CJTranslations - Shakespeare quotes on adversity

QUOTES BY TOPIC

A man I am, crossed with adversity

PLAY: The Two Gentlemen of Verona
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Valentine
CONTEXT:
THIRD OUTLAW
Ay, by my beard, will we, for he’s a proper man.
VALENTINE
Then know that I have little wealth to lose:
A man I am crossed with adversity;
My riches are these poor habiliments,
Of which if you should here disfurnish me,
You take the sum and substance that I have.

DUTCH:
Zoo weet dan, ik heb weinig te verliezen.
Ik ben een man, door ‘t ongeluk bestookt;
Mijn rijkdom zijn mijn poov’re kleedren hier,
En als gij daarvan mij ontbiooten wilt,
Dan neemt gij al mijn have en goed mij af.

MORE:
Crossed with adversity=Down on his luck
Habiliments=Clothes
Disfurnish=Deprive
Compleat:
To cross=Tegenstreeven, dwars voor de boeg komen, dwarsboomen, wederestreeven, kruisen
Habiliment=Kleeding, dos, gewaad

Topics: adversity, fate/destiny, poverty and wealth

A man that Fortune’s buffets and rewards
Hast ta’en with equal thanks.

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Hamlet
CONTEXT:
Since my dear soul was mistress of her choice
And could of men distinguish, her election
Hath sealed thee for herself, for thou hast been—
As one in suffering all that suffers nothing—
A man that Fortune’s buffets and rewards
Hast ta’en with equal thanks. And blessed are those
Whose blood and judgment are so well commingled,
That they are not a pipe for Fortune’s finger
To sound what stop she please.

DUTCH:
Gezegend, zij wier inborst en verstand zó zijn verweven /
Gezegend hij, Bij wien verstand en hart zoo zijn gepaard /
En wel gelukkig Zijn zij bij wien zich bloed en geest zoo mengen

MORE:
Schmidt:
Election = preference
Blood=Disposition, temper
Judgment=Faculty of discerning the truth, discernment, good sense, understanding
Commingled= balanced

Topics: fate/destiny, reason, judgment, adversity

A wretched soul, bruised with adversity

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Adriana
CONTEXT:
LUCIANA
Ere I learn love, I’ll practice to obey.
ADRIANA
How if your husband start some otherwhere?
LUCIANA
Till he come home again, I would forbear.
ADRIANA
Patience unmoved! No marvel though she pause;
They can be meek that have no other cause.
A wretched soul, bruised with adversity
We bid be quiet when we hear it cry,
But were we burdened with like weight of pain,
As much or more we should ourselves complain.
So thou, that hast no unkind mate to grieve thee,
With urging helpless patience would relieve me;
But, if thou live to see like right bereft,
This fool-begged patience in thee will be left.

DUTCH:
Een armen mensch, door ‘t nijdig lot geplaagd,
Vermanen wij tot kalm zijn, als hij klaagt;
Maar drukte eens ons hetzelfde leed als hem,
Niet min, licht meer, verhieven we onze stem

MORE:
Proverb: All commend patience but none can endure to suffer
Proverb: Let him be begged for a fool

Begging for a fool refers to the practice of petitioning for custody of the mentally ill or minors so as to gain control of their assets
Pause=Pause to consider marriage
Like=Similar
Like right bereft=To have rights similarly taken from you
Helpless=Receiving no aid, wanting support
Bereave (bereft)=Taken from, spoiled, impaired
Compleat:
Bereft, bereaved=Beroofd
To beg one for a fool, to beg his estate of the King=Het bestier der goederen van een Krankzinnig mensch, van den Koning verzoeken

Topics: adversity, law/legal, patience, poverty and wealth, proverbs and idioms

And sometimes we are devils to ourselves, when we will tempt the frailty of our powers

PLAY: Troilus and Cressida
ACT/SCENE: 4.5
SPEAKER: Troilus
CONTEXT:
TROILUS
Die I a villain, then!
In this I do not call your faith in question
So mainly as my merit: I cannot sing,
Nor heel the high lavolt, nor sweeten talk,
Nor play at subtle games; fair virtues all,
To which the Grecians are most prompt and pregnant:
But I can tell that in each grace of these
There lurks a still and dumb-discoursive devil
That tempts most cunningly: but be not tempted.
CRESSIDA
Do you think I will?
TROILUS
No.
But something may be done that we will not:
And sometimes we are devils to ourselves,
When we will tempt the frailty of our powers,
Presuming on their changeful potency.

DUTCH:
Soms zijn wij duivels voor onszelf, verzoeken
De zwakheid onzes geestes, door te roekloos
Vertrouwen op zijn wankelbare kracht.

