QUOTES FROM THE BARD

PLAY: Richard III
ACT/SCENE: 2.4
SPEAKER: Duke of York
CONTEXT:
DUCHESS
Why, my young cousin? It is good to grow.
YORK
Grandam, one night as we did sit at supper,
My uncle Rivers talked how I did grow
More than my brother: “Ay,” quoth my uncle Gloucester,
“Small herbs have grace; great weeds do grow apace.”
And since, methinks I would not grow so fast
Because sweet flowers are slow and weeds make haste.
DUCHESS
Good faith, good faith, the saying did not hold
In him that did object the same to thee!
He was the wretched’st thing when he was young,
So long a-growing and so leisurely,

DUTCH:
„Ja,” zeide oom Gloster toen,
,,Een klein gewas is eel, onkruid groeit veel .”
En sedert wenschte ik minder sterken groei;
Eel kruid komt laat, en onkruid snel in bloei .

MORE:
Proverb: An ill weed grows apace

Grace=Good properties
Since=Since then
Hold=Hold true
Compleat:
Grace=Genade, gunst, bevalligheyd, fraaigheyd, aardige zwier
Weed=Onkruyd
To hold=Houden, vatten; achten

Topics: time, proverbs and idioms, still in use, invented or popularised, good and bad, nature