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QUOTES FROM THE BARD

The hours come back. That did I never hear.

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors ACT/SCENE: 4.2 SPEAKER: Dromio of Syracuse CONTEXT: ADRIANA
The hours come back? That did I never hear.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
O yes, if any hour meet a sergeant, he turns back for very fear.
ADRIANA
As if time were in debt. How fondly dost thou reason!
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Time is a very bankrupt and owes more than he’s worth to season.
Nay, he’s a thief too. Have you not heard men say
That time comes stealing on by night and day?
If he be in debt and theft, and a sergeant in the way,
Hath he not reason to turn back an hour in a day?
ADRIANA
Go, Dromio. There’s the money. Bear it straight,
And bring thy master home immediately.
Come, sister, I am pressed down with conceit:
Conceit, my comfort and my injury. DUTCH: Als of de tijd in schulden stak! hoe dol! wie hoorde ‘t ooit? MORE: Hours come back=Go backwards
Sergeant=Officer often responsible for arrests
Fondly=Foolishly
Pressed down=Depressed
Conceit=Imagination
Compleat:
Fond=Zot, dwaas, ongerymt
Sergeant=Een gerechtsdienaar, gerechtsboode
Fond=Zot, dwaas, ongerymt
To press down=Neerdrukken
Conceit=Waan, bevatting, opvatting, meening Topics: time, reason, debt/obligation, imagination, emotion and mood

Categories: debt/obligation, emotion and mood, imagination, The Comedy of Errors, time|

Until I know this sure uncertainty I’ll entertain the offered fallacy

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
To me she speaks; she moves me for her theme.
What, was I married to her in my dream?
Or sleep I now and think I hear all this?
What error drives our eyes and ears amiss?
Until I know this sure uncertainty
I’ll entertain the offered fallacy.
LUCIANA
Dromio, go bid the servants spread for dinner.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
O, for my beads! I cross me for a sinner.
This is the fairy land. O spite of spites!
We talk with goblins, ouphs, and sprites:
If we obey them not, this will ensue:
They’ll suck our breath, or pinch us black and blue.

DUTCH:
Het is tot mij, dat zij die reed’nen houdt!
Wat! ben ik in den droom met haar getrouwd?
Of slaap ik nu en meen ik, dat ik hoor?
Wat vreemde waan verdwaast mijn oog en oor?
Maar kom, tot mij dit raadsel wordt verklaard,
Zij de opgedrongen dwaling thans aanvaard

MORE:
Proverb: To beat (pinch) one black and blue. Pinching was a traditional punishment associated with fairies

Move=To urge, incite, instigate, make a proposal to, appeal or apply to (a person)
Error=Mistake, deception, false opinion
Ouph=Elf, goblin
Uncertainty=A mystery, the unknown
Entertain=Accept (the delusion)
Compleat:
To move=Verroeren, gaande maaken; voorstellen
Error=Fout, misslag, dwaaling, dooling
To lie under a great errour=In een groote dwaaling steeken
Beadsman=een Bidder, Gety=leezer, Gebed-opzegger

Topics: imagination, evidence, judgment, punishment, proverbs and idioms

Categories: imagination, judgment, proverbs and idioms, punishment, The Comedy of Errors|

Am I in earth, in heaven, or in hell? Sleeping or waking, mad or well-advised?

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
ADRIANA
Come, come, no longer will I be a fool,
To put the finger in the eye and weep
Whilst man and master laugh my woes to scorn.
Come, sir, to dinner.—Dromio, keep the gate. —
Husband, I’ll dine above with you today,
And shrive you of a thousand idle pranks.
Sirrah, if any ask you for your master,
Say he dines forth, and let no creature enter.—
Come, sister.—Dromio, play the porter well.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Am I in earth, in heaven, or in hell?
Sleeping or waking, mad or well-advised?
Known unto these, and to myself disguised!
I’ll say as they say, and persever so,
And in this mist at all adventures go.