MORE:
So mainly as=As much as
Merit=Good work
Heel=Dance
Lavolt=The volta or lavolt was a very physical dance
Pregnant=Ready
Dumb-discoursive=Silently communicating
Presuming on=Confident of, relying on
Changeful=Unreliable
Potency=Power
Compleat:
Mainly=Voornaamelyk
Merit=Verdienste
Volta=Een sprong van een paard
Pregnant=Klaar, krachtig
Discoursive=Redeneerend
Potency=Macht, gezach, vermoogen

Topics: loyalty, merit, good and bad, adversity, temptation

And what hath mass or matter, by itself lies rich in virtue and unmingled

PLAY: Troilus and Cressida
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Agamemnon
CONTEXT:
AGAMEMNON
Princes,
What grief hath set the jaundice on your cheeks?
The ample proposition that hope makes
In all designs begun on earth below
Fails in the promised largeness: checks and disasters
Grow in the veins of actions highest reared,
As knots, by the conflux of meeting sap,
Infect the sound pine and divert his grain
Tortive and errant from his course of growth.
Nor, princes, is it matter new to us
That we come short of our suppose so far
That after seven years’ siege yet Troy walls stand;
Sith every action that hath gone before,
Whereof we have record, trial did draw
Bias and thwart, not answering the aim,
And that unbodied figure of the thought
That gave’t surmised shape. Why then, you princes,
Do you with cheeks abashed behold our works,
And call them shames? which are indeed nought else
But the protractive trials of great Jove
To find persistive constancy in men:
The fineness of which metal is not found
In fortune’s love; for then the bold and coward,
The wise and fool, the artist and unread,
The hard and soft seem all affined and kin:
But, in the wind and tempest of her frown,
Distinction, with a broad and powerful fan,
Puffing at all, winnows the light away;
And what hath mass or matter, by itself
Lies rich in virtue and unmingled.

DUTCH:
Doch als zij ‘t voorhoofd fronst, en stormt, en loeit,
Komt zifting, met een groote wan, en doet
Met krachtig schudden ‘t lichte kaf vervliegen;
Maar wat gewicht en echt gehalte heeft,
Blijft liggen, rijk in waarde en onvermengd.

MORE:
Design=A work in hand, enterprise, cause
Checks=Obstacles
Conflux=Confluence
Tortive=Twisted
Errant=Wandering
Suppose=Intention, expectation
Bias=Awry
Answering=Fulfilling
Unbodied=Abstract
Surmised=Imaginary
Shame=Disgrace
Protractive=Protracting
Persistive=Persistent
Metal=Mettle, spirit
Artist=Scholar
Unmingled=Pure
Compleat:
Design=Opzet, voorneemen, oogmerk, aanslag, toeleg, ontwerp
Check=Berispen, beteugelen, intoomen, verwyten
Conflux=’t Zamenvloed, vermenging van wateren
Tortile=Geboogen, gerekt, verdraaid, gekronkeld
Errant=Doolende, omzwervende
Suppose=Vermoeden, denken, onderstellen
To run bias=Schuin loopen
Surmise=Een vermoeden, waan
Shame (reproach, ignominy)=Schande
To protract=Uytstellen, verlengen
Persisting=Aanhoudende, byblyvende
Full of mettle=Vol vuurs, moedig
Unmingled=Ongemengd

Topics: plans/intentions, advice, failure, adversity, disappointment

But he that hath the steerage of my course,
Direct my sail

PLAY: Romeo and Juliet
ACT/SCENE: 1.4
SPEAKER: Romeo
CONTEXT:
I fear too early, for my mind misgives
Some consequence yet hanging in the stars
Shall bitterly begin his fearful date
With this night’s revels, and expire the term
Of a despisèd life closed in my breast
By some vile forfeit of untimely death.
But he that hath the steerage of my course,
Direct my sail. On, lusty gentlemen.

DUTCH:
Maar Hij, die op mijn vaart de roerpen houdt,
Richt’ mij mijn zeil!

MORE:
Schmidt:
Mind misgives=To have a presentiment of evil
Vile=Having a bad effect or influence, evil
Forfeit=The loss or penalty incurred by a trespass or breach of condition. Loss of life, death: “expire the term of (…)”
Compleat:
A vile mercenary soul=Een laage haatzuchtige ziel
A vile commodity=Een slegte waar
Forfeit (or default)=Defout.
Forfeit (fine or penalty)=Boete
To forfeit=Verbeuren

Topics: plans/intentions, fate/destiny, life, adversity

Do not for one repulse forego the purpose
That you resolved t’ effect.

PLAY: The Tempest
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Antonio
CONTEXT:
ALONSO
Old lord, I cannot blame thee,
Who am myself attached with weariness
To th’ dulling of my spirits. Sit down and rest.
Even here I will put off my hope and keep it
No longer for my flatterer. He is drowned
Whom thus we stray to find, and the sea mocks
Our frustrate search on land. Well, let him go.
ANTONIO
I am right glad that he’s so out of hope.
Do not for one repulse forego the purpose
That you resolved t’ effect.
SEBASTIAN
The next advantage
Will we take throughly.

DUTCH:
Ik ben verheugd, dat al zijn hoop vervloog.
Geef niet het plan, waartoe gij vast besloot,
Om één mislukking op.

MORE:
Repulse=Failure, disappointment
Attached with (used figuratively in its legal sense)=Seized by
Throughly=Thoroughly
Compleat:
Repulse=Weigering, tegenstand
Attached=Beslagen

Topics: adversity, achievement, failure

His thefts were too open; his filching was like an unskilful singer; he kept not time

PLAY: The Merry Wives of Windsor
ACT/SCENE:
SPEAKER: Pistol
CONTEXT:
FALSTAFF
I am glad I am so acquit of this tinderbox: his
thefts were too open; his filching was like an
unskilful singer; he kept not time.
NYM
The good humour is to steal at a minute’s rest.
PISTOL
‘Convey,’ the wise it call. ‘Steal!’ foh! a fico
for the phrase!
FALSTAFF
Well, sirs, I am almost out at heels.
PISTOL
Why, then, let kibes ensue.
FALSTAFF
There is no remedy; I must cony-catch; I must shift.
PISTOL
Young ravens must have food.

