QUOTES FROM THE BARD

I will counterfeit the bewitchment of some popular man and give it bountiful to the desirers

PLAY: Coriolanus ACT/SCENE: 2.3 SPEAKER: CONTEXT: FOURTH CITIZEN
You have deserved nobly of your country, and you
have not deserved nobly.
CORIOLANUS
Your enigma?
FOURTH CITIZEN
You have been a scourge to her enemies, you have
been a rod to her friends; you have not indeed loved
the common people.
CORIOLANUS
You should account me the more virtuous that I have
not been common in my love. I will, sir, flatter my
sworn brother, the people, to earn a dearer
estimation of them; ’tis a condition they account
gentle: and since the wisdom of their choice is
rather to have my hat than my heart, I will practise
the insinuating nod and be off to them most
counterfeitly; that is, sir, I will counterfeit the
bewitchment of some popular man and give it
bountiful to the desirers. Therefore, beseech you,
I may be consul.
FIFTH CITIZEN
We hope to find you our friend; and therefore give
you our voices heartily.
FOURTH CITIZEN
You have received many wounds for your country.
CORIOLANUS
I will not seal your knowledge with showing them. I
will make much of your voices, and so trouble you no
further.
DUTCH: En daar zij, in de wijsheid-schap, die hunner keus, van mijn hoed meer gediend zijn dan van mijn hart, wil ik het innemend knikken beoefenen en zooveel mogelijk door naaiping met hen op goeden voet zien te komen; dat wil zeggen, vriend, ik wil de tooverkunsten van den een of anderen volkslieveling naapen, en daar mild mee zijn jegens ieder, die er van gediend is. MORE: Enigma=Riddle
Scourge=Torment
Rod=Punishment
Account=Consider, reckon
Dearer=Better
Hat=Cap-doffing
Counterfeit=Imitate
Bewitchment=Charms
Voices=Votes
Seal your knowledge=Confirm what you know
Compleat:
Scourge=Geessel; plaag, pest
To scourge=Kastyden
To account=Rekenen, achten
To doff=Afligen, afdoen
Counterfeit=Naamaaksel, falsch
Bewitching=Betovering
Voice=Stem, recht van stemmen Topics: honour, loyalty, appearance, deceit, manipulation

Ah, but I think him better than I say, and yet would herein others’ eyes were worse

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Adriana
CONTEXT:

ADRIANA
I cannot, nor I will not hold me still;
My tongue, though not my heart, shall have his will.
He is deformèd, crooked, old, and sere,
Ill-faced, worse-bodied, shapeless everywhere,
Vicious, ungentle, foolish, blunt, unkind,
Stigmatical in making, worse in mind.
LUCIANA
Who would be jealous, then, of such a one?
No evil lost is wailed when it is gone.
ADRIANA
Ah, but I think him better than I say,
And yet would herein others’ eyes were worse.
Far from her nest the lapwing cries away.
My heart prays for him, though my tongue do curse.

DUTCH:
O, maar ik acht hem beter, dan ik zeg;
Als and’rer oog hem maar zoo haatlijk vond!
De kieviet schreeuwt, is hij van ‘t nest ver weg;
Mijn harte bidt voor hem, al vloekt mijn mond.

MORE:
Proverb: The lapwing cries most when farthest from her nest

Hold me still=Stay quiet
Sere=Withered
Stigmatical=Ugly, deformed
Lapwing=Bird that deceives predators by faking the location of its nest
Compleat:
Still=Stil
Stigmatical=Gebrandmerkt, eerloos
Lapwing=Kievit

Burgersdijk notes:
De kievit schreeuwt, enz. In Sh’s. tijd werd de kievit meermalen hiervoor aangehaald, ja de uitdrukking schijnt spreekwoordelijk geweest te zijn. In LILY’s Campaspe leest men:
„You resemble the lapwing, who crieth most where her nest is not.” Shakespeare zelf herhaalt het beeld in ,Maat voor Maat,” I.4.

Topics: deceit, perception, insult, proverbs and idioms, envy, manipulation

Be not thy tongue thy own shame’s orator

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Luciana
CONTEXT:
LUCIANA
And may it be that you have quite forgot
A husband’s office? Shall, Antipholus,
Even in the spring of love thy love-springs rot?
Shall love, in building, grow so ruinous?
If you did wed my sister for her wealth,
Then for her wealth’s sake use her with more kindness.
Or if you like elsewhere, do it by stealth—
Muffle your false love with some show of blindness.
Let not my sister read it in your eye;
Be not thy tongue thy own shame’s orator;
Look sweet, be fair, become disloyalty;
Apparel vice like virtue’s harbinger.
Bear a fair presence, though your heart be tainted.
Teach sin the carriage of a holy saint.
Be secret-false. What need she be acquainted?
What simple thief brags of his own attaint?
‘Tis double wrong to truant with your bed
And let her read it in thy looks at board.
Shame hath a bastard fame, well managèd;
Ill deeds is doubled with an evil word.
Alas, poor women, make us but believe,
Being compact of credit, that you love us.
Though others have the arm, show us the sleeve;
We in your motion turn, and you may move us.
Then, gentle brother, get you in again.
Comfort my sister, cheer her, call her wife.
‘Tis holy sport to be a little vain
When the sweet breath of flattery conquers strife.