DUTCH:
Wat is het, hemel, hel of aarde, hier?
Slaap, waak ik? Ben ik wijs of buiten west?
Ik ken mijzelven niet en zij mij best.

MORE:
Proverb: To put finger in the eye (force tears, generate sympathy)

Mist=Confusion
Well-advised=In my right mind
Persever=Persevere
To shrive=To hear confession and absolve (between condemnation and execution of punishment – origin of short shrift (korte metten))
At all adventures=Whatever the risk, consequences
Compleat:
To shrive=Biechten
At all adventures=Laat komen wat wil, ‘t gaa hoe ‘t gaa
Persevere=Volharden, volstandig blyven

Topics: imagination, evidence, judgment, reason, risk, proverbs and idioms

Categories: imagination, judgment, reason, risk, The Comedy of Errors|

Such tricks hath strong imagination

PLAY: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Theseus
CONTEXT:
THESEUS
More strange than true. I never may believe
These antique fables nor these fairy toys.
Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,
Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend
More than cool reason ever comprehends.
The lunatic, the lover, and the poet
Are of imagination all compact.
One sees more devils than vast hell can hold—
That is the madman. The lover, all as frantic,
Sees Helen’s beauty in a brow of Egypt.
The poet’s eye, in fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to Earth, from Earth to heaven.
And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen
Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name.
Such tricks hath strong imagination,
That if it would but apprehend some joy,
It comprehends some bringer of that joy.
Or in the night, imagining some fear,
How easy is a bush supposed a bear!

DUTCH:
Verbeelding is in grillen overrijk;
Zoodra zij iets gevoelt, dat haar verheugt,
Staat haar voor ‘t oog een brenger van de vreugd;

MORE:
Proverb: He thinks every bush a bugbear (bear)
Proverb: Great wits (poets) to madness sure are near allied
Proverb: It is no more strange than true

More witnesseth=Is evidence of more (than imagination)
Constancy=Consistency
Howsoever=In any case
Admirable=Unbelievable
Antique=Strange, ancient
Toys=Trifles
Apprehend=Perceive
Comprehends=1) Understands; 2) Deduces, imagines
Compact=Composed
Helen=Helen of Troy
Bringer=Source
Compleat:
A mere toy=Een voddery
Comprehend=Begrypen, bevatten, insluyten
To compact=In een trekken, dicht t’zamenvoegen
To witness=Getuygen, betuygen
Constancy=Standvastigheyd, volharding, bestendigheyd
Howsoever=Hoedaanig ook, hoe ook

Topics: proverbs and idioms, skill/talent, madness, imagination, memory, evidence

Categories: A Midsummer Night's Dream, imagination, madness, memory, proverbs and idioms|

All their minds transfigured so together, more witnesseth than fancy’s images

PLAY: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Hippolyta
CONTEXT:
THESEUS
More strange than true. I never may believe
These antique fables nor these fairy toys.
Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,
Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend
More than cool reason ever comprehends.
The lunatic, the lover, and the poet
Are of imagination all compact.
One sees more devils than vast hell can hold—
That is the madman. The lover, all as frantic,
Sees Helen’s beauty in a brow of Egypt.
The poet’s eye, in fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to Earth, from Earth to heaven.
And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen
Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name.
Such tricks hath strong imagination,
That if it would but apprehend some joy,
It comprehends some bringer of that joy.
Or in the night, imagining some fear,
How easy is a bush supposed a bear!
HIPPOLYTA
But all the story of the night told over,
And all their minds transfigured so together,
More witnesseth than fancy’s images
And grows to something of great constancy,
But, howsoever, strange and admirable.

DUTCH:
Maar al wat zij vertellen van deez’ nacht,
En hun gezindheid, zoo gelijk veranderd,
Moet meer zijn dan een spel der phantasie.
Het toont verband, het wordt tot werkelijkheid;
Doch altijd blijft het vreemd en wonderbaar.