DUTCH:
Ik ben blij, dat ik zoo van die tondeldoos afkom; zijn
diefstallen waren al te zichtbaar; in het kapen was hij
als een onbedreven zanger, hij hield de maat niet.

MORE:
Proverb: A fig for him (it)
Proverb: Small birds must have meat

Acquit=Rid
Tinderbox=Fire-starting equipment (re. Bardolph’s irritability)
Open=Obvious, visible
Good humour=Trick
A minute’s rest=Within a minute
Convey=Steal
Fico=Fig
Out at heels=Destitute
Kibes=Sores
Cony-catch=Swindle
Shift=Live by my wits
Compleat:
Acquit=Quyten, ontslaan
Tinderbox=Een tondeldoosje
I don’t care a fig for it=Ik geef ‘er niet een boon om
Kibe=Kakhiel, winterhiel
Cony=Konijn
Shift=Zichzelve redden

Burgersdijk notes:
Een figo. Een teeken van verachting.
Gaan stroopen. Er staat eigenlijk konijnen vangen.

Topics: poverty and wealth, offence, adversity, proverbs and idioms

His word might bear my wealth at any time

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Angelo
CONTEXT:
ANGELO
I am sorry, sir, that I have hindered you,
But I protest he had the chain of me,
Though most dishonestly he doth deny it.
SECOND MERCHANT
How is the man esteemed here in the city?
ANGELO
Of very reverend reputation, sir,
Of credit infinite, highly beloved,
Second to none that lives here in the city.
His word might bear my wealth at any time.
SECOND MERCHANT
Speak softly. Yonder, as I think, he walks.
ANGELO
‘Tis so; and that self chain about his neck
Which he forswore most monstrously to have.
Good sir, draw near to me. I’ll speak to him.—
Signior Antipholus, I wonder much
That you would put me to this shame and trouble,
And not without some scandal to yourself,
With circumstance and oaths so to deny
This chain, which now you wear so openly.
Beside the charge, the shame, imprisonment,
You have done wrong to this my honest friend,
Who, but for staying on our controversy,
Had hoisted sail and put to sea today.
This chain you had of me. Can you deny it?
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
I think I had. I never did deny it.

DUTCH:
Hij heeft een besten naam, heer; zijn crediet
Is onbeperkt, hij algemeen bemind;
Hij is van de allereersten van de stad,
Ja, meer dan mijn vermogen geldt zijn woord

MORE:
“Second to none” wasn’t invented by Shakespeare, although he was an early user.

Esteemed=What is his reputation
Reverend (or reverent)=Entitled to high respect, venerable
Bear his wealth=(1) His word is as good as his bond; (2) I would trust him with all my wealth without security
Compleat:
Esteem=Achting, waarde
Reverend=Eerwaardig, geducht

Topics: adversity, law/legal, patience, poverty and wealth

I have little wealth to lose: a man I am cross’d with adversity

PLAY: The Two Gentlemen of Verona
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Valentine
CONTEXT:
VALENTINE
My friends,—
FIRST OUTLAW
That’s not so, sir: we are your enemies.
SECOND OUTLAW
Peace! We’ll hear him.
THIRD OUTLAW
Ay, by my beard, will we, for he’s a proper man.
VALENTINE
Then know that I have little wealth to lose:
A man I am cross’d with adversity;
My riches are these poor habiliments,
Of which if you should here disfurnish me,
You take the sum and substance that I have.

DUTCH:
Zoo weet dan, ik heb weinig te verliezen.
Ik ben een man, door ‘t ongeluk bestookt;
Mijn rijkdom zijn mijn poov’re kleedren hier,
En als gij daarvan mij ontbiooten wilt,
Dan neemt gij al mijn have en goed mij af.

MORE:
Proper=Handsome
Crossed with=Frustrated by
Habilments=Clothes
Disfurnish=Deprive
Compleat:
Proper=Bequaam, van een bequaame lengte
To cross=Tegenstreeven, dwars voor de boeg komen, dwarsboomen, wederestreeven, kruisen

Topics: adversity

I would give all my fame for a pot of ale, and safety.

PLAY: King Henry V
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Boy
CONTEXT:
Would I were in an alehouse in London! I would
give all my fame for a pot of ale, and safety.

DUTCH:
Ik wenschte, dat ik in een bierhuis zat, in Londen!
Ik zou al mijn roem voor een kan bier geven en voor
veiligheid.

