CJTranslations - still in use

QUOTES BY TOPIC

[B]ut man, proud man, Drest in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he’s most assured,

PLAY: Measure for Measure ACT/SCENE: 2.2 SPEAKER: Isabella CONTEXT: Merciful Heaven,
Thou rather with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt
Split’st the unwedgeable and gnarled oak
Than the soft myrtle: but man, proud man,
Drest in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he’s most assured,
His glassy essence, like an angry ape,
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As make the angels weep; who, with our spleens,
Would all themselves laugh mortal DUTCH: de mensch, de trotsche mensch,
Met korte, nietig kleine macht bekleed,
Het meest vergetend, wat hij ‘t zekerst kent,
Zijn aard van glas, -speelt, als een toornige aap,
Voor ‘t oog des hemels zulke vreemde kluchten,
Dat de eng’len weenen, die, zoo onze luim
Hun eigen waar’, zich sterflijk zouden lachen. MORE: Little brief authority=Short-lived and limited power
Glassy essence is traditionally interpreted as fragile nature, but this is disputed (argument that essence overlaps but extends beyond ‘nature’, quintessence)
Compleat:
Essence=Het weezen, de weezendheyd
“Enough to make the angels weep” is still in use Topics: authority, life, nature, invented or popularised, still in use

A fine volley of words, gentlemen, and quickly shot off

PLAY: The Two Gentlemen of Verona
ACT/SCENE: 2.4
SPEAKER: Silvia
CONTEXT:
VALENTINE
Give him leave, madam; he is a kind of chameleon.
THURIO
That hath more mind to feed on your blood than live in your air.
VALENTINE
You have said, sir.
THURIO
Ay, sir, and done too, for this time.
VALENTINE
I know it well, sir; you always end ere you begin.
SYLVIA
A fine volley of words, gentlemen, and quickly shot off.

DUTCH:
Een fraai geweervuur van woorden, edele heeren; en
wakker losgebrand!

MORE:
Proverb: Saying and doing are two things

Chameleon=Colour-shifting lizard, believed in Sh’s time to live on air
You have said=So you say (you have yet to do)
For this time=For the moment
Compleat:
Chamelion or camelion=Een kamelion [zeker dier]

Topics: language, appearance, proverbs and idioms, still in use

A fool’s bolt is soon shot

PLAY: King Henry V
ACT/SCENE: 3.7
SPEAKER: Orleans
CONTEXT:
CONSTABLE
By my faith, sir, but it is; never anybody saw it but his lackey. ‘Tis a hooded valour, and when it appears, it will bate.
ORLÉANS
Ill will never said well.
CONSTABLE
I will cap that proverb with “There is flattery in friendship.”
ORLÉANS
And I will take up that with “Give the devil his due.”
CONSTABLE
Well placed; there stands your friend for the devil. Have at the very eye of that proverb with “A pox of the devil.”
ORLÉANS
You are the better at proverbs, by how much “A fool’s bolt is soon shot.”
CONSTABLE
You have shot over.
ORLÉANS
‘Tis not the first time you were overshot.

DUTCH:
Gij zijt in spreekwoorden de baas, en waarom? Een
narrenpijl is ras verschoten./
De pijl van een dwaas is spoedig afgeschoten

MORE:

Proverb: Ill will never speaks well (1566)
Proverb: There is flattery in friendship
A series of proverbs in this quote. “Give the devil his due”, “There is flattery in friendship”, “A pox of the devil” and “A fool’s bolt is soon shot”.

A fool’s bolt is soon shot meaning fools act rashly, alluding to bowmen in battle. Good soldiers take aim, foolish soldiers shoot at random.
Lackey (or lacquey)=Footboy, servant
Hooded valour and it will bate=Allusion to falconry; falcons are kept hooded when at rest and when unhooded they ‘bait’ (beat or flap the wings).

Compleat:
Lackey (or footman)=een Lyfknecht, lakey
Hooded=Gekaperd, bekaperd, gekapt
Overshoot=Voorbyschieten.
To overshoot the mark=Het doel voorbyschieten, voorby ‘t merk schieten
I have overshot myself=Ik heb my vergist, het is my ontschooten

Topics: proverbs and idioms, invented or popularised, still in use, haste, caution

A little more than kin, a little less than kind

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Hamlet
CONTEXT:
CLAUDIUS
Take thy fair hour, Laertes. Time be thine,
And thy best graces spend it at thy will.—
But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son—
HAMLET
A little more than kin and less than kind.

DUTCH:
Wat meer dan neef, doch niet in ‘t minst uw zoon /
Iets meer dan bloed – en minder geestverwant.

MORE:
Kin = kindred, family
Kind = generous AND nature, class.
Hamlet’s first words in the play. Claudius is “more than kin” because he is both uncle and stepfather. “Less than kind” can either be taken at face value or “kind” can be taken to mean both generous and class/breeding/nature.
A similar proverb is said to have existed at that time: “The nearer in kin, the less in kindness”, or the less pithy “The greater the kindred is, the less the kindness must be”.
Compleat:
Kin=Maagschap, verwantschap.
Kind=Soort
Elsewhere ‘kin’ is translated as ‘verwant’ and ‘kind’ as welwillend, with no play on words.

Burgersdijk notes:
Wat meer dan neef, doch niet in ‘t minst uw zoon. Meer dan een neef (daar ik uw stiefzoon ben), maar weinig of geenszins met u van een aard, een natuur (niet als een zoon, die naar zijn vader aardt) . In ‘t Engelsch :A little more titan kin, and less than kind. Kind beteekent niet alleen aard” of ,natuur”, maar ook ,,vriendelijk”. Deze woordspeling liet zich niet teruggeven, maar de zin is in de vertaling opgenomen, daar een zoon gehouden is zijn vader lief te hebbeu, wat Hamlet zijn stiefvader niet doet; hierom: „niet in ‘t minst uw zoon”. De vertaling heeft dit voordeel, dat zij volkomen op ‘s konings zeggen terugslaat.

Topics: marriage, relationship, still in use

A plague on both your houses

PLAY: Romeo and Juliet
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Mercutio
CONTEXT:
I am hurt.
A plague o’ both your houses! I am sped.
Is he gone and hath nothing?

DUTCH:
De pest haal’ beide uw huizen!

MORE:
Sped=done for, finished
Compleat:
Those things are sped=Deeze dingen geschieden, worden uitgevaardigd
REFERENCED IN E&W LAW: Horn & Anor v Phillips & Anor [2003] EWCA Civ 1877 (18 December 2003)
“LORD JUSTICE BROOKE: You are suggesting we should simply say a plague on both your houses: bear your own costs of the hearing below.
MR INFIELD: If I can borrow from Shakespeare, yes, my Lord.”

Topics: still in use, insult

A stage where every man must play a part

PLAY: The Merchant of Venice
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Antonio
CONTEXT:
GRATIANO
You look not well, Signor Antonio.
You have too much respect upon the world.
They lose it that do buy it with much care.
Believe me, you are marvelously changed.
ANTONIO
I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano—
A stage where every man must play a part,
And mine a sad one.

DUTCH:
Gij ziet er niet goed uit, Antonio,
Gij trekt te veel u ‘s werelds zaken aan;
Die daar zijn hart op zet, verliest zijn rust.
Geloof me, uw uitzicht is geheel veranderd.

MORE:
A stage where every man must play a part=Still in use today.
Too much respect upon=Too much regard/concern for the world, worldly care
Marvelously=Extraordinarily, very much
To hold=To consider; to regard; to judge with regard to praise or blame

Topics: emotion and mood, misquoted

All places that the eye of heaven visits Are to a wise man ports and happy havens.

PLAY: Richard II
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: John of Gaunt
CONTEXT:
All places that the eye of heaven visits
Are to a wise man ports and happy havens.
Teach thy necessity to reason thus;
There is no virtue like necessity.
Think not the king did banish thee,
But thou the king. Woe doth the heavier sit,
Where it perceives it is but faintly borne.

DUTCH:
Elk oord, welk ook, waar ‘s hemels oog op neêrblikt,
Is voor den wijze een haven van geluk.

MORE:

Proverb: A wise man may live anywhere
Proverb: Make a virtue of necessity
Proverb: Injuries slighted become none at all
Proverb: A wise (valiant) man make every country his own

Topics: virtue, neccessity, wisdom, proverbs and idioms, still in use, sorrow

All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 2.7
SPEAKER: Jaques
CONTEXT:
JAQUES
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.
Then, the whining school-boy with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then, a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden, and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then, the justice,
In fair round belly, with a good capon lined,
With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws, and modern instances,
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

DUTCH:
Heel de wereld is tooneel;
En mannen, vrouwen, allen, enkel spelers.

MORE:
CITED IN IRISH LAW: Ellis v Minister for Justice and Equality & Ors [2019] IESC 30 (15 May 2019)
CITED IN US LAW: Re. the definition of “mewling and puking”: Lett v Texas, 727 SW 2d 367, 371 (Tex. Crim. App. 1987)

“Policies of shutting people away for life or for ages within life, in Shakespeare’s sense, may be appropriate depending on the gravity of the crime”.
Bubble reputation=Empty, pointless reputation. Short-lived fame..
Referred to as The Seven Ages of Man monologue

Reference to the “justice, in fair round belly with good capon lined”: from the North Briton, no. 64: “a justice of peace is a human creature; yet, for half a dozen of chickens, will dispense with the whole dozen of penal statutes. These be the basket-justices…”.

Like furnace=Emitting smoke
Mewling=Feeble crying
Jealous in honour=Quick to feel honour has been slighted
Bubble reputation=Fleeting glory
Pard=Leopard
Pantaloon=Comedy figure of an old man (Italian)
Mere oblivion=Total forgetfulness, mentally blank
Compleat:
Wise saws=Sayings, precepts
Instances=Arguments or examples used in a defence
An old saw (for an old saying)=Een oud zeggen
Furnace=Een oven
Bubble=Waterblaaas, waterbel, beuzeling
Oblivion=Vergeeting, vergeetenheid
Pantaloon=Een Hans=worst, een gek

Burgersdijk notes:
Heel de wereld is tooneel enz. In Sh.’s schouwburg, de Globe, was de spreuk van Petronius (die onder keizer Nero leefde) te lezen: Totus mundus agit histrionem. De gedachte is meermalen uitgesproken, vroeger ook reeds door Sh. zelven in “den Koopman van Venetie”, 1. 1. Men herinnert zich ook Vondels:
„De weerelt is een speeltooneel,
Elk speelt zijn rol en krijght zijn deel.”
In zeven levenstrappen. De verdeeling van het leven in zeven bedrijven is reeds zeer oud en wordt aan Hippocrates toegeschreven; zij is in overeenstemming met het aantal planeten (zon, maan en vijf planeten).
En net geknipten baard. Van de snede, die den rechter past, in tegenstelling met den wilden, niet gekorten krijgsmansbaard.

Topics: still in use, cited in law, life, age/experience, invented or popularised

All things that are,
Are with more spirit chased than enjoyed

PLAY: The Merchant of Venice
ACT/SCENE: 2.6
SPEAKER: Gratiano
CONTEXT:
GRATIANO
That ever holds. Who riseth from a feast
With that keen appetite that he sits down?
Where is the horse that doth untread again
His tedious measures with the unbated fire
That he did pace them first? All things that are,
Are with more spirit chased than enjoyed.
How like a younger or a prodigal
The scarfèd bark puts from her native bay,
Hugged and embraced by the strumpet wind!
How like the prodigal doth she return,
With overweathered ribs and ragged sails
Lean, rent, and beggared by the strumpet wind!

DUTCH:
Ja, dat gaat door: wie staat ooit van een feest
Met zooveel eetlust op, als hij ging zitten?
Waar is het paard, dat op zijn lange baan
Terugdraaft met hetzelfde ondoofb’re vuur,
Waarmee het steig’rend wegstoof? Ieder ding
Wordt met meer vuur begeerd dan wel genoten.

MORE:
Current use e.g. The chase is better than the catch.
Untread=retrace (a path, steps)
Unbated=unabated, undimished
Younger=Younger son
Scarfèd=Bedecked, decorated with streamers
Bark (or barque)=Ship
Compleat:
Scarf=Een sluyer
Bark=Scheepje

Topics: emotion and mood, misquoted

An ill-favoured thing, sir, but mine own

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 5.4
SPEAKER: Touchstone
CONTEXT:
TOUCHSTONE
God ‘ield you, sir. I desire you of the like. I press in
here, sir, amongst the rest of the country copulatives,
to swear and to forswear, according as marriage binds
and blood breaks. A poor virgin, sir, an ill-favoured
thing, sir, but mine own. A poor humour of mine, sir, to
take that that no man else will. Rich honesty dwells
like a miser, sir, in a poor house, as your pearl in
your foul oyster.
DUKE SENIOR
By my faith, he is very swift and sententious.
TOUCHSTONE
According to the fool’s bolt, sir, and such dulcet diseases.

DUTCH:
[E]en arm maagdeken, heer, een leelijk schepseltjen, heer, maar van mij.

MORE:
Proverb: A fool’s bolt is soon shot (c. 1225)

God yield you=God bless you
Copulatives=Marrying couples
Swear=Take an oath (of innocence)
Forswear=Break one’s oath
Compleat:
Copulative=Samenvoegend
To swear=Zweeren, beëedigen
To forswear a thing=Zweeren dat iets zo niet is

Burgersdijk notes:
Naar den aard van de stompscherpe narrepijlen. According to the fool’s bolt. Een bolt was van een ronden knobbel aan het eind voorzien. Het antwoord van den nar ziet op het compliment van den hertog: he is very quick; „hij is zeer vlug, zeer gevat.” Men mag er het spreekwoord: A fool’s bolt is soon shot, K. Hendrik V , III. 7. 132 , mee in verband brengen.

Topics: still in use, proverbs and idioms, value, poverty and wealth

And that would set my teeth nothing an edge.

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 1
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Hotspur
CONTEXT:
GLENDOWER
I can speak English, lord, as well as you,
For I was trained up in the English court,
Where being but young I framèd to the harp
Many an English ditty lovely well
And gave the tongue a helpful ornament—
A virtue that was never seen in you
HOTSPUR
Marry,
And I am glad of it with all my heart:
I had rather be a kitten and cry “mew”
Than one of these same meter balladmongers.
I had rather hear a brazen can’stick turned,
Or a dry wheel grate on the axletree,
And that would set my teeth nothing an edge,
Nothing so much as mincing poetry.
Tis like the forced gait of a shuffling nag.

DUTCH:
k Wil liever koop’ren luchters hooren draaien,
Of ongesmeerde wagenraadren knarsen;
Daar klemde ik zoo mijn tanden niet van saâm,
Als van die lisp’lend zoete poëzie;
Die is me, als ’t draven van een stijven knol.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Can’stick=candlestick
Axle-tree=Piece of timber on which the wheel turns
Mincing=Affectation
Virtue= Accomplishment
Compleat:
Mincing=Een trappelende gang

Topics: proverbs and idioms, invented or popularised, still in use, skill/talent, achievement, learning/education

And the mute wonder lurketh in men’s ears To steal his sweet and honeyed sentences.

PLAY: King Henry V
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Canterbury
CONTEXT:
Turn him to any cause of policy,
The Gordian knot of it he will unloose
Familiar as his garter; that, when he speaks,
The air, a chartered libertine, is still,
And the mute wonder lurketh in men’s ears
To steal his sweet and honeyed sentences;
So that the art and practic part of life
Must be the mistress to this theoric;
Which is a wonder how his Grace should glean it,
Since his addiction was to courses vain,
His companies unlettered, rude, and shallow,

DUTCH:
Waarlijk, als hij spreekt,
Is zelfs de lucht, de vrije woest’ling, stil,
En stom verbazen loert in ieders oor
Om zijner reed’nen honingzeem te buiten

MORE:

Proverb: To cut the Gordian knot

Courses=Habits, way of life, conduct
Chartered=Privileged
Art=Practical skill (the practic part of life)
Theoric=Theory
Gordian knot: Intricate/complex knot. Reference to Gordius (“De knoop doorhakken” also alludes to the Gordian knot.)

Compleat:
The Gordian knot=de Gordiaansche knoop (doorhakken)

Topics: still in use, proverbs and idioms, custom, leadership

And this may help to thicken other proofs that do demonstrate thinly

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Othello
CONTEXT:
IAGO
Nay, this was but his dream.
OTHELLO
But this denoted a foregone conclusion.
IAGO
‘Tis a shrewd doubt, though it be but a dream.
And this may help to thicken other proofs
That do demonstrate thinly.
OTHELLO
I’ll tear her all to pieces!
IAGO
Nay, yet be wise, yet we see nothing done,
She may be honest yet. Tell me but this,
Have you not sometimes seen a handkerchief
Spotted with strawberries in your wife’s hand?

