CJTranslations - Shakespeare quotes on clarity/precision

QUOTES BY TOPIC

He’s the courageous captain of compliments.

PLAY: Romeo and Juliet ACT/SCENE: 2.4 SPEAKER: Mercutio CONTEXT: BENVOLIO
Why, what is Tybalt?
MERCUTIO
More than Prince of Cats. Oh, he’s the courageous captain of compliments. He fights as you sing prick-song, keeps time, distance, and proportion. He rests his minim rests—one, two, and the third in your bosom. The very butcher of a silk button, a duelist, a duelist, a gentleman of the very first house of the first and second cause. Ah, the immortal passado, the punto reverso, the hai! DUTCH: Meer dan de vorst van het kattengeslacht, dat kan ik u
verzekeren; hij is de moedige aanvoerder van alle fijne manieren.
MORE: Prince of Cats = figure from Reynard the Fox, also called Tybalt
To compliment (or complement) = to observe formal ceremonies or courtesy. Hence captain of compliments = one who observes protocol.
Butcher of a silk button=precise, never misses the mark. Topics: custom, civility, flattery, clarity/precision

I am indeed not her fool, but her corrupter of words

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Fool
CONTEXT:
FOOL
Why, sir, her name’s a word, and to dally with that
word might make my sister wanton. But, indeed, words are
very rascals since bonds disgraced them.
VIOLA
Thy reason, man?
FOOL
Troth, sir, I can yield you none without words, and
words are grown so false, I am loath to prove reason
with them.
VIOLA
I warrant thou art a merry fellow and carest for
nothing.
FOOL
Not so, sir, I do care for something. But in my
conscience, sir, I do not care for you. If that be to
care for nothing, sir, I would it would make you invisible.
VIOLA
Art not thou the Lady Olivia’s fool?
FOOL
No, indeed, sir; the Lady Olivia has no folly. She will
keep no fool, sir, till she be married, and fools are
as like husbands as pilchards are to herrings; the
husband’s the bigger: I am indeed not her fool, but her
corrupter of words.

DUTCH:
Ik ben eigenlijk niet haar nar,
maar haar woordverdraaier.

MORE:
Wanton=Equivocal
Bonds=Contracts
Disgraced=Replaced (and that being necessary, dishonoured)
Compleat:
To grow wanton with too much prosperity=In voorspoed weeldrig worden
Bond=Verbinding, obligatie
Disgrace (discredit, dishonour or reproach)=Smaadheid, schande, hoon

Burgersdijk notes:
Woorden zijn zoo valsch geworden enz. Het spelen met woorden, het spitsvondig verdraaien van hunne beteekenis in de gesprekken, in welk opzicht de een den ander zocht te overtreffen om het laatste woord te hebben, was in Sh.’s tijd zeer in zwang; niet minder het versmaden van de gewone en eenvoudige wijze van spreken, en het bezigen van gezochte, bloemrijke, vaak duistere uitdrukkingen, met andere woorden het Euphuisme, naar Lilly’s twee boeken, waarin Euphues de held is, zoo genoemd; het gesprek van Viola met jonker Tobias kan er een klein voorbeeld van geven.

Topics: reason, language, evidence, clarity/precision, understanding

If your four negatives make your two affirmatives, why then the worse for my friends and the better for my foes

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Fool
CONTEXT:
FOOL
Marry, sir, they praise me and make an ass of me, now
my foes tell me plainly I am an ass. So that by my foes,
sir I profit in the knowledge of myself, and by my
friends, I am abused. So that, conclusions to be as
kisses, if your four negatives make your two
affirmatives, why then the worse for my friends and the
better for my foes.
ORSINO
Why, this is excellent.
FOOL
By my troth, sir, no—though it please you to be one of
my friends.

DUTCH:
Wel, heer, zij prijzen mij en maken mij tot een ezel;
maar mijn vijanden zeggen mij ronduit, dat ik een ezel
ben; zoodat ik door mijn vijanden, heer, vooruitga in
zelfkennis en door mijn vrienden bedrogen word; zoodat,
wanneer het met gevolgtrekkingen is als met kusjes,
dat vier ontkenningen twee bevestigingen zijn, het mij
slecht gaat met mijn vrienden en goed met mijn vijanden.