MORE:

Topics: adversity, security, life

If the drink you give me touch my palate adversely I make a crooked face at it

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Menenius
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
Why, then you should discover a brace of
unmeriting, proud, violent, testy magistrates, alias
fools, as any in Rome.
SICINIUS
Menenius, you are known well enough, too.
MENENIUS
I am known to be a humorous patrician, and one that
loves a cup of hot wine with not a drop of allaying
Tiber in’t; said to be something imperfect in
favouring the first complaint; hasty and tinder-like
upon too trivial motion; one that converses more
with the buttock of the night than with the forehead
of the morning: what I think I utter, and spend my
malice in my breath. Meeting two such wealsmen as
you are—I cannot call you Lycurguses—if the drink
you give me touch my palate adversely, I make a
crooked face at it. I can’t say your worships have
delivered the matter well, when I find the ass in
compound with the major part of your syllables: and
though I must be content to bear with those that say
you are reverend grave men, yet they lie deadly that
tell you you have good faces. If you see this in
the map of my microcosm, follows it that I am known
well enough too? what barm can your bisson
conspectuities glean out of this character, if I be
known well enough too?

DUTCH:
Als ik twee zulke staatslieden als gij zijt, — Lycurgussen kan ik u niet noemen, — ontmoet, en gij mij een dronk aanbiedt, die mijn gehemelte onaangenaam aandoet, dan trek ik er een scheef gezicht bij.

MORE:
Humorous=Capricious, whimsical
Converses more=Is more conversant with
Too trivial motion=Too trifling a provocation
Spend my malice in my breath=Vent my anger in words
Weal=(1) Welfare, prosperity, happiness; (2) Commonwealth, body politic
Wealsmen=Legislators
Testy=Easily angry, fretful, peevish
Motion=Incitement
Delivered=Spoken, presented
Good faces=(1) Honest faces; (2) Handsome faces
Reverend=Entitled to respect, venerable
Bisson (beesom)=Purblind
Conspectuities=Sight, vision
Glean=Conclude, infer
Map of my microcosm=Face
Compleat:
To deliver (or speak out in discourse)=Een redevoering doen
Purblind=Stikziende
The common-weal=’t Welvaaren van ‘t algemeen
A common-wealths man=Een republyks gezinde
Testy=Korzel, kribbig, gramsteurig, gemelyk
Crooked=Krom, geboogen, scheef

Topics: respect, authority, intellect, value, adversity

In like manner was I in debt to my importunate business

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 3.6
SPEAKER: First Lord
CONTEXT:
FIRST LORD
Upon that were my thoughts tiring, when we
encountered: I hope it is not so low with him as
he made it seem in the trial of his several friends.
SECOND LORD
It should not be, by the persuasion of his new
feasting.
FIRST LORD
I should think so: he hath sent me an earnest
inviting, which many my near occasions did urge me
to put off; but he hath conjured me beyond them, and
I must needs appear.
SECOND LORD
In like manner was I in debt to my importunate
business, but he would not hear my excuse. I am
sorry, when he sent to borrow of me, that my
provision was out.
FIRST LORD
I am sick of that grief too, as I understand how all
things go.

DUTCH:
Hetzelfde was ik verschuldigd aan mijne noodzakelijke
drukten, maar hij wilde van mijne verontschuldiging niet
hooren. Het spijt mij, dat mijne kas juist ledig was,
toen hij bij mij zond om geld op te nemen.

MORE:
Tiring=Poring over, tearing up (metaphorical, tear a prey)
Persuasion=Urging
Low=Low in funds
Conjured=Charmed, convinced
Importunate=Unrelenting, urgent
Provision was out=Out of funds
Compleat:
To tire=(weary or be tedious): Verveelen
To conjure=t’Zamenzweeren, bezweeren, bemaanen, nadrukkelyk vermaanen
Importunate=Unrelenting

Topics: money, debt/obligation, adversity

Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, for wise men say it is the wisest course

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 3
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: King Henry VI
CONTEXT:
KING HENRY VI
From Scotland am I stol’n, even of pure love,
To greet mine own land with my wishful sight.
No, Harry, Harry, ’tis no land of thine;
Thy place is fill’d, thy sceptre wrung from thee,
Thy balm wash’d off wherewith thou wast anointed:
No bending knee will call thee Caesar now,
No humble suitors press to speak for right,
No, not a man comes for redress of thee;
For how can I help them, and not myself?
FIRST KEEPER
Ay, here’s a deer whose skin’s a keeper’s fee:
This is the quondam king; let’s seize upon him.
KING HENRY VI
Let me embrace thee, sour adversity,
For wise men say it is the wisest course.

DUTCH:
k Wil ‘t bitter lot, dat mij bezoekt, omhelzen;
Dit, zeggen wijzen, is de wijste keus.

MORE:

Proverb: Adversity makes men wise
Proverb: In adversity men find eyes
Proverb: An enemy makes a man to know himself, whereas a friend flatters a man and deceives him

The Arden edition has “adversaries” rather than “adversities”.

Wishful sight=Longing look
Balm=Oil used to anoint kings
Speak for right=Plead for justice
Redress=Amendment, remedy
Keeper’s fee=Gamekeepers were given the horns and skin of hunted deer
Quondam=Former, as was

Compleat:
To speak for=(propose, move) Iets voorstellen, op ‘t tapyt brengen
Redress=Herstelling, verhelping, verbetering, vergoeding, verligting

Topics: adversity, proverbs and idioms, status

Look he’s winding up the watch of his wit.
By and by it will strike.