DUTCH:
Maar die toch wijst op een gepleegde daad;
Dit scherpt den argwaan, zij ‘t ook slechts een droom.
– En dienen kan ‘t om gronden te versterken,
Die zwakker zijn.

MORE:

Still in use: A foregone conclusion=a decision made before (‘afore’) evidence is known; or a certainty, an inevitable result. According to David Franklin (in Of Bench & Bard), this was the first occurrence of foregone conclusion.

Foregone=Gone before, previous
Shrewd=Bad, evil, mischievous
Compleat:
Fore-conceived=Vooraf bevat
A fore-conceived=Voor-opgevatte waan, vooroordeel
Fore-deem=Raamen, gissen

Topics: proverbs and idioms, invented or popularised, still in use, suspicion, reason, evidence

Be checked for silence. but never taxed for speech.

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Countess
CONTEXT:
COUNTESS
If the living be enemy to the grief, the excess
makes it soon mortal.
BERTRAM
Madam, I desire your holy wishes.
LAFEW
How understand we that?
COUNTESS
Be thou blest, Bertram ; and succeed thy father
In manners, as in shape! Thy blood and virtue
Contend for empire in thee; and thy goodness
Share with thy birthright ! Love all, trust a few,
Do wrong to none: be able for thine enemy
Rather in power than use, and keep thy friend
Under thy own life’s key: be checked for silence.
But never taxed for speech. What heaven more will
That thee may furnish, and my prayers pluck down,
Fall on thy head! Farewell, my lord;
‘Tis an unseasoned courtier; good my lord,
Advise him.

DUTCH:
Heb allen lief; schenk wein’gen uw vertrouwen;
Doe niemand onrecht; houd uw vijand eer
Door macht dan door haar uiting in bedwang;
Hoed als uw eigen leven dat uws vriends;
Dat men uw zwijgen, nooit uw spreken gispe!

MORE:
Proverb: Blood is inherited but Virtue is achieved
Proverb: Have but few friends though much acquaintance
Proverb: Keep under lock and key
Proverb: Keep well thy friends when thou has gotten them

Mortal=Fatal
Able=Have power to daunt (Be able for thine enemy)
Manners=Conduct
Blood=Inherited nature
Contend=Compete
Empire=Dominance
Rather than in power than in use=By having the power to act rather than acting
Checked=Rebuked
Taxed=Blamed
Furnish=Supply
Compleat:
Able=Sterk, robust
Manners=Zeden, manieren, manierlykheid
Check=Berispen, beteugelen, intoomen, verwyten
To tax (to blame)=Mispryzen, berispen
To furnish=Verschaffen, voorzien, verzorgen, stoffeeren, toetakelen

Topics: caution, trust, proverbs and idioms, still in use

Be collected. No more amazement.
Tell your piteous heart There’s no harm done.

PLAY: The Tempest
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Prospero
CONTEXT:
MIRANDA
If by your art, my dearest father, you have
Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them.
The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch,
But that the sea, mounting to th’ welkin’s cheek,
Dashes the fire out. Oh, I have suffered
With those that I saw suffer. A brave vessel
Who had, no doubt, some noble creature in her
Dashed all to pieces. Oh, the cry did knock
Against my very heart! Poor souls, they perished.
Had I been any god of power, I would
Have sunk the sea within the earth or ere
It should the good ship so have swallowed and
The fraughting souls within her.
PROSPERO
Be collected.
No more amazement. Tell your piteous heart
There’s no harm done.
MIRANDA
Oh, woe the day!
PROSPERO
No harm.
I have done nothing but in care of thee,

DUTCH:
Wees niet ontdaan:
Blijf kalm, en zeg tot uw meewarig hart —
Geen ramp viel voor.

MORE:
There’s no harm done’ still in use today.
By your art=Magic
Welkin=Edge of the sea or sky
Fraughting=Freight, freighted, freighting
Amazement=Terror, horror
Compleat:
Fraught=Bevracht, van “to Freight”
Burgersdijk notes:
O dag van wee! enz. De gewone, overgeleverde tekst luidt: Pros. Tell your piteous heart, There’s no harm done. — Mir. O, woe the day. — Pros. No harm. I have done etc., zoodat Prospero zegt: ,Zeg uw meewarig hart: Geen ramp viel voor” (of: „Geen leed geschiedde”), waarop Miranda, vreemd genoeg na dezen troostgrond, uitroept: „O, dag van wee !” en Prospero herneemt: „Geen ramp (of ,;Geen leed”). Niets deed ik” enz. Veel natuurlijker is het zoo, volgens Elze’s verbetering, Miranda met hare weeklacht haren vader in de reden valt, alvorens deze haar heeft kunnen troosten; zoodra haar vader gezegd heeft: tell your piteous heart , roept zij uit: O woe the day! en op het vertroostend zeggen van haar vader: There ‘s no harm done, vraagt zij verbaasd en verrast: No harm ? waarop Prospero herneemt: I have done nothing etc. Deze gissing van Elze is in de vertaling gevolgd.

Topics: understanding, status, invented or popularised, still in use

Be it known unto all men by these presents

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Rosalind
CONTEXT:
CELIA
Well, the beginning that is dead and buried.
LE BEAU
There comes an old man and his three sons—
CELIA
I could match this beginning with an old tale.
LE BEAU
Three proper young men of excellent growth and presence.
ROSALIND
With bills on their necks: “Be it known unto all men by
these presents.”

DUTCH:
„Allen die dit zien of hooren lezen, saluut !”

MORE:
Standard start to a legal will. “Know all men by these presents” and other legal documents (these presents meaning present writings, these documents presented).

Bills=Legal notices, but specifically wills (Arden)
Compleat:
Bill=Een cedel, geschrift, handschrift, biljet; – een opstel of ontwerp van een wet die in ‘t Parlement gemaakt wordt.
Bill of debt=Een schuldbekentenis, obligatie
Bill of exchange=Een Wisselbrief
Bills of sale=Biljetten van verkoopinge

Topics: law/legal, language, still in use

Be of comfort.
My father’s of a better nature, sir,
Than he appears by speech.

PLAY: The Tempest
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Miranda
CONTEXT:
MIRANDA
Be of comfort.
My father’s of a better nature, sir,
Than he appears by speech. This is unwonted
Which now came from him.
PROSPERO
Thou shalt be free
As mountain winds. But then exactly do
All points of my command.
ARIEL
To th’ syllable.

DUTCH:
Houd goeden moed!
Mijn vader, heer, is zachter van natuur,
Dan nu zijn taal verraadt; wat hij daar zeide,
Is ongewoon in hem.

MORE:
Proverb: As free as the air (wind). Shakespeare refers to this again in AYL (“I must have liberty
Withal, as large a charter as the wind”, 2.7) and Coriolanus (“Be free as is the wind.”, 1.9).
Unwonted=Uncommon, unusual
Compleat:
Ebb=De eb, ebbe; afvlooijen
The lowest ebb of its authority=Genoegzaam haar gezach veloren
My soul hs never ebbed from its constant principles=Myn ziel is nooit van haare grondbeginzels afgeweeken

Topics: language, civility, proverbs and idioms, still in use, free will

Be swift like lightning in the execution

PLAY: Richard II
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: John of Gaunt
CONTEXT:
God in thy good cause make thee prosperous!
Be swift like lightning in the execution;
And let thy blows, doubly redoubled,
Fall like amazing thunder on the casque
Of thy adverse pernicious enemy:
Rouse up thy youthful blood, be valiant and live.

DUTCH:
God geve u voorspoed bij uw goede zaak!
Wees plotsling, als de bliksem, met uw wapen

MORE:

Proverb: As swift as lightning

Casque=Head-piece, helmet
Redoubled=Repeated often
Adverse=On the opposing side (in combat)
Pernicious=Mischievous, malicious, wicked

Compleat:
Redouble=Verdubbelen, herdubbelen
Pernicious=Schadelyk, verderflyk

Topics: haste, proverbs and idioms, still in use

Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny.

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Hamlet
CONTEXT:
If thou dost marry, I’ll give thee this plague for thy dowry. Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny. Get thee to a nunnery,

DUTCH:
Wees zo kuis als ijs, zo zuiver als sneeuw, gij ontgaat toch de laster niet./
Je moogt zoo koud als ijs zijn, zoo puur als sneeuw, je ontkomt niet aan laster /
Wees zoo kuisch als ijs, zoo rein als sneeuw, aan den laster ontsnapt gij niet !

MORE:

‘Nunnery’ is translated as hoerenhuis in one Dutch translation – nunnery was Elizabethan slang for house of prostitution. OED interprets nunnery in Hamlet to have the original meaning (convent).
Compleat:
Nunnery=Vrouwen-klooster

Topics: still in use, honour, reputation

But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve for daws to peck at

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Iago
CONTEXT:
IAGO
O sir, content you.
I follow him to serve my turn upon him.
We cannot all be masters, nor all masters
Cannot be truly followed. You shall mark
Many a duteous and knee-crooking knave
That (doting on his own obsequious bondage)
Wears out his time much like his master’s ass
For naught but provender, and when he’s old, cashiered.
Whip me such honest knaves. Others there are
Who, trimmed in forms and visages of duty,
Keep yet their hearts attending on themselves
And, throwing but shows of service on their lords,
Do well thrive by them. And when they have lined their coats,
Do themselves homage. These fellows have some soul,
And such a one do I profess myself. For, sir,
It is as sure as you are Roderigo,
Were I the Moor, I would not be Iago.
In following him, I follow but myself.
Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty,
But seeming so, for my peculiar end.
For when my outward action doth demonstrate
The native act and figure of my heart
In compliment extern, ’tis not long after
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at. I am not what I am.

DUTCH:
In mijn uitwendig doen of mijn gebaren
Zich toont, dan wil ik fluks daarop mijn hart
Ronddragen op de mouw, opdat er kraaien
Naar pikken; dan ben ik mijzelf niet meer.

MORE:
Proverb: Every man cannot be a master (lord)
Proverb: To wear one’s heart upon one’s sleeve (1604)

Whipping was a cruel punishment. In the days of Henry VIII an Act decreed that vagrants were to be carried to some market town, or other place, and there tied to the end of a cart, naked, and beaten with whips throughout such market-town, or other place, till the body should be bloody by reason of such whipping. The punishment was mitigated in Elizabeth’s reign, to the extent that vagrants need only to be “stripped naked from the middle upwards and whipped till the body should be bloody”

Content you=Don’t worry
Knave=Servant
Cashiered=Dismissed
Peculiar=Private, personal
End=Purpose
Complement extern=External show, form
Daws: Jackdaws
Not what I am=Not what I seem to be
Doting=to be fond, to love to excess
Knee-crooking=Flattering
Obsequious=Zealous, officious, devoted
Wear out=To spend all of, to come to the end of
Provender=Dry food for beasts
Compleat:
Dote upon=Op iets verzot zyn; zyne zinnen zeer op iets gezet hebben
Obsequious=Gehoorzaam, gedienstig
To cashiere=Den zak geeven, afdanken, ontslaan
Jack daw=Een exter of kaauw
Extern=Uitwendig, uiterlyk
End=Voorneemen, oogmerk

Topics: deceit, appearance, invented or popularised, proverbs and idioms, still in use, purpose

But those that understood him smiled at one another and shook their heads. But, for mine own part, it was Greek to me.

PLAY: Julius Caesar
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Casca
CONTEXT:
CASSIUS
Did Cicero say anything?
CASCA
Ay, he spoke Greek.
CASSIUS
To what effect?
CASCA
Nay, an I tell you that, I’ll ne’er look you i’ th’ face again. But those that understood him smiled at one another and shook their heads. But, for mine own part, it was Greek to me. I could tell you more news too. Murellus and Flavius, for pulling scarfs off Caesar’s images, are put to silence. Fare you well. There was more foolery yet, if I could remember it.
CASSIUS
Will you sup with me tonight, Casca?
CASCA
No, I am promised forth.
CASSIUS
Will you dine with me tomorrow?
CASCA
Ay, if I be alive and your mind hold and your dinner worth the eating.

DUTCH:
Maar die hem verstonden, glimlachten
tegen elkaar en schudden het hoofd; maar wat mij aangaat,
voor mij was het Grieksch.

MORE:
Proverb: It is Greek to me

Forth=Elsewhere
Hold=Stays the same
Compleat:
Forth=Uyt, na buyten
Hold on=Aanhouden, volharden

Burgersdijk notes:
Ja, lets in bet Grieksch. Er werd onder de voorname Romeinen zeer veel Grieksch gesproken; hier zou men kunnen vermoeden , dat Cicero het deed, opdat het volk hem niet zou verstaan, doch men behoeft er dit niet achter te zoeken. Casca had het zeker ook kunnen verstaan, als hij er dicht genoeg bij was geweest; wat hij laat volgen: „voor mij was het Grieksch”, is als een spreekwoordelijk gezegde op te vatten voor iets onverstaanbaars.

Topics: langage, understanding, still in use, invented or popularised, proverbs and idioms

By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes

PLAY: Macbeth
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Second Witch
CONTEXT:
By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.
Open, locks,
Whoever knocks.

DUTCH:
t Jeuken van mijn duim zegt mij:
Iets, dat boos is, komt nabij!

MORE:
Cited in Shakespeare’s Legal Maxims (William Lowes Rushton)

Topics: emotion and mood, fate/destiny, still in use

By what rule, sir?
– By a rule as plain as the plain bald pate of Father Time himself

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Dromio of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
By what rule, sir?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Marry, sir, by a rule as plain as the plain bald pate of Father
Time himself.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Let’s hear it.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
There’s no time for a man to recover his hair that grows bald by nature.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
May he not do it by fine and recovery?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Yes, to pay a fine for a periwig, and recover the lost hair of another man.

DUTCH:
Wel, heer, op een grond zoo glad als de gladde kale
kop van Vader Tijd zelf.

MORE:
Proverb: Take time (occasion) by the forelock, for she is bald behind

Father Time, the personification of Time as a more ‘friendly’ version than personification with a scythe or the Grim Reaper.
Plain (1) open, clear, simplet; (2) even, level, smooth
Fine and recovery. In old English law, “fine” meant “an amicable composition or agreement of astute, either actual or fictitious, by leave of the King or his justices”. Fines and Recoveries were used to circumvent the Statute of Entail, which tended to restrict the free transfer of land, by “suffering a feigned recovery” or “levying a fine”. There was a particular appeal for theatre audiences in the farcicality of the process (alluded to by Shakespeare in three plays: The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Comedy
of Errors and Hamlet).
Compleat:
Plain (even, smooth, flat)=Vlak, effen
A plain superficies=Een gelyke oppervlakte
Plain (clear)=Klaar, duidelyk

Topics: proverbs and idioms, time, invented or popularised, still in use, law/legal

Care is no cure, but rather corrosive,
For things that are not to be remedied.

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 1
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Joan la Pucelle
CONTEXT:
JOAN LA PUCELLE
Dismay not, princes, at this accident,
Nor grieve that Rouen is so recovered:
Care is no cure, but rather corrosive,
For things that are not to be remedied.
Let frantic Talbot triumph for a while
And like a peacock sweep along his tail;
We ‘ll pull his plumes and take away his train,
If Dauphin and the rest will be but ruled.
CHARLES
We have been guided by thee hitherto,
And of thy cunning had no diffidence:
One sudden foil shall never breed distrust

DUTCH:
Verlies om ‘t ongeval den moed niet, prinsen,
‘t Bedroeve u niet, dat wij Rouaan verloren;
Want smart om dingen, die onheelbaar zijn,
Is geen arts’nij, maar bijtend, knagend gif.

MORE:
Proverb: Care is no cure
Proverb: Past cure past care

Dismay not=Do not be dismayed
Recovered=Taken back
Frantic=Mad
Train=Followers
Diffidence=Suspicion, mistrust

Compleat:
To dismay=Verslagen maaken, beanstigen
To recover=Weder bekomen, weer krygen, weer opkomen
Frantick=Zinneloos, hersenloos, ylhoofdig
Train (retinue)=rein, stoet, gevolg
Diffidence (distrust)=Wantrouwen

Topics: proverbs and idioms, invented or popularised, still in use, remedy

Celerity is never more admired than by the negligent

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 3.7
SPEAKER: Cleopatra
CONTEXT:
CLEOPATRA
Celerity is never more admired
Than by the negligent.
ANTONY
A good rebuke,
Which might have well becomed the best of men,
To taunt at slackness.—Canidius, we will fight
With him by sea.

DUTCH:
Niemand prijst ooit spoed zoo zeer
Als wie nalatig is.

MORE:
Celerity=Swiftness, alacrity
Admired=Wondered at
Become=Is fitting, suitable, appropriate
Compleat:
Celerity=Snelheid, spoed, haast
Become=Betaamen

Topics: negligence, proverbs and idioms, still in use

Demand me nothing. What you know, you know.

