QUOTES FROM THE BARD

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Belarius
CONTEXT:
BELARIUS
How you speak!
Did you but know the city’s usuries
And felt them knowingly; the art o’ the court
As hard to leave as keep; whose top to climb
Is certain falling, or so slippery that
The fear’s as bad as falling; the toil o’ the war,
A pain that only seems to seek out danger
I’ the name of fame and honour; which dies i’ the search,
And hath as oft a slanderous epitaph
As record of fair act; nay, many times,
Doth ill deserve by doing well; what’s worse,
Must court’sy at the censure:— O boys, this story
The world may read in me: my body’s mark’d
With Roman swords, and my report was once
First with the best of note: Cymbeline loved me,
And when a soldier was the theme, my name
Was not far off: then was I as a tree
Whose boughs did bend with fruit: but in one night,
A storm or robbery, call it what you will,
Shook down my mellow hangings, nay, my leaves,
And left me bare to weather.

DUTCH:
Welk een oordeel!
O, kendet gij der steden woekerzucht,
En voeldet gij die zelf; de kuiperijen
Van ‘t hof, zoo moeilijk na te laten en
Zoo moeilijk vol te houden, waar ‘t beklimmen
Des hoogsten tops een wisse val is, of
De weg daarheen zoo glibb’rig.

MORE:
Proverb: He that never climbed never fell

Pain=Labour (which perishes without achieving fame and honour)
Usury=The practice of taking interest for money
Compleat:
Usury=Woeker
To lend upon usury=Op rente leenen
I shall pay you with usury=Ik zal het met woeker betaalen
To take pains=Moeite doen, arbeid aanwenden
No pains, no gains=Geen winst zonder moeite

Topics: age/experience, proverbs and idioms, still in use