PLAY: The Tempest
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Gonzalo
CONTEXT:
SEBASTIAN
He receives comfort like cold porridge.
ANTONIO
The visitor will not give him o’er so.
SEBASTIAN
Look he’s winding up the watch of his wit. By and by it will strike.
GONZALO
(to ALONSO) Sir—
SEBASTIAN
One. Tell.
GONZALO
When every grief is entertained that’s offered,
comes to th’entertainer –
SEBASTIAN
A dollar.
GONZALO
Dolour comes to him, indeed. You have spoken truer than you purposed.

DUTCH:
Zie, hij windt het uurwerk van zijn vernuft op, zoo
aanstonds zal het slaan.

MORE:
A visitor is ‘One who visits from charitable motives or with a view of doing good’ (OED)
Dollar=’The English name for the German thaler, a large silver coin’ (OED).
Dolour=Sorrow, grief (wordplay on ‘dollar’)
Tell=Count
Entertain=To conceive, to harbour, to feel, to keep (When everyone who feels grief embraces every grief that comes their way)
Compleat:
Entertain (receive or believe) a principle, an opinion, etc.=Een stelling, een gevoelen aanneemen, koesteren’ gelooven of voorstaan
Dolor=Droefheid, smerte
Dolorous=Pynlyk, droevig
To visit (to go about to see whether things be as they should)=Bezoeken, nazien, onderzoeken
To visit (to affect, to try)=Bezoeken, beproeven

Topics: grief, sorrow, adversity, intellect

May I never to this good purpose, that so fairly shows, dream of impediment

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Antony
CONTEXT:
CAESAR
The power of Caesar, and
His power unto Octavia.
ANTONY
May I never
To this good purpose, that so fairly shows,
Dream of impediment. Let me have thy hand.
Further this act of grace; and from this hour
The heart of brothers govern in our loves
And sway our great designs.

DUTCH:
Nimmer wil ik
Bij dezen voorslag, die zooveel belooft,
Van hindernissen droomen!

MORE:
Fairly=Attractive
Show=Appear
Purpose=Plan
Further=Promote, move forward with
Sway=Govern, direct, manage, influence
Design=Plan
Compleat:
Fairly=Fraai; oprechtelyk
Show=Vertooning
Purpose (design, resolution, project)=Voorneemen, besluit, ontwerp
To further=Bevorderen, voortzetten
Sway=(power, rule, command) Macht, gezach, heerschappy
To bear sway=Heerschappy voeren
To sway=(govern) Regeeren. To sway the scepter=Den schepter zwaaijen
Design=Opzet, voorneemen, oogmerk, aanslag, toeleg, ontwerp

Topics: adversity, achievement, purpose, plans/intentions

Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.

PLAY: The Tempest
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Trinculo
CONTEXT:
TRINCULO
(…) Were I in England now, as once I was, and had but this fish painted, not a holiday fool there but would give a piece of silver. There would this monster make a man. Any strange beast there makes a man. When they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian. Legged like a man and his fins like arms! Warm, o’ my troth. I do now let loose my opinion, hold it no longer: this is no fish, but an islander that hath lately suffered by a thunderbolt.
Alas, the storm is come again! My best way is to creep under his gaberdine. There is no other shelter hereabouts. Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows. I will here shroud till the dregs of the storm be past.

DUTCH:
Ellende laat een man kennis maken met vreemde kameraden./
De nood brengt een mensch al bij vreemde slaapkameraden.

MORE:
Proverb:Misery makes strange bedfellows
Gaberdine=Cloak
Doit=A former Dutch coin, equivalent to half a farthing
Compleat:
Doit=Een duit (achtste deel van een stuiver)
He is not worth a doit or doitkin=Het is geen duit waard
Fellow ( or companion)=Medgezel
A bed-fellow=Een byslaap, bedgenoot

Topics: fate/destiny, relationship, proverbs and idioms, still in use, adversity

Now is the winter of our discontent

PLAY: Richard III
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Richard, Duke of Gloucester
CONTEXT:
RICHARD
Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this son of York,
And all the clouds that loured upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths,
Our bruisèd arms hung up for monuments,
Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings,
Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.
Grim-visaged war hath smoothed his wrinkled front;
And now, instead of mounting barbèd steeds
To fright the souls of fearful adversaries,
He capers nimbly in a lady’s chamber
To the lascivious pleasing of a lute.
But I, that am not shaped for sportive tricks,
Nor made to court an amorous looking glass;
I, that am rudely stamped and want love’s majesty
To strut before a wanton ambling nymph;
I, that am curtailed of this fair proportion,
Cheated of feature by dissembling nature,
Deformed, unfinished, sent before my time
Into this breathing world, scarce half made up,
And that so lamely and unfashionable
That dogs bark at me as I halt by them—
Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace,
Have no delight to pass away the time,
Unless to see my shadow in the sun
And descant on mine own deformity.
And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover
To entertain these fair well-spoken days,
I am determinèd to prove a villain
And hate the idle pleasures of these days.
Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous,
By drunken prophecies, libels and dreams,
To set my brother Clarence and the king
In deadly hate, the one against the other;
And if King Edward be as true and just
As I am subtle, false, and treacherous,
This day should Clarence closely be mewed up
About a prophecy which says that “G”
Of Edward’s heirs the murderer shall be.
Dive, thoughts, down to my soul. Here Clarence comes.