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 5.2
SPEAKER: Iago
CONTEXT:
OTHELLO
I do believe it, and I ask your pardon.
Will you, I pray, demand that demi-devil
body?
IAGO
Demand me nothing. What you know, you know.
From this time forth I never will speak word.
LODOVICO
What, not to pray?
GRATIANO
Torments will ope your lips.
OTHELLO
Well, thou dost best.
LODOVICO
Sir, you shall understand what hath befall’n,
Which, as I think, you know not. Here is a letter
Found in the pocket of the slain Roderigo,
And here another. The one of them imports
The death of Cassio to be undertook
By Roderigo.

DUTCH:
Vraag niets mij meer; gij weet nu, wat gij weet;
Ik spreek van stonden aan geen enkel woord.

MORE:
Proverb: I know what I know (I wot what I wot, though I few words make (1546))

Demand me=Ask me
Torments=Torture
Ope=Open
Compleat:
To demand=Eyschen, vraagen, verzoeken
Torments=Pynen, pynigingen

Topics: secrecy, proverbs and idioms, still in use

Didst thou never hear
That things ill-got had ever bad success?

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 3
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: King Henry VI
CONTEXT:
Full well hath Clifford play’d the orator,
Inferring arguments of mighty force.
But, Clifford, tell me, didst thou never hear
That things ill-got had ever bad success?
And happy always was it for that son
Whose father for his hoarding went to hell?
I’ll leave my son my virtuous deeds behind;
And would my father had left me no more!
For all the rest is held at such a rate
As brings a thousand-fold more care to keep
Than in possession and jot of pleasure.
Ah, cousin York! Would thy best friends did know
How it doth grieve me that thy head is here!

DUTCH:
Schoon toonde Clifford daar zijn redekunst
En voerde gronden aan van groot gewicht.
Maar, Clifford, zeg mij, hebt gij nooit gehoord,
Dat slecht verworven goed steeds slecht gedijt?

MORE:

Proverb: Evil-gotten (ill-gotten) goods never prove well (prosper, endure)
Proverb: Happy is the child whose father goes to the devil

Full well=Very well
Inferring=Adducing
Success=Result
Happy=Fortunate
Rate=Price

Compleat:
Jot=Zier
To hord up=Opstapelen, vergaaren, byeenschraapen

Burgersdijk notes:
II.2.48. Wiens vader om zijn schrapen voer ter helle. Het spreekwoord, waarop hier gezinspeeld wordt, luidt : Happy the child, whose father went to the devil; „Gelukkig het kind, welks vader door den duivel is gehaald!” Als een vader, die op zondige wijze rijk geworden is, sterft, erft de zoon wel het goed, maar heeft voor de zonden niet meer te boeten. Koning Hendrik betwijfelt blijkbaar de juistheid van het spreekwoord.

Topics: proverbs and idioms, invented or popularised, still in use, corruption, fate/destiny

Diseases desperate grown
By desperate appliance are relieved,
Or not at all.

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Claudius
CONTEXT:
This sudden sending him away must seem
Deliberate pause. Diseases desperate grown,
By desperate appliance are relieved,
Or not at all.

DUTCH:
Wanhopige ziekten worden door wanhopige middelen genezen, of in het geheel niet genezen. /
Maar, zooals iemand met een gore ziekte, Bevreesd voor ruchtbaarheid, wij lieten juist De kwaal het merg aantasten.

MORE:
“A desperate disease must have a desperate cure.” Or “Desperate times call for desperate measures.”

Topics: still in use, caution, patience, proverbs and idioms

Double double toil and trouble,
Fire burn and cauldron bubble

PLAY: Macbeth
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Witches
CONTEXT:
Double double toil and trouble, Fire burn and cauldron bubble

DUTCH:
Poken! dubbel, dubbel stoken!
Vuur, gij vonk’len! ketel, smoken!

MORE:
Misquoted as “Bubble bubble, toil and trouble.”

Topics: misc., misquoted, still in use

Every man has his fault, and honesty is his

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Lucullus
CONTEXT:
LUCULLUS
La, la, la, la! ‘nothing doubting,’ says he? Alas,
good lord! a noble gentleman ’tis, if he would not
keep so good a house. Many a time and often I ha’
dined with him, and told him on’t, and come again to
supper to him, of purpose to have him spend less,
and yet he would embrace no counsel, take no warning
by my coming. Every man has his fault, and honesty
is his: I ha’ told him on’t, but I could ne’er get
him from’t.

DUTCH:
Iedereen heeft zijn zwak, en grootmoedigheid
is het zijne; ik heb het hem gezegd, maar
ik kon hem er nooit van afbrengen.

MORE:
Proverb: Every man has (no man is without) his faults

Honesty=Decency, propriety
Of purpose=With the aim of
Embrace=Accept
Counsel=Advice
Compleat:
Honesty=Eerbaarheid, vroomheid
Purpose (design, resolution, project)=Voorneemen, besluit, ontwerp
Embrace=(to receive or embrace an opinion): Een gevoelen omhelzen
Embrace=(to receive or approve of an excuse)=Een verschooning aannemen, voor goed houden
Counsel=Raad, onderrechting

Topics: proverbs and idioms, invented or popularised, still in use, flaw/fault, honesty

Fair is foul, and foul is fair.

PLAY: Macbeth
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Witches
CONTEXT:
Fair is foul, and foul is fair:
Hover through the fog and filthy air.

DUTCH:
Eerlijk is vals en vals is eerlijk/
Eerlijk is vuil en vuil is eerlijk/
Eerlijk is fout en fout is eerlijk/

MORE:
Allusion to the proverb “Fair without but foul within” (c1200). (Macbeth also alludes to the same proverb in Act 1.3: “So foul and fair a day I have not seen.”

Topics: appearance, deceit, proverbs and idioms, still in use

False face must hide what the false heart doth know.

PLAY: Macbeth
ACT/SCENE: 1.7
SPEAKER: Macbeth
CONTEXT:
I am settled, and bend up
Each corporal agent to this terrible feat.
Away, and mock the time with fairest show.
False face must hide what the false heart doth know.

DUTCH:
Een huichelachtig gezicht moet verbergen wat een vals hart weet./
Door ‘t valsch gelaat het valsche hart verheeld!

MORE:
Allusion to the proverb “Fair face foul heart” (1584). Also an earlier form “He that makes the fairest face shall soonest deceive” (c1495)
Still in use today
Schmidt:
Settled=Resolved
Corporal=Bodily
Compleat:
Corporal=Lichaamlyk
To take a corporal oath (which is done by touching with one’s hand some part of the holy Scripture)=Een lyffelyke Eed doen, die geschiedt met het aanraaken van den Bybel.

Topics: deceit, appearance, still in use, offence

Fast bind, fast find;

PLAY: The Merchant of Venice
ACT/SCENE: 2.5
SPEAKER: Shylock
CONTEXT:
SHYLOCK
The patch is kind enough, but a huge feeder,
Snail-slow in profit, and he sleeps by day
More than the wildcat. Drones hive not with me.
Therefore I part with him, and part with him
To one that would have him help to waste
His borrowed purse. Well, Jessica, go in.
Perhaps I will return immediately.
Do as I bid you. Shut doors after you.
Fast bind, fast find.
A proverb never stale in thrifty mind.

DUTCH:
Doe wat ik zeide en sluit de deuren goed;
„Een dichte kast, weert meen’gen gast ;”
Zoo spreekt een elk, die op zijn zaken past.

MORE:
Proverb: fast bind, fast find. (Also: Safe bind, safe find.)
According to the 1917 Dictionary of Proverbs, this Proverb teaches that people being generally ‘loose and perfidious’, it is a great Point of Prudence to be upon our Guard against Treachery and Impositions, in all our Dealings and Transactions, either in Buying, Selling, Borrowing, or Lending, in order to preserve a good Understanding and a lasting Friendship among natural Correspondents

Patch=Fool
Profit=Advancement
Compleat:
To bind=Binden, knoopen, verbinden.
To bind with benefits=Verbinden of verpligten door weldaaden
To bind one by covenant=Iemand door een verdrag verbinden
To bind with an earnest=Verpanden, een koop sluiten met een Gods penning

Topics: emotion and mood, misquoted

For ’tis the sport to have the enginer
Hoist with his own petard.

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 3.4
SPEAKER: Hamlet
CONTEXT:
Let it work,
For ’tis the sport to have the enginer
Hoist with his own petard. And ’t shall go hard,
But I will delve one yard below their mines,
And blow them at the moon.

DUTCH:
t Is wel een pittig spel den werktuigkundige Omhoog te hijschen door zijn eigen springmijn. /
Want ‘t is de kunst om met hun eigen bus Mijnleggers op te blazen.

MORE:
Meaning that a scheme has backfired.
‘Petard’=small explosive device.
‘Enginer’=an engine or bomb (petard) maker, so ‘hoist with his own petard’ means to have a bomb-maker hoist (blasted into the air) by his own bomb.
Compleat:
To blow up with a petard=Met een petard de poort doen opspringen
Petardier=De geen die de petarden aanzet
CITED IN IRISH LAW:
Curran -v- Bank of Ireland Trust Services Ltd and anor [2016] IEHC 565 (05 October 2016) ’13. In a phrase and applying words which can be attributed to Shakespeare in Hamlet: ” He will be hoisted by his own petard” at trial if the deponents for the defendants are found wanting in their obligations under the rules for discovery and the agreement to make discovery.’
CITED IN US LAW:
In the Matter of Establishment lnspection of Stoddard Lumber Company, 627 F.2d 984,989 (9th Cir. 1980);
In the Matter of Vestavia Associates Limited Partnership, 105 Bankr. 680, 681 (M.b.Fla. 1989);
In Re White Motor Corporation, 65 Bankr. 383, 390 (N.D.Ohio 1986);
Brown v. District of Columbia, 638 F.Supp. 1479, 1491 (D.C. 1986).

Topics: cited in law, justice, still in use

For truth is truth
To the end of reckoning.

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Isabella
CONTEXT:
It is not truer he is Angelo
Than this is all as true as it is strange:
Nay, it is ten times true; for truth is truth
To the end of reckoning.

DUTCH:
Niet warer is het, dat hij Angelo,
Dan dat dit alles even waar als vreemd is;
Ja, het is tienmaal waar, want waar is waar,
Als eind van alle reek’ning.

MORE:
Still in use.

Topics: truth, invented or popularised, proverbs and idioms, still in use

For you and I are past our dancing days.

PLAY: Romeo and Juliet
ACT/SCENE: 1.5
SPEAKER: Capulet
CONTEXT:
For you and I are past our dancing days.
How long is ’t now since last yourself and I
Were in a mask?

DUTCH:
Voor u en mij is ‘t dansen wel voorbij; —
Hoe lang zou ‘t zijn, dat gij en ik voor ‘t laatst
Een masker droegen?

MORE:

Topics: age/experience, life, still in use

Full well hath Clifford play’d the orator,
Inferring arguments of mighty force.

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 3
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: King Henry VI
CONTEXT:
KING HENRY VI
Full well hath Clifford play’d the orator,
Inferring arguments of mighty force.
But, Clifford, tell me, didst thou never hear
That things ill-got had ever bad success?
And happy always was it for that son
Whose father for his hoarding went to hell? I
‘ll leave my son my virtuous deeds behind;
And would my father had left me no more!
For all the rest is held at such a rate
As brings a thousand-fold more care to keep
Than in possession and jot of pleasure.
Ah, cousin York!
Would thy best friends did know
How it doth grieve me that thy head is here!

DUTCH:
Schoon toonde ClifTord daar zijn redekunst
En voerde gronden aan van groot gewicht.

MORE:

Proverb: Evil-gotten (ill-gotten) goods never prove well (prosper, endure)
Proverb: Happy is the child whose father goes to the devil

Full well=Very well
Inferring=Adducing
Success=Result
Happy=Fortunate
Rate=Price

Compleat:
Jot=Zier
To hord up=Opstapelen, vergaaren, byeenschraapen

Topics: proverbs and idioms, invented or popularised, still in use, corruption, fate/destiny

Give her no token but stones; for she’s as hard as steel

PLAY: The Two Gentlemen of Verona
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Speed
CONTEXT:
SPEED
Truly, sir, I think you’ll hardly win her.
PROTEUS
Why, couldst thou perceive so much from her?
SPEED
Sir, I could perceive nothing at all from her; no,
not so much as a ducat for delivering your letter:
and being so hard to me that brought your mind, I
fear she’ll prove as hard to you in telling your
mind. Give her no token but stones; for she’s as
hard as steel.

DUTCH:
Geeft haar als liefdepanden enkel steenen, want zij is zoo hard als staal.

MORE:
Proverb: As hard (tough, stiff, strong) as steel

Perceive=Mistake for receive
Ducat=Silver coin
Token=Gift, love-token
Stones=Jewels
Compleat:
Perceive=Bermerking, gewaar worden
Receive=Ontvangen
Token=Teken, getuigenis; een geschenkje dat men iemand tot een gedachtenis geeft
A precious stone=Een edel gesteente

Topics: proverbs and idioms, invented or popularised, still in use

Give me the ocular proof

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Othello
CONTEXT:
OTHELLO
I had been happy if the general camp,
Pioneers and all, had tasted her sweet body,
So I had nothing known. Oh, now forever
Farewell the tranquil mind! Farewell content!
Farewell the plumèd troops and the big wars
That makes ambition virtue! Oh, farewell!
Farewell the neighing steed and the shrill trump,
The spirit-stirring drum, th’ ear-piercing fife,
The royal banner, and all quality,
Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war!
And O you mortal engines, whose rude throats
The immortal Jove’s dead clamours counterfeit,
Farewell! Othello’s occupation’s gone.
IAGO
Is ’t possible, my lord?
OTHELLO
Villain, be sure thou prove my love a whore,
Be sure of it. Give me the ocular proof
Or by the worth of mine eternal soul
Thou hadst been better have been born a dog
Than answer my waked wrath!
IAGO
Is ’t come to this?
OTHELLO
Make me to see ’t, or at the least so prove it
That the probation bear no hinge nor loop
To hang a doubt on, or woe upon thy life!

DUTCH:
Bewijs mij, schurk, dat die ik min, hoereert;
Bewijs het; laat het mij met de oogen zien,
Of, bij de waarde mijner eeuw’ge ziel,
Het ware u beter hond te zijn geboren,
Dan dat mijn wrok u treff’!

MORE:

Ocular=Depending on the eye, offered by sight: “give me the o. proof”
Waked=Awakened
Compleat:
Ocular=’t Geen tot het oog behoort
An ocular withness=Een ooggetuige
An ocular inspection=Een onderzoek of beschouwing met zyn eige oogen

Topics: invented or popularised, evidence, still in use, anger

Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing

PLAY: The Merchant of Venice
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Bassanio
CONTEXT:
ANTONIO
Farewell. I’ll grow a talker for this gear.
GRATIANO
Thanks, i’ faith, for silence is only commendable
In a neat’s tongue dried and a maid not vendible.
ANTONIO
Is that any thing now?
BASSANIO
Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing, more than
any man in all Venice. His reasons are as two grains of
wheat hid in two bushels of chaff —you shall seek all day
ere you find them, and when you have them they are not
worth the search.

DUTCH:

Gratiano praat oneindig veel, dat niets is

MORE:
CITED IN US LAW:
Crowley Marine Services, Inc. v. National labour Relations Board, 344 U.S. App. D.C. 165; 234 F.3d 1295 (2000): Used by the judge to introduce her dissenting opinion, stating:
“His reasons are as two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff; you shall
seek all day ere you find them, and when you have them, they are not worth the search. …
The court’s per curiam opinion knocks down the modest, but real, requirement that a union requesting information from an employer explain, at the time of its request, the relevance, or at least potential relevance, of information not ordinarily pertinent to its role as bargaining representative…’
Kneale v. Kneale, 67 So. 2d 233, 234 (Fla., 1953).

You speak an infinite deal of nothing: still in use today.

Topics: emotion and mood, misquoted

Happy man be his dole! He that runs fastest gets the ring.

PLAY: The Taming of the Shrew
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Hortensio
CONTEXT:
GREMIO
I cannot tell. But I had as lief take her dowry with
this condition: to be whipped at the high cross every
morning.
HORTENSIO
Faith, as you say, there’s small choice in rotten
apples. But come, since this bar in law makes us
friends, it shall be so far forth friendly maintained
till by helping Baptista’s eldest daughter to a husband
we set his youngest free for a husband, and then have to
’t afresh. Sweet Bianca! Happy man be his dole! He that
runs fastest gets the ring. How say you, Signior
Gremio?
GREMIO
I am agreed, and would I had given him the best horse
in Padua to begin his wooing that would thoroughly woo
her, wed her, and bed her, and rid the house of her!
Come on.