MORE:
Proverb: God send me a friend that may tell me my faults; if not, an enemy, and to be sure he will
Proverb: Two negatives make an affirmative

The argument being that if, as in grammar, four negatives make two affirmatives, if someone says ‘No, no, no, no’, the first no negates the second and the third negates the fourth, turning it into ‘Yes, yes’.

Topics: truth, honesty, friendship, language, clarity/precision

Knock, knock! Who’s there, in th’ other devil’s name?

PLAY: Macbeth
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Petruchio
CONTEXT:
Knock, knock! Who’s there, in th’ other devil’s name? Faith, here’s an equivocator that could swear in both the scales against either scale, who committed treason enough for God’s sake, yet could not equivocate to heaven. O, come in, equivocator.

DUTCH:
Klop, klop, klop! wie is
daar, in naam van Beëlzebub?

MORE:
Schmidt:
Equivocator=One who uses ambiguous language
Compleat:
Equivocate=Dubbelzinnig spreeken

Topics: still in use, language, clarity/precision, truth

Still you keep o’ the windy side of the law

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 3.4
SPEAKER: Fabian
CONTEXT:
SIR TOBY BELCH
Give me. [reads] “Youth, whatsoever thou art, thou art
but a scurvy fellow.”
FABIAN
Good, and valiant.
SIR TOBY BELCH
[reads] “Wonder not, nor admire not in thy mind, why I
do call thee so, for I will show thee no reason for ’t.”
FABIAN
A good note, that keeps you from the blow of the law.
SIR TOBY BELCH
(reads) “Thou comest to the lady Olivia, and in my
sight she uses thee kindly. But thou liest in thy
throat. That is not the matter I challenge thee for.”
FABIAN
Very brief, and to exceeding good sense—less.
SIR TOBY BELCH
[reads] “I will waylay thee going home, where if it be
thy chance to kill me—”
FABIAN
Good.
SIR TOBY BELCH
[reads] “Thou killest me like a rogue and a villain.”
FABIAN
Still you keep o’ the windy side of the law. Good.

DUTCH:
Gij houdt u altijd beneden ‘s winds van de wet, goed.

MORE:
Admire=Marvel
Note=Observation
Keeps=Protects, preserves
Blow of the law=Charges
In thy throat=Deeply
On the windy side (see also Much Ado about Nothing, 2.1, “on the windy side of care”) =
according to the OED, to be situated downwind and not ‘scented’.
On the windy side of the law=(Just) upwind
Compleat:
To admire=Zich verwonderen, met verwondering ingenomen zyn, zich vergaapen, groot achten
Keep=Houden, bewaaren, behouden
Windward=Tegenwindsch

Topics: language, law/legal, clarity/precision

Tedious and brief? That is hot ice and wondrous strange snow.

PLAY: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Theseus
CONTEXT:
THESEUS
[Reads]“The battle with the Centaurs, to be sung
By an Athenian eunuch to the harp.”
We’ll none of that. That have I told my love,
In glory of my kinsman Hercules.
“The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals,
Tearing the Thracian singer in their rage.”
That is an old device, and it was played
When I from Thebes came last a conqueror.
“The thrice three Muses mourning for the death
Of learning, late deceased in beggary.”
That is some satire, keen and critical,
Not sorting with a nuptial ceremony.
“A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus
And his love Thisbe. Very tragical mirth.”
“Merry” and “tragical?” “Tedious” and “brief?”
That is hot ice and wondrous strange snow.
How shall we find the concord of this discord?

DUTCH:
Een treurspel en een klucht? kort en gerekt?
Dat klinkt als gloeiend ijs en heete sneeuw.
Wie wijst mij de eenheid van die tweeheid aan?

MORE:
Proverb: He that lives with the muses shall die in the straw (Learning ever dies in beggary)

The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals=The murder of Orpheus
Device=Show
Thrice-three=Nine
Sorting with=Befitting
Compleat:
Bacchanals=’t Feest van Bacchus, een slempfeest
Tipsy=Verbuysd

Burgersdijk notes:
Hercules. Hercules was zelf de held in den strijd met de Kentauren. — De zanger van Thracië is Orpheus. Men heeft vermoed, dat De negen Muzen enz. zou doelen op een gedicht van Spenser, The Teares of the Muses (1591), waarin de Muzen achtereenvolgens optreden om over het verval en de geringschatting van kunsten en wetenschappen te klagen. Ht gedicht is echter elegisch en niet een streng bijtende satyre.