DUTCH:
Nu werd de winter onzer wreev’le stemming
Tot blijden zomer door de zon van York ;
De zware wolken, die ons huis bedreigden,
Verzwolg de diepe schoot des oceaans .

MORE:
Often misquoted or semi-quoted as “Now is the winter of our discontent” to announce the start of something bleak or ominous, but he is in fact describing the end of something. in context, it is actually positive. The sun is on its way!
Shakespeare is punning here with the son and sun, both in the context of the weather metaphor and the sun emblem of the House of York. Edward IV, son of Richard Duke of York, has replaced Henry VI on the throne.

House=Family, Dynasty
Measures=Stately dances
Weak-piping times=When people amused themselves with peaceful, pastoral music instead of marching drums
Wrinkled front=Frown
Barbed=Horse armour with studs and spikes
Capers=Dances involving leaping around
Court an amorous looking glass=Spend time looking in the mirror
Wanton-ambling=Sexy walk
Determined=Resolved
Idle=Frivolous
Induction=Preparation
Mewed up=Caged
Compleat:
House=Een Huys
Piping=Pypenspel
Wrinkled=Gerimpeld, gerfronseld, gekrinkeld
Barbed javeline=Een Schicht met weerhaaken
Caper=Een sprong
An ambling pace=Een telgang, pas-gang
Induction=In ‘t bezit stelling
Mewed up=Opgeslooten

Burgersdijk notes:
Nu werd de winter enz . De woorden “zon van York” zinspelen op het wapen der familie York, een door de wolken brekende zon; zie 3 Koning Hendrik VI, II. 1.
Doch ik, geenszins gevormd enz. Men vergelijke 3 Koning Hendrik VI, V. 6

Topics: misquoted, still in use, adversity, plans/intentions

Now is the winter of our discontent

DUTCH:
Nu werd de winter onzer wreev’le stemming
Tot blijden zomer door de zon van York ;
De zware wolken, die ons huis bedreigden,
Verzwolg de diepe schoot des oceaans .

Topics: misquoted, still in use, adversity, plans/intentions

Of very reverend reputation, sir, of credit infinite

DUTCH:
Hij heeft een besten naam, heer; zijn crediet
Is onbeperkt, hij algemeen bemind;
Hij is van de allereersten van de stad,
Ja, meer dan mijn vermogen geldt zijn woord

MORE:
Second to none wasn’t invented by Shakespeare, although he was an early user.
Reverend (or reverent)=Entitled to high respect, venerable
Bear his wealth=(1) His word is as good as his bond; (2) I would trust him with all my wealth without security
Forswore=Denied
But for=Except for
Compleat:
Reverend=Eerwaardig, geducht
To forswear one’s self=Eenen valschen eed doen, meyneedig zyn
To forswear a thing=Zweeren dat iets zo niet is

Topics: adversity, law/legal, patience, poverty and wealth

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more

PLAY: King Henry V
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: King Henry
CONTEXT:
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more,
Or close the wall up with our English dead!
In peace there’s nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility;
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger:
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood.
Disguise fair nature with hard-favored rage.
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect.

DUTCH:
Nog eens gestormd, nog eens, mijn lieve vrienden!
Of stopt de bres met Englands doode strijders!

MORE:
One of the most frequently quoted lines from Shakespeare, used in the sense of ‘Take courage’, ‘Let’s go at it again’.
Breach=Gap in a fortification made by a battery

Topics: conflict, courage, adversity

One that converses more with the buttock of the night than with the forehead of the morning

DUTCH:
[M]en geeft mij na, dat
ik wel wat het zwak heb den eersten klager te veel gelijk
te geven, wat driftig ben en tonderachtig bij een al
te geringe aanleiding, meer met het achterdeel van de
nacht, dan met het voorhoofd van den morgen vertrouwd
ben.

Topics: respect, authority, intellect, value, adversity

Plenty and peace breeds cowards; hardness ever of hardiness is mother

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 3.6
SPEAKER: Imogen
CONTEXT:
IMOGEN
I see a man’s life is a tedious one:
I have tired myself, and for two nights together
Have made the ground my bed. I should be sick,
But that my resolution helps me. Milford,
When from the mountain-top Pisanio show’d thee,
Thou wast within a ken: O Jove! I think
Foundations fly the wretched; such, I mean,
Where they should be relieved. Two beggars told me
I could not miss my way. Will poor folks lie,
That have afflictions on them, knowing ’tis
A punishment or trial? Yes. No wonder,
When rich ones scarce tell true. To lapse in fullness
Is sorer than to lie for need, and falsehood
Is worse in kings than beggars. My dear lord,
Thou art one o’ th’ false ones. Now I think on thee,
My hunger’s gone; but even before, I was
At point to sink for food. But what is this?
Here is a path to ’t. ’Tis some savage hold.
I were best not call; I dare not call. Yet famine,
Ere clean it o’erthrow nature, makes it valiant.
Plenty and peace breeds cowards; hardness ever
Of hardiness is mother.—Ho! Who’s here?
If anything that’s civil, speak; if savage,
Take or lend. Ho!—No answer? Then I’ll enter.
Best draw my sword; an if mine enemy
But fear the sword like me, he’ll scarcely look on ’t.