DUTCH:
Die ‘t gelukkigst is, brengt de bruid thuis. Wie ‘t beste paard berijdt, steekt den ring.

MORE:
Proverb: There is a small choice in rotten apples (1594)
Proverb: Happy man happy dole (be his dole)
Proverb: He that hops best (runs fases) gets the ring

As lief=As happily
Bar in law=Legal obstacle
Afresh=Anew
Compleat:
I had as lief=Ik wilde al zo lief
Bar=Een dwarsboom, draaiboom, sluytboom, boom, hinderpaal, diefeyzer, traali, beletsel

Topics: proverbs and idioms, invented or popularised, still in use, rivalry, friendship

He cannot but with measure fit the honours which we devise him

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Cominius
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
Worthy man!
FIRST SENATOR
He cannot but with measure fit the honours
Which we devise him.
COMINIUS
Our spoils he kick’d at,
And look’d upon things precious as they were
The common muck of the world: he covets less
Than misery itself would give; rewards
His deeds with doing them, and is content
To spend the time to end it.
MENENIUS
He’s right noble:
Let him be call’d for.
FIRST SENATOR
Call Coriolanus.

DUTCH:
Onzen buit verstiet hij;
Op kostb’re schatten zag hij neer, als waren
Zij drek en afval., Zijn verlangst is minder,
Dan de armoe zelf zou geven; zijner daden
Belooning is hem ‘t doen; hij is voldaan,
Is zoo zijn tijd besteed

MORE:
Proverb: Muck of the world
Proverb: Virtue is its own reward

Cannot but=Cannot fail to
With measure fit=Measure up to
Misery=Penury
Compleat:
He cannot but know=Hy kan niet anders dan weeeten; hy moet het weeten, hy zal zekerlyk weten
Misery=Elende, armoede

Topics: work, satisfaction, honour, proverbs and idioms, still in use, value

He that of greatest works is finisher oft does them by the weakest minister

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Helen
CONTEXT:
HELEN
What I can do can do no hurt to try,
Since you set up your rest ‘gainst remedy.
He that of greatest works is finisher
Oft does them by the weakest minister:
So holy writ in babes hath judgment shown,
When judges have been babes; great floods have flown
From simple sources, and great seas have dried
When miracles have by the greatest been denied.
Oft expectation fails and most oft there
Where most it promises, and oft it hits
Where hope is coldest and despair most fits.
KING
I must not hear thee; fare thee well, kind maid;
Thy pains not used must by thyself be paid:
Proffers not took reap thanks for their reward.

DUTCH:
Brengt wat ik kan, geen baat, het schaadt ook niet,
Daar ge elke hoop in u hebt uitgewied.

MORE:
To set up one’s rest=To have fully made up one’s mind, to be resolved, stake everything (taken from gambling, where the rest was a large sum wagered by a very confident player)
Flown=Flowed
Hits=Hits the mark
Pains=Efforts
Proffers not took=Offers not taken up
To fit=To be fitting, appropriate: “oft it hits where hope is coldest and despair most fits”
Hope is coldest=Most hopeless
Hear=Listen to
Pains=Efforts
Proffers=Offers
Took=Accepted
Compleat:
To flow=Vloeijen, vlieten
To hit the mark=Het wit treffen
To fit=Passen, pas maaken, gereed maaken, voegen
You must fit your humour to it=Gy moet ‘er uw humeur toe schikken
To hear=Hooren, verhooren, toehooren
To take pains=Moeite doen, arbeid aanwenden
Proffer=Aanbieding

Topics: still in use, invented or popularised, achievement, hope/optimism

His reasons are as two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff

DUTCH:
Zijn verstandige gedachten zijn als twee tarwekorrels in twee schepels kaf; gij kunt er den geheelen dag naar zoeken, eer gij ze vindt.

MORE:
CITED IN US LAW:
Crowley Marine Services, Inc. v. National labour Relations Board, 344 U.S. App. D.C. 165; 234 F.3d 1295 (2000);
Kneale v. Kneale, 67 So. 2d 233, 234 (Fla., 1953).

His reasons are as two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff=Ill-reasoned argument.

Topics: emotion and mood, misquoted

How quickly nature falls into revolt When gold becomes her object!

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: King
CONTEXT:
The Prince hath ta’en it hence. Go seek him out.
Is he so hasty that he doth suppose my sleep my death?
Find him, my Lord of Warwick. Chide him hither.
This part of his conjoins with my disease
And helps to end me. See, sons, what things you are,
How quickly nature falls into revolt
When gold becomes her object!
For this the foolish overcareful fathers
Have broke their sleep with thoughts,
Their brains with care, their bones with industry.
For this they have engrossèd and piled up
The canker’d heaps of strange-achievèd gold.
For this they have been thoughtful to invest
Their sons with arts and martial exercises—
When, like the bee, tolling from every flower
The virtuous sweets,
Our thighs packed with wax, our mouths with honey,
We bring it to the hive and, like the bees,
Are murdered for our pains. This bitter taste
Yield his engrossments to the ending father.

DUTCH:
Ziet, zoons, wat wezens zijt gij! Met welk een spoed vervalt natuur tot opstand, Als goud haar doelwit wordt!/
Hoe snel komt de mens in opstand, wanneer het goud zijn doel wordt?

MORE:

Part=Action
Thoughtful=Heedful
Engrossèd=Gathered together
Cankered=Corroded
Strange-achieved=Gained abroad; by devious means
Tolling=Collecting
Engrossment=Accumulation

Compleat:
Part=Plicht, post
To engross=Te boek stellen, in’t net stellen’ opkoopen, na zich neemen
Strange (foreign)=Vreemd, uitheemsch

Topics: still in use

How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is
To have a thankless child!

PLAY: King Lear
ACT/SCENE: 1.4
SPEAKER: King Lear
CONTEXT:
A babe to honor her. If she must teem,
Create her child of spleen, that it may live
And be a thwart disnatured torment to her.
Let it stamp wrinkles in her brow of youth,
With cadent tears fret channels in her cheeks,
Turn all her mother’s pains and benefits
To laughter and contempt, that she may feel—
That she may feel
How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is
To have a thankless child.—Away, away!

DUTCH:
Hoe scherper dan een slangentand is het om een ondankbaar kind te hebben!

MORE:
Phrase “Sharper than a serpent’s tooth” said to be invented by Shakespeare. It has even been used as a title for an episode of Star Trek.
CITED IN US LAW:
Mileski v. Locker, 14 Misc.2d 252,257, 178 N.Y.S.2d 911, 917 (N.Y.Civ.Ct. 1958)(Pette, J.); Maas v. Maas, 29 Md. App. 521, 349 A.2d 6.55 (1975).
Schmidt:
Compleat:

Topics: still in use, ingratitude, revenge

I am but mad north-north-west.

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Hamlet
CONTEXT:
GUILDENSTERN
There are the players.
HAMLET
Gentlemen, you are welcome to Elsinore. Your hands, come then. Th’ appurtenance of welcome is fashion and ceremony. Let me comply with you in this garb—lest my extent to the players, which, I tell you, must show fairly outwards, should more appear like entertainment than yours. You are welcome. But my uncle-father and aunt-mother are deceived.
GUILDENSTERN
In what, my dear lord?
HAMLET
I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw.

DUTCH:
Ik ben alleen gek noordnoordwest; bij zuidelijker winden kan ik een valk van een reiger onderscheiden /
Ik ben alleen bij noord-noordwesten-wind aan ‘t malen; als de wind zuidelijk is, kan ik een valk van een reiger onderkennen .

MORE:
To know a hawk from a handsaw is still in use today. Handsaw was a heron [heronshaw]. Why southerly wind? Because with birds loosed in a southerly wind the hunter would be looking away from the sun and able to distinguish between them.

CITED IN US LAW: Judge Easterbrook Wrote that “the longer the time, the more the language changes. Hamlet says to Guildenstern in Act II, scene 2: ‘I am mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw.’ He means that he is feigning madness, shown because he can tell one bird from another when he wants. (To Shakespeare, a ‘handsaw’ was a heron – also some scholars believe).”
In the matter of Marie Erickson, 815 F.2d 1090, 1092 (7th Cir. 1987) (Easterbrook, J)

Appurtenance of welcome=Greeting etiquette
Comply=Observe the traditions, act appropriately
Garb=Form

Compleat:
Appurtenance=(also Appertinance) Toebehoor, toebehoortigheden
Comply=Involgen, zich voegen, onderwerpen, inschikken
Garb=Gewaad, draft
Having a good garb=Fraai van uytzigt, wel gedaan
Without garb=Ongeschikt

Topics: cited in law, madness, still in use

I have forgiven and forgotten all

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: King
CONTEXT:
KING
We lost a jewel of her; and our esteem
Was made much poorer by it: but your son,
As mad in folly, lacked the sense to know
Her estimation home.
COUNTESS
‘Tis past, my liege;
And I beseech your majesty to make it
Natural rebellion, done i’ the blade of youth;
When oil and fire, too strong for reason’s force,
O’erbears it and burns on.
KING
My honoured lady,
I have forgiven and forgotten all;
Though my revenges were high bent upon him,
And watched the time to shoot.

DUTCH:
Eed’le vrouw,
Vergeven heb ik alles en vergeten,
Hoe straf mijn toorn op hem gespannen waar’,
Den tijd voor ‘t schot bespiedend.

MORE:
Esteem=Worth (own worth)
Estimation=Value
Home=To the full
Make=Consider
Blade=Green shoot, callowness of youth
High bent=Bent to breaking point
Watch the time=Wait patiently
Compleat:
Esteem=Achting, waarde
Estimation=Waardering, schatting
Blade=Blad van een gewas; een Jonker
I have got the bent of his bow=Ik weet wel waar hy heen wil
Watch=Waaken, bespieden
Bent=Buiging, neiging

Topics: value, mercy, revenge, proverbs and idioms, still in use

I have not seen you long: how goes the world?
– It wears, sir, as it grows.

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Poet
CONTEXT:
POET
I have not seen you long: how goes the world?
PAINTER
It wears, sir, as it grows.
POET
Ay, that’s well known:
But what particular rarity? what strange,
Which manifold record not matches? See,
Magic of bounty! all these spirits thy power
Hath conjured to attend. I know the merchant.

DUTCH:
t Is lang sinds ik u zag. ‘Hoe gaat de wereld?

MORE:
Proverb: How goes the world?

Wears as it grows=Diminshing and expanding; Up and down
Bounty=Charity, generosity
Spirits=People
Conjured=Summoned
Compleat:
To wear=Slyten, verslyten
Bounty=Goedertierenheid, mildheid
To conjure=t’Zamenzweeren, bezweeren, bemaanen, nadrukkelyk vermaanen

Topics: proverbs and idioms, invented or popularised, still in use

I will not bandy with thee word for word

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 3
ACT/SCENE: 1.4
SPEAKER: Queen Margaret
CONTEXT:
YORK
O Clifford, but bethink thee once again,
And in thy thought o’errun my former time;
And, if though canst for blushing, view this face,
And bite thy tongue, that slanders him with cowardice
Whose frown hath made thee faint and fly ere this!
CLIFFORD
I will not bandy with thee word for word,
But buckler with thee blows, twice two for one.
QUEEN MARGARET
Hold, valiant Clifford! for a thousand causes
I would prolong awhile the traitor’s life.
Wrath makes him deaf: speak thou, Northumberland.
NORTHUMBERLAND
Hold, Clifford! do not honour him so much
To prick thy finger, though to wound his heart:
What valour were it, when a cur doth grin,
For one to thrust his hand between his teeth,
When he might spurn him with his foot away?
It is war’s prize to take all vantages;
And ten to one is no impeach of valour.

DUTCH:
1k wil niet woord voor woord u wedergeven,
Maar slagen wiss’len tweemaal twee voor een.

MORE:

Idiom: To bite one’s tongue

Bethink thee=Reconsider
Bandy=To beat to and fro (fig. of words, looks); exchange words, squabble
Buckler=Ward off (with a buckler, a sort of shield)
O’errun=Review
Cur=Dog
Grin=Bare his teeth
Vantage=Opportunity
Impeach=Discredit

Compleat:
Bandy=Een bal weer toeslaan; een zaak voor en tegen betwisten
To bethink one’s self=Zich bedenken
To buckle together=Worstelen, schermutselen
Cur=Hond (also Curr)
Vantage=Toegift, toemaat, overmaat, overwigt
To impeach=Betichten, beschuldigen, aanklaagen

Topics: anger, caution, wisdom, proverbs and idioms, still in use, invented or popularised

I will not excuse you. You shall not be excused. Excuses shall not be admitted. There is no excuse shall serve. You shall not be excused.

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Shallow
CONTEXT:
By cock and pie, sir, you shall not away tonight. What, Davy, I say!
FALSTAFF
You must excuse me, Master Robert Shallow.
SHALLOW
I will not excuse you. You shall not be excused. Excuses shall not be admitted. There is no excuse shall serve. You shall not be excused. Why, Davy!

DUTCH:
Ik wil u niet ontschuldigen; gij zult niet ontschuldigd
worden; ontschuldigingen worden niet aangenomen; geen
ontschuldiging helpt u; gij zult niet ontschuldigd worden.
Kom toch, David!

MORE:

Schmidt:
Cock and pie=Mild oaath meaning God and the book
Cock=Corruption or rather disguise of the name of God

Topics: still in use, identity, understanding, independence

If ye should lead her into a fool’s paradise, as they say,
it were a very gross kind of behavior, as they say

PLAY: Romeo and Juliet
ACT/SCENE: 2.4
SPEAKER: Nurse
CONTEXT:
Pray you, sir, a word. And as I told you, my young lady bid me inquire you out. What she bade me say, I will keep to myself. But first let me tell ye, if ye should lead her into a fool’s paradise, as they say, it were a very gross kind of behavior, as they say. For the gentlewoman is young, and therefore, if you should deal double with her, truly it were an ill thing to be offered to any gentlewoman, and very weak dealing.

DUTCH:
(A)ls gij haar om den tuin wilt leiden, om zoo te zeggen, dat
het een heel leelijke manier van doen zou wezen, om zoo te zeggen,

MORE:
To live in a fool’s paradise: Idiom=in a state of happiness based on a delusion. (Phrase already in use in 1400s before it became popular after inclusion in R&J)

Topics: invented or popularised, proverbs and idioms, still in use, deceit, manipulation

In my mind’s eye, Horatio.

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Hamlet
CONTEXT:
My father—methinks I see my father.
HORATIO
Where, my lord?
HAMLET
In my mind’s eye, Horatio.

DUTCH:
In mijn geestes oog, Horatio /
In ‘t oog mijns geestes, Horatio

MORE:

“In my mind’s eye” is still in use today, as it was coined by Shakespeare.
However, the idea of a mental creation goes back at least as far as Chaucer in ‘The Man of Law’s Tale’:
“It were with thilke eyen of his mynde, With whiche men seen, after that they been blynde.”

Topics: still in use, invented or popularised, imagination

In the end truth will out.

PLAY: The Merchant of Venice
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Launcelot
CONTEXT:
GOBBO
Alack the day, I know you not, young gentleman. But I
pray you, tell me, is my boy, God rest his soul, alive
or dead?
LAUNCELOT
Do you not know me, Father?
GOBBO
Alack, sir, I am sand-blind. I know you not.
LAUNCELOT
Nay, indeed if you had your eyes, you might fail of
the knowing me. It is a wise father that knows his own
child. Well, old man, I will tell you news of your son.
Give me your blessing. Truth will come to light. Murder
cannot be hid long—a man’s son may, but in the end truth
will out.

DUTCH:
De waarheid komt altijd aan het licht; een moord kan niet lang verborgen blijven, wel de zoon van een vader; maar toch, ten langen leste, komt de waarheid uit.

MORE:
CITED IN US LAW:
Reed v. King, 145 Cal. App.3d 261, 193 Cal. Rptr. 130 (1983)(Blease, J.), concerning the obligation of a house seller to disclose that the house had been the site of a murder: “Truth will come to light; murder cannot be hid long.”;
Retirement Bd. of the Police Retirement Sys. of Kansas City, 652 S.W.2d 874 (Mo., 1983)
Simpson v. Blackburn, 414 S.W.2d 795, 805 (Mo., 1967)
June B. v. Edward L., 69 A.D.2d 612, 614 (N.Y., 1979)
: REFERENCED IN E&W LAW:
Jacques & Anor (t/a C&E Jacques Partnership) v Ensign Contractors Ltd [2009] EWHC 3383 (TCC) (22 December 2009)
‘The case put together by the Referring party relies entirely on ignoring the Contract between the parties…
Paraphrasing Shakespeare, ‘lies cannot be hid long; but at length the truth will out’.’