DUTCH:
Blik zacht, spreek vleiend, huichel, ban haar vrees;
Hul in het vlekk’loos kleed der deugd uw zonde

MORE:
Proverb: Fair face foul heart
Proverb: It is an ill thing to be wicked (wretched) but a worse to be known so (to boast of it)

Become disloyalty=Wear disloyalty in a becoming fashion
Harbinger=Forerunner
Apparel=Dress up, cloak (vice as the forerunner of virtue)
Compleat:
Disloyalty=Ongetrouwigheid, trouwloosheid
Harbinger=Een bestelmeester, voorloper
To apparel=Optooijen, kleeden,
Apparelled=Gekleed, gedoft, opgetooid

Topics: deceit, appearance, honesty, proverbs and idioms

Bear a fair presence, though your heart be tainted

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Luciana
CONTEXT:
LUCIANA
And may it be that you have quite forgot
A husband’s office? Shall, Antipholus,
Even in the spring of love thy love-springs rot?
Shall love, in building, grow so ruinous?
If you did wed my sister for her wealth,
Then for her wealth’s sake use her with more kindness.
Or if you like elsewhere, do it by stealth—
Muffle your false love with some show of blindness.
Let not my sister read it in your eye;
Be not thy tongue thy own shame’s orator;
Look sweet, be fair, become disloyalty;
Apparel vice like virtue’s harbinger.
Bear a fair presence, though your heart be tainted.
Teach sin the carriage of a holy saint.
Be secret-false. What need she be acquainted?
What simple thief brags of his own attaint?
‘Tis double wrong to truant with your bed
And let her read it in thy looks at board.
Shame hath a bastard fame, well managèd;
Ill deeds is doubled with an evil word.
Alas, poor women, make us but believe,
Being compact of credit, that you love us.
Though others have the arm, show us the sleeve;
We in your motion turn, and you may move us.
Then, gentle brother, get you in again.
Comfort my sister, cheer her, call her wife.
‘Tis holy sport to be a little vain
When the sweet breath of flattery conquers strife.

DUTCH:
Blik zacht, spreek vleiend, huichel, ban haar vrees;
Hul in het vlekk’loos kleed der deugd uw zonde

MORE:
Proverb: Fair face foul heart
Proverb: It is an ill thing to be wicked (wretched) but a worse to be known so (to boast of it)

Become disloyalty=Wear disloyalty in a becoming fashion
Harbinger=Forerunner
Apparel=Dress up, cloak (vice as the forerunner of virtue)
Compleat:
Disloyalty=Ongetrouwigheid, trouwloosheid
Harbinger=Een bestelmeester, voorloper
To apparel=Optooijen, kleeden,
Apparelled=Gekleed, gedoft, opgetooid

Topics: deceit, appearance, honesty, proverbs and idioms

Ill deeds is doubled with an evil word

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Luciana
CONTEXT:
LUCIANA
And may it be that you have quite forgot
A husband’s office? Shall, Antipholus,
Even in the spring of love thy love-springs rot?
Shall love, in building, grow so ruinous?
If you did wed my sister for her wealth,
Then for her wealth’s sake use her with more kindness.
Or if you like elsewhere, do it by stealth—
Muffle your false love with some show of blindness.
Let not my sister read it in your eye;
Be not thy tongue thy own shame’s orator;
Look sweet, be fair, become disloyalty;
Apparel vice like virtue’s harbinger.
Bear a fair presence, though your heart be tainted.
Teach sin the carriage of a holy saint.
Be secret-false. What need she be acquainted?
What simple thief brags of his own attaint?
‘Tis double wrong to truant with your bed
And let her read it in thy looks at board.
Shame hath a bastard fame, well managèd;
Ill deeds is doubled with an evil word.
Alas, poor women, make us but believe,
Being compact of credit, that you love us.
Though others have the arm, show us the sleeve;
We in your motion turn, and you may move us.
Then, gentle brother, get you in again.
Comfort my sister, cheer her, call her wife.
‘Tis holy sport to be a little vain
When the sweet breath of flattery conquers strife.

DUTCH:
Door fraaie taal redt schande vaak den schijn,
Maar booze taal is dubbel-booze daad.

MORE:
Proverb: Fine words dress ill deeds

Attaint=Offence, disgrace, corruption
Well-managed=Put a good spin on
Bastard fame=Illegitimate honour
Compact of credit=Made of credulity, entirely believable
Compleat:
To attaint=Overtuigen van misdaad, schuldig verklaaren, betichten; bevlekken, bederf aanzetten
Attainted=Overtuigd van misdaad, misdaadig verklaard
To compact=In een trekken, dicht t’saamenvoegen
Credit=Geloof, achting, aanzien, goede naam

Topics: offence, truth, corruption, deceit, vanity, intellect, proverbs and idioms

Click on one of the Plays or Topics in the Shakespeare.Legal menu on the left for more Shakespeare quotes.

Go to Top