DUTCH:
Ja, weelde en vreê kweekt lafaards; ‘t hardste lot
Verhardt en staalt ons steeds

MORE:
Proverb: Afflictions are sent us by God for our good (Will poor folks lie…)

Trial=Test of virtue
To lapse in fullness=Fall from truth in a state of prosperity
Even before=Just before
Hardiness=Bravery
Compleat:
Trial (temptation)=Beproeving
Even=Even. Just now=Zo even
Hardiness=Onvertzaagdheid, stoutheid, koenheid
Hardiness of constitution=Hardheid van gesteltenis

Topics: adversity, proverbs and idioms, poverty and wealth, honesty

The art of our necessities is strange
That can make vile things precious.

PLAY: King Lear
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: King Lear
CONTEXT:
My wits begin to turn.
Come on, my boy. How dost, my boy?
Where is this straw, my fellow?
The art of our necessities is strange
That can make vile things precious. Come, your hovel.
Poor fool and knave, I have one part in my heart
That’s sorry yet for thee.

DUTCH:
Nood leert ons vreemde dingen: uit iets slechts
kan het iets kostbaars maken.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Necessity=Extreme indigence, distress, want of what is needed (poverty)
Art=Experience
Vile=Abject
Compleat:
Vile=Slecht, gering, verachtelyk, eerloos

Topics: poverty and wealth, value, adversity

The good humour is to steal at a minute’s rest

PLAY: The Merry Wives of Windsor
ACT/SCENE:
SPEAKER: Pistol
CONTEXT:
NYM
He was gotten in drink: is not the humour conceited?
FALSTAFF
I am glad I am so acquit of this tinderbox: his
thefts were too open; his filching was like an
unskilful singer; he kept not time.
NYM
The good humour is to steal at a minute’s rest.
PISTOL
‘Convey,’ the wise it call. ‘Steal!’ foh! a fico
for the phrase!
FALSTAFF
Well, sirs, I am almost out at heels.
PISTOL
Why, then, let kibes ensue.
FALSTAFF
There is no remedy; I must cony-catch; I must shift.
PISTOL
Young ravens must have food.

DUTCH:
De beste humour is, in een kwart tellens te stelen.

MORE:
Proverb: A fig for him (it)
Proverb: Small birds must have meat

Burgersdijk notes:
Een figo. Een teeken van verachting.
Gaan stroopen. Er staat eigenlijk konijnen vangen.

Topics: poverty and wealth, offence, adversity, proverbs and idioms

The robbed that smiles, steals something from the thief

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Duke
CONTEXT:
BRABANTIO
God be with you. I have done.
Please it your grace, on to the state affairs.
I had rather to adopt a child than get it.—
Come hither, Moor.
I here do give thee that with all my heart
Which, but thou hast already, with all my heart
I would keep from thee. For your sake, jewel,
I am glad at soul I have no other child.
For thy escape would teach me tyranny,
To hang clogs on them.— I have done, my lord.
DUKE
Let me speak like yourself and lay a sentence
Which as a grise or step may help these lovers
Into your favour.
When remedies are past the griefs are ended
By seeing the worst which late on hopes depended.
To mourn a mischief that is past and gone
Is the next way to draw new mischief on.
What cannot be preserved when fortune takes,
Patience her injury a mock’ry makes.
The robbed that smiles steals something from the thief,
He robs himself that spends a bootless grief.

DUTCH:
Wie, schoon bestólen, lacht, besteelt den dief,
Wie nutt’loos treurt, zichzelf, tot nieuwe grief.

MORE:
CITED IN US LAW:
Dykes v. State, 264 So.2d 65, 66 n. 1 (Fla. Ct. App. 1972)(Howell, J.).

Proverb: Never grieve for that you cannot help

Grise (grize) (also grice, greese)=Step, degree
Lay a sentence=Apply a maxim
Patience=Endurance
Mockery=Subject of laughter and derision
Bootless=Futile, unavailing
Compleat:
Mockery=Bespotting, spotterny
Bootless=Te vergeefs, vruchteloos
Patience=Geduld, lydzaamheid, verduldigheid

Topics: adversity, regret, cited in law, proverbs and idioms, remedy

The wound of peace is surety, surety secure

PLAY: Troilus and Cressida
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Hector
CONTEXT:
HECTOR
Though no man lesser fears the Greeks than I
As far as toucheth my particular,
Yet, dread Priam,
There is no lady of more softer bowels,
More spongy to suck in the sense of fear,
More ready to cry out ‘Who knows what follows?’
Than Hector is: the wound of peace is surety,
Surety secure; but modest doubt is called
The beacon of the wise, the tent that searches
To the bottom of the worst. Let Helen go:
Since the first sword was drawn about this question,
Every tithe soul, ‘mongst many thousand dimes,
Hath been as dear as Helen; I mean, of ours:
If we have lost so many tenths of ours,
To guard a thing not ours nor worth to us,
Had it our name, the value of one ten,
What merit’s in that reason which denies
The yielding of her up?

DUTCH:
Zorgelooze zekerheid
Is vredes wonde; maar bezonnen twijfel
Des wijzen baak, de vlaswiek, die het diepst
Der wonde peilt.

