unseen of any,
And to the nightingale’s complaining notes
Tune my distresses and record my woes.
O thou that dost inhabit in my breast,
Leave not the mansion so long tenantless,
Lest, growing ruinous, the building fall
And leave no memory of what it was!
Repair me with thy presence, Silvia;
Thou gentle nymph, cherish thy forlorn swain!
What halloing and what stir is this to-day?
These are my mates, that make their wills their law,
Have some unhappy passenger in chase.
They love me well; yet I have much to do
To keep them from uncivil outrages.
Withdraw thee, Valentine: who’s this comes here?

DUTCH:
Mijn makkers, die hun wil als wet beschouwen,
Zijn wis een armen zwerver op het spoor.
Ik word van hen bemind; toch valt het zwaar,
Altijd hun lust tot ruw geweld te teug’len.
Verberg u, Valentijn; wie kan daar zijn?

MORE:
Proverb: Once a use and ever a custom

Unfrequented=Deserted
Brook=Bear, endure; put up with
Record=Sing
Mansion=Dwelling
Growing ruinous=Falling into ruin
Swain=Young lover
Stir=Commotion
Passenger=Traveller
Compleat:
To frequent=Steeds bywonen, verkeeren, omgaan
Brook=Verdraagen, uitstaan
To record=Overhands zingen, gelyk vogelen
A mansion=Een wooning, woonplaats; ‘t huys van een hofstede of heerlykheyd
Ruining=Bederving, verwoesting; bedervende
Ruinous=Bouwvallig
Stir=Gewoel, geraas, beroerte, oproer
Passenger=Een reyzer, reyziger; passagier

Topics: proverbs and idioms, invented or popularised, custom

O, how full of briars is this working-day world! 

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Rosalind
CONTEXT:
CELIA
They are but burs, cousin, thrown upon thee in holiday
foolery. If we walk not in the trodden paths our very
petticoats will catch them.
ROSALIND
I could shake them off my coat. These burs are in my
heart.
CELIA
Hem them away.
ROSALIND
I would try, if I could cry “hem” and have him.

DUTCH:
Het zijn maar klissen, nichtjen, uit een zondaagsche dartelheid op u geworpen; als wij niet op de gebaande wegen gaan, vatten onze rokken ze van zelf vast.

MORE:
Working-day (adjectively)=Common, ordinary, trivial vulgar
Burr=Rough head of the burdock
Foolery=Jesting, buffoonery
Compleat:
Burr=Kliskruid

Topics: status, order/society, custom

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