Proverb: It is a wise child (father) that knows his own father (child)
Truth will come to light/Truth will out invented/popularised by Shakespeare
Compleat:
Wise (learned, skill’d, cunning, whitty)=Wys, geleerd, ervaaren, listig, schrander.
A wise man may be caught by a fool=Een wys man kan door een gek gevangen worden

Topics: emotion and mood, misquoted

In time we hate that which we often fear

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Charmian
CONTEXT:
CLEOPATRA
Thou teachest like a fool the way to lose him.
CHARMIAN
Tempt him not so too far. I wish, forbear.
In time we hate that which we often fear.
CLEOPATRA
I am sick and sullen.
ANTONY
I am sorry to give breathing to my purpose—
CLEOPATRA
Help me away, dear Charmian! I shall fall.
It cannot be thus long. The sides of nature
Will not sustain it.

DUTCH:
Beproef hem niet te zeer; ik zeg, houd maat!
Wat telkens vrees ons wekt, wordt dra gehaat.
Op de duur haten we waar we altijd bang voor waren./
Na verloop van tijd haten we waar we steeds angst voor hebben

MORE:
Tempt=Try, test
Sullen=Depressed
Breathing=Words
Sides of nature=Body, frame
Compleat:
To tempt=Aanvechten, verzoeken, bekooren, bestryden
Sullen=Kribbig, korzel, nors

Topics: patience, caution, proverbs and idioms, still in use

Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand?’

PLAY: Macbeth
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Macbeth
CONTEXT:
Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee:
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.

DUTCH:
Is dit een dolk die ik voor me zie, Het handvat naar mijn hand?/
Is dat een dolk, wat ik daar voor mij zie,
Het hecht mij toegekeerd?

MORE:

Topics: still in use, conscience, guilt

It is a good divine that follows his own instructions

PLAY: The Merchant of Venice
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Portia
CONTEXT:
PORTIA
Good sentences, and well pronounced.
NERISSA
They would be better if well followed.
PORTIA
If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do,
chapels had been churches and poor men’s cottages
princes’ palaces. It is a good divine that follows his
own instructions. I can easier teach twenty what were
good to be done than be one of the twenty to follow mine
own teaching. The brain may devise laws for the blood,
but a hot temper leaps o’er a cold decree. Such a hare
is madness the youth—to skip o’er the meshes of good
counsel the cripple. But this reasoning is not in the
fashion to choose me a husband. O me, the word “choose!”
I may neither choose whom I would nor refuse whom I
dislike—so is the will of a living daughter curbed by
the will of a dead father. Is it not hard, Nerissa, that
I cannot choose one nor refuse none?

DUTCH:
Hij is een goed preeker die zijn eigen voorschriften nakomt /
Het is een goed geestelijke, die zijn eigen voorschriften opvolgt

MORE:
Proverb: Practice what you preach
Divine=Priest
Compleat:
A divine=Een Godgeleerde

Topics: emotion and mood, misquoted

It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

PLAY: Macbeth
ACT/SCENE: 5.5
SPEAKER: Macbeth
CONTEXT:
Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

DUTCH:
Het is een sprookjen,
Verteld, vol galm en drift, door een onnooz’le,
Gansch zonder zin.

MORE:
CITED IN US LAW:
Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America v. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 636 F.2d 464, 469 (D.C.Cir. 1980);
McNeil v. Butz, Secretary of Agriculture, 480 F.2d 314, 323 (4th Cir. 1973)(|Winter, J): In a due process case the court writes that “without the right of confrontation, the process provided by the government here is mere sound and fury signifying nothing.”;
Action for Children’s Television v. Federal Communications Commission, 821 F.2d 741, 747 (D.C.Cir. 1987);
Jenkins v. Tatem, 795 F.2d 112, 113 (D.C.Cir. 1986);
Schering Corporation v. Vitarine Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 124 F.R.D. 580, 587 (D.N.J. 1989);
Bell v. Busse, 633 F.Supp. 628, 632 (S.D.Ohio 1986);
Cebula v. General Electric Company, 614 F.Supp. 260, 265 (N.D.Ill. 1985)(Aspen, J.): In disparaging the plaintiff’ s statistical evidence, the court writes, “the so-called statistical evidence … is filled with sound and fury…”;
Hoffman-LaRoche, Inc. v. Campbell, 512 So.2d 72.5, 729 Ala. 1987);
Arnold v. Parry, 173 Ind. App. 300, 363 N.E.2d 1055, 1061 (1977);
Claybrooks v. State, 36 Md. A,pp. 295,374 A.2d 365 (1977);
State v. Schweikert, 39 Ohio St.3d 603,604,529 N.E.2d 1271 (1988).

Topics: life, death, sorrow, cited in law, still in use

It is not nor it cannot come to good,

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Hamlet
CONTEXT:
Within a month,
Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears
Had left the flushing in her gallèd eyes,
She married. O most wicked speed, to post
With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!
It is not nor it cannot come to good,
But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue

DUTCH:
t Is niet en ‘t kan niet leiden tot jets goeds.

MORE:
Nowadays: ‘No good can come of it’ or ‘Nothing good will come of this”.
Unrighteous tears=insincere, false tears.
Galled eyes=Irritated, swollen eyes
Compleat:
To gall=Tergen, verbitteren. Galled=kwaad, vel afgeschaafd, gequeld
Righteous=Gerechtvaardigd

Some Dutch translations:
Eer nog het zout van meest geveinsde tranen Haar rood gezwollen oog verlaten had
Nog voor het zout van haar geveinsde tranen haar roodgewreven ogen had verlaten

Topics: still in use

Jesters do oft prove prophet

PLAY: King Lear
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: Regan
CONTEXT:
ALBANY
That were the most if he should husband you.
REGAN
Jesters do oft prove prophets.
GONERIL
Holla, holla!
That eye that told you so looked but asquint.

DUTCH:
Een dwaas blijkt dikwijls een profeet. /
Spotters zijn vaak profeten.

MORE:
Proverb: Many a true word spoken in jest
Schmidt:
Jester=One who cracks jokes, a scoffer
Compleat:
To husband=To supply with a husband, to marry

Topics: language, proverbs and idioms, still in use

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

Let’s carve him as a dish fit for the gods

PLAY: Julius Caesar
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Brutus
CONTEXT:
BRUTUS
Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius,
To cut the head off and then hack the limbs,
Like wrath in death and envy afterwards,
For Antony is but a limb of Caesar.
Let us be sacrificers but not butchers, Caius.
We all stand up against the spirit of Caesar,
And in the spirit of men there is no blood.
Oh, that we then could come by Caesar’s spirit
And not dismember Caesar! But, alas,
Caesar must bleed for it. And, gentle friends,
Let’s kill him boldly but not wrathfully.
Let’s carve him as a dish fit for the gods,
Not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds.
And let our hearts, as subtle masters do,
Stir up their servants to an act of rage
And after seem to chide ’em. This shall make
Our purpose necessary and not envious,
Which so appearing to the common eyes,
We shall be called purgers, not murderers.
And for Mark Antony, think not of him,
For he can do no more than Caesar’s arm
When Caesar’s head is off.

DUTCH:
Laat ons hem moedig dooden, niet in toorn ;
Laat ons hem off’ren, als een spijs voor goden,

MORE:
Idiom: A dish for the gods
Proverb: A king (prince) loves the treason but hates the traitor

Course=Action (also punning on ‘corse’, meaning corpse)
Head and limbs=Fig., body politic
Envy=Hatred
Subtle=Insidious
Envious=Malicious
Purgers=Healers
Compleat:
To take a course=Een gang gaan
To take bad courses=Quaade gangen gaan
Envy=Nyd, afgunst
Subtle=Listig, loos, sneedig, spitsvindig
Envious=Nydig, afgunstig, wangunstig
Purger=Een zuyveraar, reyniger

Burgersdijk notes:
En later schijnbaar gispen. And after seem to chide ’em . Het woord sluwe meesters, subtle masters, heeft Sh. het woord dienaars in plaats van “handen” doen gebruiken en ook deze woorden doen bezigen. Zoo zal het hart later de daad, die noodzakelijk geacht wordt, betreuren. Dat de gedachte aan huichelarij hier verre moet bljjven, spreekt wel van zelve.

Topics: still in use, invented or popularised, proverbs and idioms

Like a dull actor now, I have forgot my part

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
VIRGILIA
The sorrow that delivers us thus changed
Makes you think so.
CORIOLANUS
Like a dull actor now,
I have forgot my part, and I am out,
Even to a full disgrace. Best of my flesh,
Forgive my tyranny; but do not say
For that ‘Forgive our Romans.’ O, a kiss
Long as my exile, sweet as my revenge!
Now, by the jealous queen of heaven, that kiss
I carried from thee, dear; and my true lip
Hath virgin’d it e’er since. You gods! I prate,
And the most noble mother of the world
Leave unsaluted: sink, my knee, i’ the earth;
VOLUMNIA
O, stand up blest!
Whilst, with no softer cushion than the flint,
I kneel before thee; and unproperly
Show duty, as mistaken all this while
Between the child and parent.

DUTCH:
Als een verbijsterd speler
Ken ik mijn rol niet meer, blijf steken, sta hier
Tot ieders spot.

MORE:
Proverb: Revenge is sweet

Disgrace=A state of being abashed, of being exposed to contempt; discredit
Tyranny=Cruelty
Dull=Not bright, dim, clouded; awkward, stupid
Compleat:
Disgrace (discredit, dishonour or reproach)=Smaadheid, schande, hoon
Tyranny=Geweldenary, tyranny, dwingelandy
Dull=Lui, traag; lomp, ongevoelig
A dull wit=Een dof verstand

Topics: regret, language, revenge, proverbs and idioms, still in use, invented or popularised

Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none: be able for thine enemy rather in power than use

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Countess
CONTEXT:
COUNTESS
If the living be enemy to the grief, the excess
makes it soon mortal.
BERTRAM
Madam, I desire your holy wishes.
LAFEW
How understand we that?
COUNTESS
Be thou blest, Bertram; and succeed thy father
In manners, as in shape! Thy blood and virtue
Contend for empire in thee; and thy goodness
Share with thy birthright ! Love all, trust a few,
Do wrong to none: be able for thine enemy
Rather in power than use, and keep thy friend
Under thy own life’s key: be checked for silence.
But never taxed for speech. What heaven more will
That thee may furnish, and my prayers pluck down,
Fall on thy head! Farewell, my lord;
‘Tis an unseasoned courtier; good my lord,
Advise him.

Topics: caution, trust, proverbs and idioms, still in use, nature

Men in rage strike those that wish them best

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Iago
CONTEXT:
IAGO
Touch me not so near.
I had rather have this tongue cut from my mouth
Than it should do offence to Michael Cassio.
Yet I persuade myself to speak the truth
Shall nothing wrong him. This it is, general:
Montano and myself being in speech,
There comes a fellow crying out for help
And Cassio following him with determined sword
To execute upon him. Sir, this gentleman
Steps in to Cassio and entreats his pause,
Myself the crying fellow did pursue,
Lest by his clamour—as it so fell out—
The town might fall in fright. He, swift of foot,
Outran my purpose, and I returned then rather
For that I heard the clink and fall of swords
And Cassio high in oath, which till tonight
I ne’er might say before. When I came back—
For this was brief— I found them close together
At blow and thrust, even as again they were
When you yourself did part them.
More of this matter cannot I report.
But men are men, the best sometimes forget.
Though Cassio did some little wrong to him,
As men in rage strike those that wish them best,
Yet surely Cassio, I believe, received
From him that fled some strange indignity
Which patience could not pass.
OTHELLO
I know, Iago,
Thy honesty and love doth mince this matter,
Making it light to Cassio. Cassio, I love thee,
But never more be officer of mine.

DUTCH:
Zooals in woede een mensch zijn vriend kan slaan,
Ik houd voor zeker: Cassio ondervond
Van hem, die mij ontkwam, een krenking, dieper
Dan zelfs ‘t Geduld zou dragen.

MORE:
CITED IN US LAW:
Lindros v. Governing Board of the Torrance Unified School District, 9 Cal.3d 524, 540, 510 P.2d 361, 371, 108 Cal. Rptr. 185, 195 (1973)(Torriner, J.)(en banc).

Proverb: To mince the matter (Tell sparingly or by halves)

Forget=Forget themselves
Indignity=Contemptuous injury, insult
Patience=Self-control
Pass=Overlook
Compleat:
Indignity=Smaad
Pass, pass by=Passeren, voorbygaan, overslaan
Mince=Kleyn kappen

Topics: proverbs and idioms, invented or popularised, still in use, cited in law, language, honour, truth, error, anger

Mischief, thou art afoot. Take thou what course thou wilt

PLAY: Julius Caesar
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Antony
CONTEXT:
ANTONY
Moreover, he hath left you all his walks,
His private arbours and new-planted orchards,
On this side Tiber. He hath left them you
And to your heirs forever—common pleasures,
To walk abroad and recreate yourselves.
Here was a Caesar! When comes such another?
FIRST PLEBEIAN
Never, never.—Come, away, away!
We’ll burn his body in the holy place,
And with the brands fire the traitors’ houses.
Take up the body.
SECOND PLEBEIAN
Go fetch fire.
THIRD PLEBEIAN
Pluck down benches.
FOURTH PLEBEIAN
Pluck down forms, windows, anything.
ANTONY
Now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot.
Take thou what course thou wilt!

DUTCH:
Nu werk’ het voort! Verderf, gij zijt op weg;
Neem welken loop gij wilt !

MORE:
Idiom: There’s mischief afoot

Arbour=Garden
Common pleasures=Public recreation
Windows=Shutters
Compleat:
Arbour=Prieeltje
Common=Gemeen

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

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

More matter, with less art.

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Gertrude
CONTEXT:
GERTRUDE
More matter, with less art.
POLONIUS
Madam, I swear I use no art at all.
That he is mad, ’tis true. Tis true, ’tis pity,
And pity ’tis ’tis true—a foolish figure,
But farewell it, for I will use no art.
Mad let us grant him then..

DUTCH:
Meer zaaks met minder woordkunst! /
Zaakrijker, minder kunst /
Meer inhoud, minder franje!

MORE:
More substance, less rhetoric: Response to Polonius’ rhetoric (ironically including ‘brevity is the soul of wit”)

Art= Synonymous to cunning, artifice, craft (Schmidt)

Compleat:
Art (cunning or industry)=Behendigheid, Schranderheid, Naarstigheid
A cunning fellow=Een doortrapte vent, een looze gast
To cast a cunning look=Iemand snaaks aanzien

Topics: proverbs and idioms, invented or popularised, still in use

Murder most foul, as in the best it is.
But this most foul, strange and unnatural.

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 1.5
SPEAKER: Ghost
CONTEXT:
GHOST
Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.
HAMLET
Murder?
GHOST
Murder most foul, as in the best it is.
But this most foul, strange and unnatural.

DUTCH:
Zeer lage moord, genomen op zijn best, Maar hier, zeer laag, vreemd en onnatuurlijk./
Meest lagen moord, en elke moord is laag, Maar deze is laag, barbaarsch en onnatuurlijk.

MORE:
“Murder most foul” has been used for various titles, including a Dylan song, book and a (Marple) film.’Unnatural’ in the sense that it is against both natural and moral laws and he is not the rightful heir to the throne.
Compleat:
A foul copy (a copy full of insertions under erasements)=Een lordige kopy
A foul action=Een slechte daad
To play foul play=Valsch speelen, bedriegelyk speelen
Foul dealing or practices=Kwaade praktyken
Foul means=Kwaade middelen
Never seek that by foul means which thou canst get by fair=Zoekt nooit langs kwaade wegen dat gy langs de goede niet kunt verkrygen

Topics: still in use, invented or popularised

My poor body, madam, requires it: I am driven on by the flesh; and he must needs go that the devil drives

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Clown
CONTEXT:
COUNTESS
Wilt thou needs be a beggar?
CLOWN
I do beg your good will in this case.
COUNTESS
In what case?
CLOWN
In Isbel’s case and mine own. Service is no
heritage: and I think I shall never have the
blessing of God till I have issue o’ my body; for
they say barnes are blessings.
COUNTESS
Tell me thy reason why thou wilt marry.
CLOWN
My poor body, madam, requires it: I am driven on
by the flesh; and he must needs go that the devil
drives.

DUTCH:
Mijn arm lichaam, doorluchte vrouw, verlangt het; ik
word door het vleesch er toe gedreven; en wien de duivel aandrijft, die moet loopen.

MORE:
Proverb: He must needs go that the devil drives
Proverb: Service is no heritage (inheritance)

Issue=Offspring
Compleat:
He must needs go that the devil drives=Hy moet wel loopen die door de duivel gedreven word

Topics: marriage, reason, proverbs and idioms, still in use, invented or popularised, necessity

Neither a borrower nor a lender be

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Polonius
CONTEXT:
Neither a borrower nor a lender be, for loan oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry

DUTCH:
Geen borger zult gij zijn, ook niet een leener /
Leen niet aan en leen niet van; je verliest wat je leent en een vriend.