Topics: proverbs and idioms, language, clarity/precision, learning/education

That is some satire, keen and critical

PLAY: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Theseus
CONTEXT:
THESEUS
“The battle with the Centaurs, to be sung
By an Athenian eunuch to the harp.”
We’ll none of that. That have I told my love,
In glory of my kinsman Hercules.
“The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals,
Tearing the Thracian singer in their rage.”
That is an old device, and it was played
When I from Thebes came last a conqueror.
“The thrice three Muses mourning for the death
Of learning, late deceased in beggary.”
That is some satire, keen and critical,
Not sorting with a nuptial ceremony.
“A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus
And his love Thisbe. Very tragical mirth.”
“Merry” and “tragical?” “Tedious” and “brief?”
That is hot ice and wondrous strange snow.
How shall we find the concord of this discord?

DUTCH:
Dat is een strenge, bijtende satyre,
Volstrekt niet passend op een bruiloftsfeest.

MORE:
Proverb: He that lives with the muses shall die in the straw (Learning ever dies in beggary)

The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals=The murder of Orpheus
Device=Show
Thrice-three=Nine
Sorting with=Befitting
Compleat:
Bacchanals=’t Feest van Bacchus, een slempfeest
Tipsy=Verbuysd

Topics: proverbs and idioms, language, clarity/precision, learning/education

There’s no composition in this news that gives them credit

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Duke
CONTEXT:
DUKE
There’s no composition in this news
That gives them credit.
FIRST SENATOR
Indeed, they are disproportioned.
My letters say a hundred and seven galleys.
DUKE
And mine a hundred and forty.
SECOND SENATOR
And mine, two hundred.
But though they jump not on a just account—
As in these cases, where the aim reports
‘Tis oft with difference—yet do they all confirm
A Turkish fleet, and bearing up to Cyprus.
DUKE
Nay, it is possible enough to judgment.
I do not so secure me in the error,
But the main article I do approve
In fearful sense.

DUTCH:
Het nieuws is zeer verschillend in die brieven,
Dus niet betrouwbaar.

MORE:
Composition=Consistency
Credit=Credibility
Disproportioned=Inconsistent
Jump=Agree
Just=Exact
The aim=Conjecture, estimates
Secure=Find false security
Error=Discrepancy
Main article=The main point of the message
Fearful sense=Concerning, worrying
Compleat:
Composition=Bylegging; t’Zamenstelling, toestelling, afmaaking, t’zamenmengsel, vermenging
Credit=Geloof, achting, aanzien, goede naam
Disproportion=Ongelykheid, onevenmaatigheyd, onevenredenheyd
To aim=(Guess) Mikken
To secure=In veyligheyd stellen, in zekerheyd brengen, redden, bergen; in vezekering neemen
Error=Fout, misslag, dwaaling, dooling
Fearful=Vreesachtig, vreeslyk, schroomelyk

Topics: news, security, truth, clarity/precision

Very brief, and to exceeding good sense—less

DUTCH:
Zeer kort, en bovenmatig goed van zin—neloosheid.

Topics: language, law/legal, clarity/precision

We must speak by the card, or equivocation will undo us

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Hamlet
CONTEXT:
How absolute the knave is! We must speak by the card, or equivocation will undo us. By the Lord, Horatio, these three years I have taken a note of it. The age is grown so picked that the toe of the peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier he galls his kibe.—How long hast thou been a grave-maker?

DUTCH:
We moeten ons zeer duidelijk uitdrukken of dubbelzinnigheid zal ons de das omdoen. /
Wat is de man precies ! We moeten wiskundig juist spreken of een dubbelzinnigheid last het ons of leggen.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Absolute=Literal.
Speak by the card=With the utmost preciseness
Age=A generation of men, a particular period of time, as distinguished from others
Picked=Refined, exquisite, fastidious
To gall=To hurt by touching roughly
Kibe= A chap or sore in the heel
Compleat:
Absolute=Volslagen, volstrekt, volkomen, onafhangklyk, onverbonden
To gall=’t Vel afgeschaafd
Kibe=Een Kakhiel, winterhiel

Topics: clarity/precision, language, caution

Who is so gross that cannot see this palpable device?
Yet who so bold but says he sees it not?