MORE:
Proverb: The way to be safe is never to be secure
Proverb: He that is secure is not safe

My particular=Me personally
Softer bowels=More compassion
Spongy to suck in=Absorbent
Surety=Over-confidence, feeling of safety
Doubt=Apprehension
Tent=Surgical probe
Tithe=Tenth (reference to taxation)
Compleat:
Particular=Byzonder, zonderling, byzonderheid
Spungy=Sponsachtig, voos
Surety=Borg, vastigheyd
Doubt=Twyffel
Tent=Tentyzer
Tithe=Tiende; To gather tithes=Tienden inzamelen

Topics: proverbs and idioms, security, adversity

They say best men are moulded out of faults

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Mariana
CONTEXT:
DUKE VINCENTIO
Against all sense you do importune her:
Should she kneel down in mercy of this fact,
Her brother’s ghost his paved bed would break,
And take her hence in horror.
MARIANA
Isabel,
Sweet Isabel, do yet but kneel by me;
Hold up your hands, say nothing; I’ll speak all.
They say, best men are moulded out of faults;
And, for the most, become much more the better
For being a little bad: so may my husband.
O Isabel, will you not lend a knee?

DUTCH:
De beste mannen, zegt men, worden zoo
Door feilen, ja, te beter, waren ze eerst
Een weinig slecht; misschien zoo ook mijn gade.

MORE:
Against all sense=It makes no sense
Importune=Urge, impel
Paved bed=Grave
Compleat:
Importune=Lastig vallen, zeer dringen, gestadig aanhouden, overdringen, aandringen

Topics: adversity, error, understanding

What means this scene of rude impatience?

PLAY: Richard III
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Duchess
CONTEXT:
QUEEN ELIZABETH
Ah, who shall hinder me to wail and weep,
To chide my fortune and torment myself?
I’ll join with black despair against my soul
And to myself become an enemy.
DUCHESS
What means this scene of rude impatience?
QUEEN ELIZABETH
To make an act of tragic violence.
Edward, my lord, thy son, our king, is dead.
Why grow the branches when the root is gone?
Why wither not the leaves that want their sap?
If you will live, lament. If die, be brief,
That our swift-wingèd souls may catch the king’s,
Or, like obedient subjects, follow him
To his new kingdom of ne’er-changing night.

DUTCH:
Wat wil hier dit tooneel van felle woestheid?

MORE:
Hinder=Stop
Chide=Curse
Fortune=Luck
Rude=Unrestrained, melodramatic
Want=Are lacking
Compleat:
To hinder=Hinderen, verhinderen, beletten, weerhouden
To chide=Kyven, bekyven
Fortune=’t Geval, geluk, Fortuyn
Rude=Ruuw, groof, onbehouwen, plomp, onbeschaafd
To want=Ontbreeken, missen, van noode hebben, van doen hebben

Topics: adversity, complaint

Wise men ne’er sit and wail their loss but cheerly seek how to redress their harms

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 3
ACT/SCENE: 5.4
SPEAKER: Queen Margaret
CONTEXT:
Great lords, wise men ne’er sit and wail their loss,
But cheerly seek how to redress their harms.
What though the mast be now blown overboard,
The cable broke, the holding-anchor lost,
And half our sailors swallow’d in the flood?
Yet lives our pilot still. Is’t meet that he
Should leave the helm and like a fearful lad
With tearful eyes add water to the sea
And give more strength to that which hath too much,
Whiles, in his moan, the ship splits on the rock,
Which industry and courage might have saved?

DUTCH:
Geen wijze zit en jammert om verliezen;
Neen, moedig streeft hij naar ‘t herstel er van.

MORE:

Proverb: One must not bemoan (wail) a mischief but find out a remedy for it
Proverb: To cast water into the sea (Thames)

Wail=Bemoan
Cheerly=Cheerfully
Redress=Remedy
Meet=Appropriate
In his moan=While he laments

Compleat:
To bewail=Beweenen, beschreijen
Redress=Herstelling, verhelping, verbetering, vergoeding, verligting
Meet=Dienstig

Topics: adversity, proverbs and idioms, remedy, hope/optimism

Your looped and windowed raggedness

PLAY: King Lear
ACT/SCENE: 3.4
SPEAKER: King Lear
CONTEXT:
Poor naked wretches, whereso’er you are,
That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm,
How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides,
Your looped and windowed raggedness, defend you
From seasons such as these?
Oh, I have ta’en
Too little care of this! Take physic, pomp.
Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel,
That thou mayst shake the superflux to them
And show the heavens more just.

DUTCH:
O naakte stakkers, waar u ook maar bent,
die ’t neerslaan van dit woest, wreed ontij duldt,
hoe kunt u zich, dakloos, met lege magen,
in lompen vol met gaten, weren tegen
zulk weer als dit?

MORE:
Looped and windowed raggedness = tattered clothes, full of holes. Loopholes were small apertures in thick walls, e.g. arrowslit (through which small bodies could escape, one explanation for the current definition of loophole as a means of escape or avoidance).
Schmidt:
Shake=Lay aside, get rid of, discard
Superflux=the superfluous, their abundance of wealth
Compleat:
Ragged=Aan flenteren (fladderen) gescheurd, versleeten, haaveloos

Topics: poverty and wealth, value, regret, adversity, equality, excess