MORE:
Husbandry=economy, thrift
Compleat:
Borrower=Ontleener, inleener, borger.
Oft-quoted list of maxims in Polonius’ ‘fatherly advice’ monologue to Laertes. Many of these nuggets have acquired proverb status today, although they weren’t invented by Shakespeare (in this case, for example, Who lends to a friend loses double, c1594).
CITED IN US LAW:
Williams v. Public Finance Corporation, 598 F.2d 349, 359 (5th Cir. 1979);
Browner v. District of Columbia, 549 A.2d 1107 (D.C. 1988);
Metropolitan Life lnsurance Company v. Promenade. Towers Mutual Housing Corporation, 84 Md. App. 702, 705,581 A.2d 846, 848 (1990).
CITED IN EU LAW: LOKHIN v. RUSSIA – 47152/06 (Judgment (Merits and Just Satisfaction) : Court (Grand Chamber)) [2016] ECHR 300 (23 March 2016)/[2016] ECHR 300
Judge Motoc: “As Shakespeare said in the words of Hamlet: “Neither a borrower nor a lender be; for loan oft loses both itself and friend”. I find that our Court is in exactly the situation described by Hamlet.”

Topics: wisdom, proverbs and idioms, money, cited in law, still in use

No, I will speak as liberal as the north

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 5.2
SPEAKER: Emilia
CONTEXT:
EMILIA
Oh, heaven! Oh, heavenly powers!
IAGO
Zounds, hold your peace.
EMILIA
‘ Twill out, ’twill out.—I peace?
No, I will speak as liberal as the north.
Let heaven and men and devils, let them all,
All, all cry shame against me, yet I’ll speak.
IAGO
Be wise, and get you home.

DUTCH:
Het moet, het moet er uit; — ik zwijgen? neen, man,
Neen, ik wil spreken, vrij als noordervlagen

MORE:

Liberal=Freely
North=North wind
Compleat:
Liberal=Mild, milddaadig, goedertieren, gulhartig, openhartig
Northerly wind=Een Noordelyke wind

Topics: truth, invented or popularised, proverbs and idioms, still in use

Not a mouse stirring.

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Francisco
CONTEXT:
FRANCISCO
Not a mouse stirring.
BARNARDO
Well, good night.
If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,
The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste.

DUTCH:
Geen muis bewoog zich/
Geen muis verroerde

MORE:
From the poem ‘A visit from St Nicholas’, first published 1823:
Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro’ the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.” (Anon)

Topics: still in use, invented or popularised

O brave new world,
That has such people in’t!

PLAY: The Tempest
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Miranda
CONTEXT:
MIRANDA
O, wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in’t!
PROSPERO
‘Tis new to thee.

DUTCH:
O, wonder!
Wat pracht van scheps’len zie ik daar! Wat is
Het menschdom schoon! O nieuwe, heerlijke aarde,
Die zulke wezens draagt!

MORE:

Use of ‘brave new world’ in Hamlet is ironic to describe drunken sailors staggering off the wreckage of their ship. Use is also ironic in the dystopian novel of the same name by Aldous Huxley (1931), (which quotes from several other Shakespeare plays).

Topics: still in use, proverbs and idioms, invented or popularised

O, woe is me,
T’ have seen what I have seen, see what I see!

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Ophelia
CONTEXT:
Now see that noble and most sovereign reason
Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh;
That unmatched form and feature of blown youth
Blasted with ecstasy. O, woe is me,
T’ have seen what I have seen, see what I see!

DUTCH:
O, wee mij, die gezien heeft wat ik zag, zie wat ik zie! / Wee, wee, o, die Zag wat ik heb gezien, ziet wat ik zie.

MORE:
Woe is me’ wasn’t a Shakespeare invention – there are several instances the Bible (‘woe unto me’ in Job, ‘woe is me’ in Psalms, Isiah and Jeremiah)
Schmidt:
Sovereign= Supreme, paramount, excellent: “That noble and most sovereign reason”
Blasted=Blighted
Ecstasy=Madness
Onions:
Blown=Blossomed (in the full bloom of youth)
Compleat:
Extasy=Verrukking, opgetoogenheid, vertrekking van zinnen
To blast one’s reputation=Iemands goeden naam bezwalken

Topics: still in use, sorrow, madness, still in use

Oft expectation fails, and most oft there where most it promises

DUTCH:
Verwachting faalt niet zelden, ‘t meest, wanneer
Zij ‘t meest belooft; en vaak maakt ze alles goed,
Als hoop, verkild, voor wanhoop wijken moet.

Topics: still in use, invented or popularised, achievement, hope/optimism

Oh, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!

PLAY: Macbeth
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Macbeth
CONTEXT:
MACBETH
Oh, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!
Thou know’st that Banquo, and his Fleance, lives.
LADY MACBETH
But in them nature’s copy’s not eterne.
MACBETH
There’s comfort yet; they are assailable.
Then be thou jocund. Ere the bat hath flown
His cloistered flight, ere to black Hecate’s summons
The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums
hath rung night’s yawning peal, there shall be done
A deed of dreadful note.

DUTCH:
O vrouw, vol schorpioenen is mijn hart

MORE:
“Mis”quoted as “A guilty mind is full of scorpions”
Schmidt:
Assailable=Liable to an attack
Jocund=Gay, lively, brisk
Of note= Any distinction or eminence. With an adjective denoting the particular kind of distinction: i.e. a deed of dreadful note

Topics: guilt, proverbs and idioms, still in use

Omittance is no quittance

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 3.5
SPEAKER: Phoebe
CONTEXT:
PHOEBE
Think not I love him, though I ask for him.
‘Tis but a peevish boy—yet he talks well—
But what care I for words? Yet words do well
When he that speaks them pleases those that hear.
It is a pretty youth—not very pretty—
But sure he’s proud—and yet his pride becomes him.
He’ll make a proper man. The best thing in him
Is his complexion; and faster than his tongue
Did make offence, his eye did heal it up.
He is not very tall—yet for his years he’s tall.
His leg is but so-so—and yet ’tis well.
There was a pretty redness in his lip,
A little riper and more lusty red
Than that mixed in his cheek: ’twas just the difference
Betwixt the constant red and mingled damask.
There be some women, Silvius, had they marked him
In parcels as I did, would have gone near
To fall in love with him; but for my part
I love him not nor hate him not; and yet
I have more cause to hate him than to love him.
For what had he to do to chide at me?
He said mine eyes were black and my hair black
And, now I am remembered, scorned at me.
I marvel why I answered not again.
But that’s all one: omittance is no quittance.
I’ll write to him a very taunting letter,
And thou shalt bear it. Wilt thou, Silvius?

DUTCH:
Doch laat dit wezen; uitstel is geen afstel.
Ik schrijf hem nu een brief, vol spot en hoon;
En gij bezorgt dien, Sylvius, niet waar?

MORE:
“Quod differtur, non aufertur”. [What is deferred is not relinquished.]Found in Heywood’s Proverbs (1546):
“Leave off this ! Be it, (quoth he), fall wee to our food.
But sufferance is no quittans in this daiment.
No, (quoth she), nor misreckning is no payment.
But even reckoning maketh longfrendes; my frend.
For alway owne is owne, at the recknings end.
This reckning once reckned, and dinner once doone,
We three from them twaine, departed very soone. . “
1592 Arden of Fevers, ii. ii Arden escaped us. . . . But forbearance is no acquittance; another time we’ll do it of the claim.”

Peevish=Foolish
Constant=Uniform
Quittance=Discharge from a debt, acquittance: “in any bill, warrant, q. or obligation”
Taunting=Subst. scoff, insulting mockery
Compleat:
Peevish=Kribbig, gemelyk
Quittance=Kwytschelding, kwytingsbrief, quitancie
To cry quitancie (or be even)=Met gelyke munt betaalen
Taunting=Beschimping

Topics: law, /legal, proverbs and idioms, still in use

Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say:
Good night, till it be morrow.

PLAY: Romeo and Juliet
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Juliet
CONTEXT:
JULIET
(…) I would have thee gone.
And yet no further than a wanton’s bird,
That lets it hop a little from his hand
Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves,
And with a silken thread plucks it back again,
So loving-jealous of his liberty.
ROMEO
I would I were thy bird
JULIET
Sweet, so would I.
Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing.
Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.

DUTCH:
Vaarwel, vaarwel! ‘t Verdriet van ‘t afscheid is zo zoet, dat ik ‘t vaarwel herhaal tot d’ochtend ons begroet

MORE:
A wanton=someone spoiled or pampered
Gyves=fetters
Parting is such sweet sorrow is still quoted and embedded in everyday language

Topics: still in use, poverty and wealth

Praising what is lost makes the remembrance dear

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: King
CONTEXT:
LAFEW
This I must say,
But first I beg my pardon, the young lord
Did to his majesty, his mother and his lady
Offence of mighty note; but to himself
The greatest wrong of all. He lost a wife
Whose beauty did astonish the survey
Of richest eyes, whose words all ears took captive,
Whose dear perfection hearts that scorn’d to serve
Humbly call’d mistress.
LAFEW
Praising what is lost
Makes the remembrance dear. Well, call him hither;
We are reconciled, and the first view shall kill
All repetition: let him not ask our pardon;
The nature of his great offence is dead,
And deeper than oblivion we do bury
The incensing relics of it: let him approach,
A stranger, no offender; and inform him
So ’tis our will he should.

DUTCH:
Lofprijzingen van het verleden laten ons verdrinken in dierbare herinneringen./
‘t Verloor’ne hoog te roemen, Maakt ons ‘t herdenken dierbaar.

MORE:
Proverb: Praising what is lost makes the remembrance dear

‘The first view shall kill all repetition’=after the first meeting the past will be forgotten
Incensing relics=Relics that “receive a perfuming with or offering of incense” (OED)
Compleat:
Praising=Pryzing
Remembrance=Gedachtenis, geheugenis

Topics: value, mercy, friendship, proverbs and idioms, still in use

Proffers not took reap thanks for their reward

DUTCH:
Verloren moeite moet zichzelf betalen;
Slechts dank wordt voor versmaden dienst verkregen.

Topics: still in use, invented or popularised, achievement, hope/optimism

Rich honesty dwells like a miser, sir, in a poor house, as your pearl in your foul oyster

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 5.4
SPEAKER: Touchstone
CONTEXT:
DUKE SENIOR
I like him very well.
TOUCHSTONE
God ‘ild you, sir. I desire you of the like. I press in
here, sir, amongst the rest of the country copulatives,
to swear and to forswear, according as marriage binds
and blood breaks. A poor virgin, sir, an ill-favoured
thing, sir, but mine own. A poor humor of mine, sir, to
take that that no man else will. Rich honesty dwells
like a miser, sir, in a poor house, as your pearl in
your foul oyster.
DUKE SENIOR
By my faith, he is very swift and sententious.
TOUCHSTONE
According to the fool’s bolt, sir, and such dulcet
diseases.

DUTCH:
[E]en arm maagdeken, heer, een leelijk schepseltjen, heer, maar van mij.

MORE:
Proverb: A fool’s bolt is soon shot (c. 1225)

Topics: still in use, proverbs and idioms, value, poverty and wealth

Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything

DUTCH:
Gezicht en tanden, smaak en alles kwijt

Topics: still in use, cited in law, life, age/experience, invented or popularised

Since brevity is the soul of wit,
And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,
I will be brief.

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Polonius
CONTEXT:
My liege, and madam, to expostulate
What majesty should be, what duty is,
What day is day, night night, and time is time,
Were nothing but to waste night, day, and time;
Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit,
And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,
I will be brief. Your noble son is mad. . . .

DUTCH:
Beknoptheid is het kenmerk van verstand./
Wijl de ziel van wijsheid kortheid is /
Sinds bondigheid de ziel is van ‘t vernuft

MORE:

If you are quoting this, be aware of the irony that Polonius is a sly and devious blowhard with no self-awareness who says this in the middle of a grand speech!

Proverb: Brevity is the soul of wit

Wit=acumen, keen intelligence.
Soul=quintessence

Compleat:
“Een man van goed verstand”

CITED IN EU LAW: Telefonica SA and Telefonica de Espana v Commission (Advocate General’s Opinion) [2013] EUECJ C-295/12
Opinion of Advocate General Wathelet delivered on 26 September 2013.: ‘It is true that ‘brevity is the soul of wit’ (Shakespeare in Hamlet, 1602), but unlimited jurisdiction requires more than wit’.
CITED IN US LAW:
Louisville and Jefferson County Metropolitan Sewer District v. Simpson, 730 S.W.2d 939, 942 (Ky. 1987)(“Shakespeare described …. This may be true in many situations, hut the majority opinion in this case is not one of them.”);
State v. Eichstedt, 20 Conn. App. 395, 401, 567 A.2d 1237 (1989)(“there must be sufficient
amplification to make an intelligent argument. The briefs fail in this regard.”);
Indiana Alcoholic Beverage Commission v. W-W Associates, Inc., 152 Ind. App. 622,284 N.E.2d
534,536 (1972)(“and while we find no humor in entering judgment against ABC before
its time limit had lapsed within which to answer, we can be brief.”)

Topics: cited in law, proverbs and idioms, still in use, language, madness

Small herbs have grace; great weeds do grow apace

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

So quick bright things come to confusion

PLAY: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Lysander
CONTEXT:
LYSANDER
Or, if there were a sympathy in choice,
War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it,
Making it momentary as a sound,
Swift as a shadow, short as any dream,
Brief as the lightning in the collied night;
That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and Earth,
And ere a man hath power to say “Behold!”
The jaws of darkness do devour it up.
So quick bright things come to confusion.

DUTCH:
Of, was ook ziel met ziel aaneengesmeed,
Dan heeft haar ziekte, krijg of dood belaagd,
Voorbijgaand, vluchtig als een klank gemaakt,
Kort als een droombeeld, ijdel als een schim,
Snel als het weerlicht in koolzwarte nacht

MORE:
Proverb: As swift as lightning

Collied=Coal black
Sympathy=Equality
Spleen=Fit of rage
Quick=Lively, alive
Confusion=Ruin
Compleat:
To colly=Zwart maaken, besmodderen
Collyed=Zwart gemaakt, besmodderd
Sympathy=Onderlinge trek
Spreen=Wrok
Quick=Leevendig, snel, rad, dra, scherp
Bate=Verminderen, afkorten, afslaan
Confusion (ruin)=Verwoesting, bederf, ruine

Topics: proverbs and idioms, equality, still in use, fate/destiny, ruin

Stand not upon the order of your going,
But go at once

PLAY: Macbeth
ACT/SCENE: 3.4
SPEAKER: Lady Macbeth
CONTEXT:
I pray you, speak not. He grows worse and worse.
Question enrages him. At once, good night.
Stand not upon the order of your going,
But go at once

DUTCH:
En staat bij ‘t gaan niet op uw rang, maar gaat.

MORE:
Schmidt:
To stand on=To insist on
The order of= Regular disposition, proper state, settled mode of being or proceeding
Compleat:
To stand (or insist) upon one’s privilege=Op zyne voorrechten staan, dezelven vorderen
To stand upon his reputation=Op zyne eere staan

Topics: order/society, civility, still in use, invented or popularised

Suit the action to the word, the word to the action

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Hamlet
CONTEXT:
Be not too tame neither, but let your own discretion be your tutor. Suit the action to the word, the word to the action, with this special observance that you o’erstep not the modesty of nature.

DUTCH:
Regel je gebaar naar je woord, je woord naar je gebaar /
Laat het gebaar passen bij het woord, het woord bij het gebaar

MORE:
Schmidt:
Tame=Metaphorically, either in a good sense, == free from passion, mild, gentle, meek; or in a bad sense, == heartless, spiritless, insensible, dull
Compleat:
Tame (to humble or conquer)=Vernederen, overwinnen.
Tamely (with submission)=Met onderwerping

Topics: language, civility, caution, still in use

Sweets to the sweet

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Gertrude
CONTEXT:
Sweets to the sweet. Farewell! (scatters flowers)
I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet’s wife. I thought thy bride-bed to have decked, sweet maid, And not have strewed thy grave.

DUTCH:
Dit lieflijks voor de lieflijke. /
De liefste ‘t liefelijkst.

MORE:
Not used to refer to sweets as we do now, but something delightful or charming, here flowers on Ophelia’s grave.
(Also used as a song title by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman (Sweets for my Sweet), first released by the Drifters.)

Topics: still in use

That argues but the shame of your offence. A rotten case abides no handling.

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Westmorland
CONTEXT:
WESTMORELAND
Mowbray, you overween to take it so.
This offer comes from mercy, not from fear.
For, lo, within a ken our army lies,
Upon mine honor, all too confident
To give admittance to a thought of fear.
Our battle is more full of names than yours,
Our men more perfect in the use of arms,
Our armor all as strong, our cause the best.
Then reason will our hearts should be as good.
Say you not then our offer is compelled.
MOWBRAY
Well, by my will, we shall admit no parley.
WESTMORELAND
That argues but the shame of your offence.
A rotten case abides no handling.