PLAY: Richard III
ACT/SCENE: 3.6
SPEAKER: Scrivener
CONTEXT:
SCRIVENER
This is the indictment of the good Lord Hastings,
Which in a set hand fairly is engrossed,
That it may be today read o’er in Paul’s.
And mark how well the sequel hangs together:
Eleven hours I have spent to write it over,
For yesternight by Catesby was it sent me;
The precedent was full as long a-doing,
And yet within these five hours Hastings lived,
Untainted, unexamined, free, at liberty.
Here’s a good world the while. Who is so gross
That cannot see this palpable device?
Yet who so bold but says he sees it not?
Bad is the world, and all will come to naught
When such ill dealing must be seen in thought.

DUTCH:
Wie is zoo stomp,
Dat hij then tastb’ren toeleg niet doorziet,
En wie zoo stout, te zeggen, wat hij ziet?

MORE:
Fairly engrossed=Clearly written
Sequel=Chronology of events
Precedent=Original draft
Untainted=Not accused
Gross=Stupid
Palpable device=Obvious strategy
Seen in thought=Not spoken of
Compleat:
To engross=Te boek stellen, in’t net stellen
Precedent=Voorgaande, voorbeeld
Untainted=Gaaf, onbedurven, onbesmet
Gross=Grof, plomp, onbebouwen
Palpable=Tastelyk, tastbaar
Device=List; uytvindsel, gedichtsel

Topics: clarity/precision, communication, intellect, gullibility

With some excellent jests, fire-new from the mint, you should have banged the youth into dumbness

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Fabian
CONTEXT:
FABIAN
She did show favour to the youth in your sight only to
exasperate you, to awake your dormouse valor, to put
fire in your heart and brimstone in your liver. You
should then have accosted her, and with some excellent
jests, fire-new from the mint, you should have banged
the youth into dumbness. This was looked for at your
hand, and this was balked. The double gilt of this
opportunity you let time wash off, and you are now
sailed into the north of my lady’s opinion, where you
will hang like an icicle on a Dutchman’s beard, unless
you do redeem it by some laudable attempt either of
valour or policy.
SIR ANDREW
An ’t be any way, it must be with valour, for policy I
hate. I had as lief be a Brownist as a politician.

DUTCH:
Gij hadt haar toen moeten aanklampen, en door eenige schitterende kwinkslagen, fonkelnieuw van de munt, den jongen mensch met stomheid moeten slaan.

MORE:
Proverb: New out of the mint

Dormouse=Sleeping, timid
Brimstone=Sulphur (association with hell)
Fire-new=Brand new
Balked=Neglected
North of the opinion=Out of favour, cold disfavour
Dutchman=Sailor, supposedly reference to Arctic explorer Willem Barentsz
Brownist=Member of Puritan sect
Politician=Strategist
Compleat:
Dormouse=Hazelmuis (Hy slaapt als een hazelmuis)
Brimstone=Zwavel, sulfer
Fire-new (brand new)=Vlinder nieuw
To balk=Voorby gaan, daar over heen stappen, zyn woord niet houden, verongelyken, te leur stellen
He balked him not a whit=Hy zweeg niet voor hem, hy bleef hem niet schuldig

Topics: proverbs and idioms, still in use, clarity/precision, language

You are now sailed into the north of my lady’s opinion, where you will hang like an icicle on a Dutchman’s beard

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Fabian
CONTEXT:
FABIAN
She did show favor to the youth in your sight only to
exasperate you, to awake your dormouse valor, to put
fire in your heart and brimstone in your liver. You
should then have accosted her, and with some excellent
jests, fire-new from the mint, you should have banged
the youth into dumbness. This was looked for at your
hand, and this was balked. The double gilt of this
opportunity you let time wash off, and you are now
sailed into the north of my lady’s opinion, where you
will hang like an icicle on a Dutchman’s beard, unless
you do redeem it by some laudable attempt either of
valor or policy.
SIR ANDREW
An ’t be any way, it must be with valor, for policy I
hate. I had as lief be a Brownist as a politician.

DUTCH:
(…) gij liet het dubbel verguldsel dezer gelegenheid door den tijd afwasschen; en thans zijt gij in de goede meening van de jonkvrouw geheel naar het noorden verzeild, waar gij zult blijven hangen als een ijskegel in den baard van een Hollander, tenzij gij het weer goed maakt door de een of andere lofwaardige onderneming, of van uw dapperheid, of van uw staatkunde.

MORE:
Proverb: New out of the mint

Topics: proverbs and idioms, still in use, clarity/precision, language