DUTCH:
Dit tuigt slechts van de schendigheid uws doens;
Een etterbuil laat geen betasting toe.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Overween=To be arrogant or presumptuous
Within a ken=In sight, within eyeshot
Parley=A conversation or conference tending to come to an agreement
Admit no parley=We will not negotiate
A ken=Boundary of sight

Compleat:
Overwean or overween=Al te veel van zich zelven houden, zich vleijen
Parley=Een gesprek over voorwaarden, onderhandeling, gesprekhouding
Beyond the ken (or keen) of vulgar understanding=Het begrip des gemeenen volks te boven

Topics: evidence, dispute, still in use, proverbs and idioms

That it should come to this

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Hamlet
CONTEXT:
Fie on ’t, ah fie! ‘Tis an unweeded garden
That grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature Possess it merely. That it should come to this.

DUTCH:
Dat het zoo moest komen! /
Dat het daartoe moest komen.

MORE:
Shakespeare’s first use of ‘that it should come to this’. It appears again (in slightly different variations) in several other plays: Julius Caesar (“Has it come to this?); Antony and Cleopatria (“Oh, is ’t come to this?”); Othello (“Is ’t come to this? Well, well.”).

Topics: still in use

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

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

The course of true love never did run smooth

PLAY: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Lysander
CONTEXT:
LYSANDER
How now, my love? Why is your cheek so pale?
How chance the roses there do fade so fast?
HERMIA
Belike for want of rain, which I could well
Beteem them from the tempest of my eyes.
LYSANDER
Ay me! For aught that I could ever read,
Could ever hear by tale or history,
The course of true love never did run smooth.
But either it was different in blood—

DUTCH:
Wee mij; naar alles wat ik las en ooit
Uit sagen of geschiedenis vernam,
Vloot nooit de stroom van ware liefde zacht;
Nu was zij te verschillend door geboort’.

MORE:
Proverb: The course of true love never did run smooth

Belike=Probably
Beteem=Grant, afford
Tempest=Flood of tears
Blood=Birthright
Compleat:
Tempest=Omweer, storm

Topics: wellbeing, sorrow, love, proverbs and idioms, still in use, invented or popularised

The phrase would be more germane to the matter

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 5.2
SPEAKER: Hamlet
CONTEXT:
OSRIC
The carriages, sir, are the hangers.
HAMLET
The phrase would be more germane to the matter if we could carry cannon by our sides. I would it might be hangers till then. But, on: six Barbary horses against six French swords, their assigns, and three liberal-conceited carriages—that’s the French bet against the Danish. Why is this “impawned,” as you call it?

DUTCH:
Het woord zou beter passen bij de zaak, als wij een deur aan den gordel konden dragen; tot het zoover is, wou ik wel, dat het bij hangsels bleef.

MORE:
Nowadays: Germane to the matter/subject/case
Schmidt:
Hangers=Part of the sword belt
Liberal-conceited (or ‘of very liberal conceit’ as in Love’s Labour’s Lost)=Satisfactory to the judgment or the taste
Compleat:
The only translation of Germane is ‘A cousin germane’=Een volle neef
Cannon=Kanon, Veldstuk
Liberal=Mild, milddaadig, goedertieren, gulhartig, openhartig. Conceit=Waan, bevatting, opvatting, meening.
A Pretty conceit=een aardige verbeelding. I am out of conceit with it=Ik laat my daar niet meer aan gelegen zyn, myn zin is ‘er af.

Topics: still in use, language, law/legal

The rest is silence

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 5.2
SPEAKER: Hamlet
CONTEXT:
He has my dying voice.
So tell him, with th’ occurrents, more and less,
Which have solicited. The rest is silence.

DUTCH:

De rest is stilte. /
De rest is zwijgen!

MORE:
Misquoted, in that it is slightly altered to “The rest is science”
Schmidt:
Occurrent=Incident, event
Voice=vote, nomination
Compleat:
Voice=Stem, recht van stemmen

Topics: still in use, misquoted

The sun shines hot; and, if we use delay,
Cold biting winter mars our hop’d-for hay.

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 3
ACT/SCENE: 4.8
SPEAKER: King Edward IV
CONTEXT:
Seize on the shame-faced Henry! Bear him hence:
And once again proclaim us King of England.
You are the fount that makes small brooks to flow:
Now stops thy spring; my sea shall suck them dry,
And swell so much the higher by their ebb.
Hence with him to the Tower! let him not speak.
And, lords, towards Coventry bend we our course,
Where peremptory Warwick now remains:
The sun shines hot; and, if we use delay,
Cold biting winter mars our hop’d-for hay.

DUTCH:
Heet schijnt de zon, verzuim gaav’ licht het hooi,
‘t Gehoopte, aan snerpend winterweer ter prooi.

MORE:

Proverb: Make hay while the sun shines

Another reference to the York family symbol of the sun (see 2.6, ‘gnats to the sun’).
Shamefaced=Ashamed, bashful (also shamefast)
Peremptory=Positive, bold
Hoped-for hay=Anticipated harvest

Compleat:
Shame-faced=Schaamachtig, beschaamd, bloode
Peremptory=Volstrekt, uitvoerig, volkomen, uiteindig

Topics: delay, proverbs and idioms, still in use, achievement, preparation

There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Hamlet
CONTEXT:
HAMLET
Denmark’s a prison.
ROSENCRANTZ
Then is the world one.
HAMLET
A goodly one, in which there are many confines, wards, and dungeons, Denmark being one o’ th’ worst.
ROSENCRANTZ
We think not so, my lord.
HAMLET
Why, then, ’tis none to you, for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. To me it is a prison.
ROSENCRANTZ
Why then, your ambition makes it one. ‘Tis too narrow for your mind.

DUTCH:
Er is geen goed of slecht, maar het denken maakt het ervan/
Niets is op zichzelf goed of kwaad, maar onze gedachten maken het zo./
Er is goed noch kwaad, dat niet door het denken wordt tot stand gebracht.

MORE:
CITED IN US LAW:
Emle Industries, Inc. v. Glen Raven Mills, 478 F.2d 562, 57 (2d Cir. 1973)(Kaufman, J.);
First Wisconsin Mortgage Trust v. First Wisconsin Corporation, 584 F.2d 201, 220 (7th Cir. 1978);
In Re Taylor Coal Company, 401 So.2d 1, 9 (Ala. 1981);
Brown v. District of Columbia Board of Zoning Adjustment, 413 A.2d 1276 (D.C. 1980);
State v. Clinton Falls Nursery Company, 181 Minn. 427, 2.32 N.W.2d 737 (1930).

Topics: cited in law, good and bad, reputation, still in use

There’s small choice in rotten apples

DUTCH:
Ik geef toe, uit rotte appels is het kwaad kiezen.

MORE:
Proverb: There is a small choice in rotten apples (1594)
Proverb: Happy man happy dole (be his dole)
Proverb: He that hops best (runs fases) gets the ring

As lief=As happily
Bar in law=Legal obstacle
Afresh=Anew
Compleat:
I had as lief=Ik wilde al zo lief
Bar=Een dwarsboom, draaiboom, sluytboom, boom, hinderpaal, diefeyzer, traali, beletsel

Topics: proverbs and idioms, invented or popularised, still in use, rivalry, friendship

Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Polonius
CONTEXT:
HAMLET
Slanders, sir. For the satirical rogue says here that old men have gray beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber and plum-tree gum, and that they have a plentiful lack of wit, together with most weak hams—all which, sir, though I most powerfully and potently believe, yet I hold it not honesty to have it thus set down; for yourself, sir, should be old as I am, if like a crab you could go backward.
POLONIUS
(aside) Though this be madness, yet there is method in ’t.—(to HAMLET) Will you walk out of the air, my lord?

DUTCH:
Al is dit waanzin, er zit toch methode in. /
Al is ‘t krankzinnigheid, er zit methode in. /
Al moge dit gekkepraat zijn, toch is er orde in.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Slander= Defamation, calumny
Satirical= full of bitter mockery
Rogue, a term of reproach=rascal, knave
Compleat:
Rogue (or rascal)=Schurk, Schobbejak
The poignancy of a satire=De scherpheid van een schimpdicht
Method in his madness coined by Shakespeare and still in (frequent) use today.

Topics: still in use, proverbs and idioms, madness, purpose

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Hamlet
CONTEXT:
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.

DUTCH:
t Geweten des maakt ieder onzer laf /
Dus maakt bewustzijn bloodaards van ons allen /
Zo maakt bespiegeling lafaards van ons allen

MORE:
The phrases”Conscience does make cowards of us all” and “enterprises of great pith and moment” were both invented by Shakespeare and are still in use today.
Schmidt:
Enterprise= Attempt, undertaking
Pith (also pitch)= Strength, force; at first undertaken with great energy
Moment=Important, of momentous significance
Current (fig.)=flow, action (turn awry=diverted)
Compleat:
Pith==Pit. Pithly=Sterk, krachtig, nnadrukkelyk. A pithy sentence=Een pit-spreuk
Moment=gewicht, belang. Of great moment=Van groot gewicht. Of no moment=Van geen belang.
CITED IN US LAW:
State v. Patterson, 516 S.W.2d 571, 574 (Mo. Ct. App. 1974) (“Despite his protestations of justification the statement, in its entirety and each of its parts taken in context, evinces a consciousness of guilt. As Shakespeare says … The statement was incriminating and admissible”).

Burgersdijk notes:
Zoo maakt het peinzen enz. In ‘t Engelsch: Thus conscience does make etc. Hier wordt conscience gebezigd in den zin van het Latijnsche conscientia, „bewustzijn van zichzelf”, ,denkvermogen”, niet in dien van ,geweten”, veeleer ais consciousness, inmost thoughts.

Topics: still in use, cited in law, proverbs and idioms

Thy honesty and love doth mince this matter

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Othello
CONTEXT:
IAGO
Touch me not so near.
I had rather have this tongue cut from my mouth
Than it should do offence to Michael Cassio.
Yet I persuade myself to speak the truth
Shall nothing wrong him. This it is, general:
Montano and myself being in speech,
There comes a fellow crying out for help
And Cassio following him with determined sword
To execute upon him. Sir, this gentleman
Steps in to Cassio and entreats his pause,
Myself the crying fellow did pursue,
Lest by his clamour—as it so fell out—
The town might fall in fright. He, swift of foot,
Outran my purpose, and I returned then rather
For that I heard the clink and fall of swords
And Cassio high in oath, which till tonight
I ne’er might say before. When I came back—
For this was brief— I found them close together
At blow and thrust, even as again they were
When you yourself did part them.
More of this matter cannot I report.
But men are men, the best sometimes forget.
Though Cassio did some little wrong to him,
As men in rage strike those that wish them best,
Yet surely Cassio, I believe, received
From him that fled some strange indignity
Which patience could not pass.
OTHELLO
I know, Iago,
Thy honesty and love doth mince this matter,
Making it light to Cassio. Cassio, I love thee,
But never more be officer of mine.

DUTCH:
Uw trouw, vriendschapp’lijk hart verkleint de zaak
En Cassio’s schuld. — ‘k Ben u genegen, Cassio;
Doch wees voortaan mijn officier niet meer.

MORE:
CITED IN US LAW:
Lindros v. Governing Board of the Torrance Unified School District, 9 Cal.3d 524, 540, 510 P.2d 361, 371, 108 Cal. Rptr. 185, 195 (1973)(Torriner, J.)(en banc).

Proverb: To mince the matter (Tell sparingly or by halves)

Forget=Forget themselves
Indignity=Contemptuous injury, insult
Patience=Self-control
Pass=Overlook
Compleat:
Indignity=Smaad
Pass, pass by=Passeren, voorbygaan, overslaan
Mince=Kleyn kappen

Topics: proverbs and idioms, invented or popularised, still in use, cited in law, language, honour, truth, error, anger

Tis now the very witching time of night

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Hamlet
CONTEXT:
Tis now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out
Contagion to this world

DUTCH:
Dit is het spookuur /
‘t is nu het echte kolleuur van den nacht /
Nu heeft de nacht haar spookuur ingezet

MORE:
The expression “witching hour” came much later, probably in the 18th century.

Topics: still in use, invented or popularised

To be, or not to be: that is the question.

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Hamlet
CONTEXT:
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?

DUTCH:
Various translations. including:
Te zijn of niet te zijn, dat is de kwestie/
Zijn of niet zijn, daar komt het hier op neêr /
Te zijn of niet te zijn, daar gaat het om/
Zijn of niet zijn; dat is de vraag /
Leven, of niet ?.. .. Dit is het, waar ‘t om gaat

MORE:
Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” soliliquy.
CITED IN EU LAW:
Opinion of A-G Bobek delivered on 7 September 2017(1) in Case C‑298/16.
“To be or not to be within the scope of EU law, that is indeed the question (again)”.
CITED IN US LAW:
Slip Opinion US Supreme Court Ford Motor Co. v. Montana Eighth Judicial District Court et al.
Certiorari to the Supreme Court of Montana No. 19–368. Argued October 7, 2020—Decided March 25, 202: “Really, their strategy was to do business without being seen to do business. Id., at 438 (“No longer is the foreign corporation confronted with the problem ‘to be or not to be’—it can both be and not be!”).”
Wetzel v. Liberty Mutual Ins. Co., 508 F.2d 239, 248 (3d Cir. 1975) cert. denied, 421 U.S. 1011 (1976):
“Whether (b)(2) or not (b)(2) is indeed the question.”

Topics: life, proverbs and idioms, cited in law, still in use

To die, to sleep. To sleep, perchance to dream:
ay, there’s the rub,

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Hamlet
CONTEXT:
To die: to sleep;
No more; and, by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, ’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub

DUTCH:
Doodgaan, gaan slapen, slapen, wie weet dromen… Daar zit de knoop /
Sterven? Slapen! Droomen misschien ? Daar ligt de zorg’lijkheid

MORE:
There’s the rub has seen many different translations over the centuries.
Also from the To be or not to be soliliquy
The rub=the obstacle, reason why a situation is difficult
Compleat:
beletsel, binderpaal
CITED IN US LAW:
In the Matter of Franklin D. Anderson, 132 Bankr. 657, 660 (M.D.Fla. 1991); Yoshisato v. Superior Court of Orange County, 3 Cal. App. 4th 1070 284 Cal. Rptr. 182 (1991);
A.C. lsrael Commodity Co., Inc. v. Banco do Brasil, S.A., 50 Misc.2d 362,365,270 N.Y.S.2d 283,286 (N.Y.Sup.ct. 1966);
Moore v. Regents of the University of Califomia, 51 Cal.3d 120, 150, 793 P.2d
479 (1990)(Arabian, J.).

Burgerdijk notes:
Ja, dit stremt. In ‘t Engelsch: Ay, there’s the rub. “Rub” is een hindernis, een hinderpaal; het woord wordt bij het kegelen gebruikt, als de bal in zijn loop belemmerd wordt .

Topics: still in use, cited in law

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow.

PLAY: Macbeth
ACT/SCENE: 5.5
SPEAKER: Macbeth
CONTEXT:
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing

DUTCH:
Het leven is slechts een wandelende schaduw, een arme speler, die zijn uur op het podium steekt en piekert, en dan niet meer gehoord wordt; het is een verhaal verteld door een idioot, vol geluid en woede, wat niets betekent.

MORE:
5.From Macbeth’s famous soliloquy
This can be broken up into phrases still in use today:
1. To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow
2. Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
3. To the last syllable of recorded time
4. All our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death.
5. Out, out, brief candle!
6. Life’s but a walking shadow
7. A poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more.
8. It is a tale Told by an idiot
9. Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing

Topics: death, invented or popularised, sorrow, still in use

Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.

PLAY: Romeo and Juliet
ACT/SCENE: 2.6
SPEAKER: Friar Lawrence
CONTEXT:
The sweetest honey
Is loathsome in his own deliciousness
And in the taste confounds the appetite.
Therefore love moderately. Long love doth so.
Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.

DUTCH:
Te snel komt even laat aan als te traag./
Te haastig en te traag komt even laat./
Te haastig komt even laat aan als te langzaam.

MORE:
Moderately = in moderation
‘All things in moderation’.
Compleat:
Wine is a good liquor but it must be used moderately=Wyn is een goede drank, maar by moet matigheid gebruikt worden.

Topics: still in use, time, proverbs and idioms, haste

True is it that we have seen better days

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 2.7
SPEAKER: Duke Senior
CONTEXT:
DUKE SENIOR
True is it that we have seen better days
And have with holy bell been knolled to church,
And sat at good men’s feasts and wiped our eyes
Of drops that sacred pity hath engendered.
And therefore sit you down in gentleness,
And take upon command what help we have
That to your wanting may be ministered.
ORLANDO
Then but forbear your food a little while
Whiles, like a doe, I go to find my fawn
And give it food. There is an old poor man
Who after me hath many a weary step
Limped in pure love. Till he be first sufficed,
Oppressed with two weak evils, age and hunger,
I will not touch a bit.

DUTCH:
Waar is het, dat wij beter dagen kenden,
Door heil’ge klokken kerkwaarts zijn genood,

MORE:
Shakespeare is credited with coining the phrase “seen better days” but it had been recorded previously in a play by Sir Thomas More (1590).
The phrase, which at the time referred to those who come on hard times, is still in use although it is now also to describe objects that are past their best.

Knoll=Summon by bells
Gentleness=Gentility; kindness, mild manners
Wanting=Needs
Minister=Administer (medicines), to prescribe, to order
Forbear=Avoid, leave alone
Sufficed=Satisfied
Weak=Debilitating
Compleat:
Forbear=Zich van onthouden
To suffice=Genoeg zyn
Gentle (mild or moderate)=Zagtmoedig, maatig
To knoll bells=(also knowl) De klokken luyden
Genteel (or gallant)=Hoffelyk, wellevend; Genteel (that has a genteel carriage)=Bevallig

Topics: still in use, invented or popularised, wellbeing

Twill be recorded for a precedent,
And many an error by the same example
Will rush into the state.

PLAY: The Merchant of Venice
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Portia
CONTEXT:
BASSANIO
Yes, here I tender it for him in the court—
Yea, twice the sum. If that will not suffice,
I will be bound to pay it ten times o’er,
On forfeit of my hands, my head, my heart.
If this will not suffice, it must appear
That malice bears down truth.—
And I beseech you,
Wrest once the law to your authority.
To do a great right, do a little wrong,
And curb this cruel devil of his will.
PORTIA
It must not be. There is no power in Venice
Can alter a decree establishèd.
‘Twill be recorded for a precedent,
And many an error by the same example
Will rush into the state. It cannot be.

DUTCH:
t Wierd aangehaald als voorbeeld voor ’t vervolg;
En menig misbruik vond, na zulk een voorgang,
Wel ingang in den staat; het mag niet zijn.

MORE:
CITED IN EU LAW:
Regione Siciliana v Commission (Regional policy) [2006] EUECJ C-417/04 (02 May 2006)
The late A-G Ruiz-Jarabo Colomer quoted this, adding the following explanation in a footnote:
“W. Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: reply by Portia, passing herself off as a
young lawyer from Rome, to Shylock’s demand for enforcement of the penalty
provided for in a loan on the ground that the three thousand ducats owed have not
been repaid by the due date; the penalty is that the borrower should surrender a
pound of flesh cut from his chest. Shylock refuses to show any form of mercy.
Bassanio begs Shylock to overlook the literal meaning of the terms of the bond so as
to avoid the cruelty involved in its enforcement.”
CITED IN US LAW:
In re Durrett, 187 Bankr. 413, 418 (N.H., 1995): “This case can be distinguished from the fact pattern before this Court regarding a personal cause of action that did not arise from an interest in property of the estate but rather from an interest literally in the body of the debtor. It is not clear that Congress intended by chapter 11 to give creditors a legal right in that body. Cf. “Merchant of Venice” by William Shakespeare.”
FDIC v. Municipality of Ponce, 708 F. Supp. 464 (1989): “To hold that the Municipality’s guarantee of the loan was not for a public purpose and was in violation of the Puerto Rico constitution would be to throw out decades of economic progress as a result of legislation consistently upheld by the Puerto Rico courts. ‘It must not be; there is no power in Venice that can alter a decree established; ‘Twill be recorded for a precedent, and many an error, by the same example, Will rush into the state; It cannot be.’”
Power, Inc. v. Huntley, 39 Wash. 2d 191, 203 (1951).
Commonwealth v. Pierce, 515 Pa. 153, 172 (1986);
Wright v. State, 707 P.2d 153, 160 (1985);
United States v. Durrive, 902 F.2d 1221, 1225 (1990);
Tatum v. Schering Corp., 523 So. 2d 1042, 1063 (1988).

Topics: emotion and mood, misquoted

Welcome, my lord. I dance attendance here. I think the duke will not be spoke withal.

PLAY: Richard III
ACT/SCENE: 3.7
SPEAKER: Buckingham
CONTEXT:
BUCKINGHAM
Go, go, up to the leads. The Lord Mayor knocks.
Welcome, my lord. I dance attendance here.
I think the duke will not be spoke withal.
Now, Catesby, what says your lord to my request?
CATESBY
He doth entreat your Grace, my noble lord,
To visit him tomorrow or next day.
He is within, with two right reverend fathers,
Divinely bent to meditation,
And in no worldly suits would he be moved
To draw him from his holy exercise.

DUTCH:
Mylord, woes welkom; ja, ik schilder hier;
Licht moog’lijk is de hertog niet te spreken.

MORE:
Proverb: To dance attendance

Dance attendance=Used here to mean waiting for. It was also used to mean waiting on (in an obsequious fashion), dance attendance on someone’s pleasure, which is the more common usage today.
Suits=Affairs, business
Holy exercise=Devotions
Divinely bent=Bowed in prayer
Compleat:
Suit=Een verzoek, rechtsgeding
Exercise=Bezigheyd
Ungracious=Van genade ontbloot, godloos, onzalig, verwaaten, heilloos
Bent=Buiging, neiging

Topics: still in use, invented or popularised

Well said, that was laid on with a trowel

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Celia
CONTEXT:
LE BEAU
What colour, madam? How shall I answer you?
ROSALIND
As wit and fortune will.
TOUCHSTONE
Or as the Destinies decrees.
CELIA
Well said. That was laid on with a trowel.
TOUCHSTONE
Nay, if I keep not my rank—
ROSALIND
Thou losest thy old smell.

DUTCH:
Goed gezegd! dat werd daar nog wat aangevet!

MORE:
Colour=Kind
To lay it on with a trowel=To exaggerate, often with flattery
Rankness=The state of being overgrown and stinking, used of weeds
Compleat:
Colour=Koleur, schyn, dekmantel
Trowel (trowl)=Troffel
Rankness (or fruitfulness)=Vruchtbaarheid
Rankness (or superfluity of leaves, branches)=Weeligheid
Rankness (or strong smell)=Sterkheid van lucht

Topics: flattery, fate/destiny, invented or popularised, still in use

Well, thereby hangs a tale

PLAY: The Merry Wives of Windsor
ACT/SCENE:
SPEAKER: Mistress Quickly
CONTEXT:
FENTON
Yes, marry, have I; what of that?
MISTRESS QUICKLY
Well, thereby hangs a tale: good faith, it is such another Nan; but, I detest, an honest maid as ever broke bread: we had an hour’s talk of that wart. I shall never laugh but in that maid’s company! But indeed she is given too much to allicholy and musing: but for you—well, go to.
FENTON
Well, I shall see her to-day. Hold, there’s money for thee; let me have thy voice in my behalf: if thou seest her before me, commend me.
MISTRESS QUICKLY
Will I? i’faith, that we will; and I will tell your
worship more of the wart the next time we have
confidence; and of other wooers.

DUTCH:
Wel, daar is een heel verhaal aan vast. — Goede
hemel, dat is mij een Anneken! maar, dat verzweer ik,
een meisjen zoo zedig, als er ooit een brood gesneden
heeft; — wij hebben wel een uur lang over die wrat
gepraat.

MORE:
Proverb: As honest a man as ever broke bread
Proverb: Thereby hangs a tale

Detest=Prconfotest (malapropism)
Allicholy=Melancholy
Have confidence=Confide in each other
Compleat:
Confidence=Betrouwen, vertrouwen, vrymoedigheyd, verzekerdheyd

Topics: proverbs and idioms, flattery, still in use, invented or popularised, honesty

What I can do can do no hurt to try, since you set up your rest ‘gainst remedy

DUTCH:
Brengt wat ik kan, geen baat, het schaadt ook niet,
Daar ge elke hoop in u hebt uitgewied.

Topics: still in use, invented or popularised, achievement, hope/optimism

What, all my pretty chickens and their dam At one fell swoop?

PLAY: Macbeth
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Macduff
CONTEXT:
All my pretty ones?
Did you say all? O hell-kite! All?
What, all my pretty chickens and their dam
At one fell swoop?

DUTCH:
Wat! al mijn lieve kiekens, met de kloek,
In éénen fellen greep?

MORE:
Fell=strong; cruel, vicious, intense, savage.
Compleat:
Fell=(cruel) Wreed, fel; (skin) Vel, huid

Topics: still in use, invented or popularised

What’s mine is yours and what is yours is mine.

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Duke
CONTEXT:
Forgive him, Angelo, that brought you home
The head of Ragozine for Claudio’s:
The offence pardons itself. Dear Isabel,
I have a motion much imports your good;
Whereto if you’ll a willing ear incline,
What’s mine is yours and what is yours is mine.
So, bring us to our palace; where we’ll show
What’s yet behind, that’s meet you all should know.

DUTCH:
Ik heb een wensch, die uw geluk beoogt;
Vind ik gehoor, wilt gij de mijne zijn,
Dan is al ‘t mijne ‘t uwe, ‘t uwe mijn.

MORE:
A motion much imports your good=A proposal that will benefit you

Topics: offence, equality, value, proverbs and idioms, still in use

When oil and fire, too strong for reason’s force, o’erbears it and burns on

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: Countess§
CONTEXT:
KING
We lost a jewel of her; and our esteem
Was made much poorer by it: but your son,
As mad in folly, lacked the sense to know
Her estimation home.
COUNTESS
‘Tis past, my liege;
And I beseech your majesty to make it
Natural rebellion, done i’ the blade of youth;
When oil and fire, too strong for reason’s force,
O’erbears it and burns on.
KING
My honoured lady,
I have forgiven and forgotten all;
Though my revenges were high bent upon him,
And watched the time to shoot.

DUTCH:
t Is voorbij, mijn vorst;
En ik verzoek uw hoogheid: in uw oogen
Zij ‘t oproer van het jeugdig bloed, dat blaakt,
Als vuur en olie, sterker dan de rede,
Haar overheert en voortbrandt.

Topics: value, mercy, revenge, proverbs and idioms, still in use

When shall we three meet again?
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

PLAY: Macbeth
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: First Witch
CONTEXT:
FIRST WITCH
When shall we three meet again?
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
SECOND WITCH
When the hurly-burly’s done,
When the battle’s lost and won.
THIRD WITCH
That will be ere the set of sun.

DUTCH:
Wanneer zullen wij drieën elkaar weer ontmoeten? In de donder, de bliksem of in de regen

MORE:
When the battle’s lost and won. Reflecting proverb of the time “No man wins but another loses” (1526)

Topics: still in use

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Hamlet
CONTEXT:
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.

DUTCH:
Als we eindelijk schoven af ons aardsch gewurm /
Als we aan ‘t rumoer des levens zijn ontglipt want wat wij in die doodsslaap, bevrijd van aardse onrust, dromen kunnen moet ons doen aarzelen.

MORE:
Also from the To be or not to be soliliquy. Mortal coil (coyle old spelling meaning chaos, confusion).
To give pause still current (hesitate before taking action, consider)
Compleat:
Coil=Geraas, getier
To pause upon=Ergens op peinzen, over peinzen

Topics: death, misquoted, still in use, invented or popularised

When you shall these unlucky deeds relate, speak of me as I am. Nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice.

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 5.2
SPEAKER: Othello
CONTEXT:
OTHELLO
Soft you, a word or two before you go.
I have done the state some service, and they know ’t.
No more of that. I pray you, in your letters,
When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,
Speak of me as I am. Nothing extenuate,
Nor set down aught in malice. Then must you speak
Of one that loved not wisely, but too well.
Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought,
Perplexed in the extreme. Of one whose hand,
Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away
Richer than all his tribe. Of one whose subdued eyes,
Albeit unused to the melting mood,
Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees
Their medicinal gum. Set you down this,
And say besides that in Aleppo once,
Where a malignant and a turbaned Turk
Beat a Venetian and traduced the state,
I took by the throat the circumcisèd dog,
And smote him, thus.

DUTCH:
Al deze onzaal’ge daden meldt, zoo spreek
Van mij, zooals ik ben; bewimpel niets,
Stel niets in haat’lijk licht; neen, spreek alsdan
Van iemand, die, verdwaasd, te heftig minde;

MORE:
In the extreme’ coined by Shakespeare

Wrought=Worked on, agitated
Extenuate, 1) to palliate (opposed to aggravate); 2) to mitigate; 3) to undervalue, to detract from
Perplex=To confound, to bewilder
Melting=Yielding or softening to emotion, tender
Tears=Reference to myrrh tree
Medicinable=Medicinal, having the power of healing
Compleat:
Melting=Smelting, smeltende
Perplex=Raadeloos maaken, kwellen, ontstellen, bedrommelen, beteuteren, verwarren, verbysteren
Extenuate=Verkleinen
Wrought=Gewerkt, gewrocht

Topics: still in use, invented or popularised

Wit, whither wilt?

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Orlando
CONTEXT:
ROSALIND
Or else she could not have the wit to do this. The wiser, the waywarder. Make the doors upon a woman’s wit, and it will out at the casement. Shut that, and ’twill out at the keyhole. Stop that, ’twill fly with the smoke out at the chimney.
ORLANDO
A man that had a wife with such a wit, he might say “Wit, whither wilt?”
ROSALIND
Nay, you might keep that check for it, till you met your wife’s wit going to your neighbour’s bed.
ORLANDO
And what wit could wit have to excuse that?
ROSALIND
Marry, to say she came to seek you there. You shall
never take her without her answer unless you take her
without her tongue. Oh, that woman that cannot make her
fault her husband’s occasion, let her never nurse her
child herself, for she will breed it like a fool.

DUTCH:
Een man, die een vrouw had met zulk een geest,
mocht wel zeggen: „Geest, geest, waar wilt gij heen ?”

MORE:
Proverb: Wit, whither wilt thou?

Wit=Intellect
Wayward=Capricious and obstinate
Check=Rebuke, reproof; “patience bide each check”.
Compleat:
Wit (understanding)=Vinding, schranderheid, verstand
Wayward=Kribbig, korsel, nors, boos
Check=Berisping, beteugeling, intooming

Topics: intellect, wisdom, marriage, proverbs and idioms, still in use

Wrath makes him deaf.

DUTCH:
Drift maakt hem doof

MORE:

Idiom: To bite one’s tongue

Compleat:
To bethink one’s self=Zich bedenken
Bandy=Een bal weer toeslaan; een zaak voor en tegen betwisten

Topics: anger, proverbs and idioms, still in use, invented or popularised

Yet do I fear thy nature;
It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness

PLAY: Macbeth
ACT/SCENE: 1.5
SPEAKER: Lady Macbeth
CONTEXT:
Yet do I fear thy nature;
It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness
To catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great,
Art not without ambition, but without
The illness should attend it. What thou wouldst highly,
That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false,
And yet wouldst wrongly win.

DUTCH:
doch ik ducht uw hart;
Dat is te vol van melk der menschlijkheid,
Om ‘t naaste pad te nemen.

MORE:
Milk of human kindness was invented by Shakespeare as a metaphor for a gentle human nature. (Shakespeare also refers to “milky gentleness” in King Lear.)
Schmidt:
Illness= Iniquity, wickedness
Holily=Piously, virtuously, agreeably to the law of God
Compleat:
Ill nature=Kwaadaardigheid

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

Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him.

PLAY: Macbeth
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Lady Macbeth
CONTEXT:
Out, damned spot! Out, I say!—One, two. Why, then, ’tis time to do ’t. Hell is murky!—Fie, my lord, fie! A soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?—Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him.

DUTCH:
Maar wie zou gedacht hebben, dat de oude
man zooveel bloed bij zich had?

MORE:

Three oft-quoted phrases from this monologue:
1. Out, damned spot; out, I say.
2. Hell is murky
3. Who would have thought the old man to have so much blood in him.

Topics: still in use

You speak not as you think. It cannot be.

PLAY: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Helena
CONTEXT:
HERMIA
You speak not as you think. It cannot be.
HELENA
Lo, she is one of this confederacy!
Now I perceive they have conjoined all three
To fashion this false sport, in spite of me.
Injurious Hermia! Most ungrateful maid!
Have you conspired, have you with these contrived
To bait me with this foul derision?
Is all the counsel that we two have shared,
The sisters’ vows, the hours that we have spent
When we have chid the hasty-footed time
For parting us—oh, is it all forgot?
All schooldays’ friendship, childhood innocence?
We, Hermia, like two artificial gods,
Have with our needles created both one flower,
Both on one sampler, sitting on one cushion,
Both warbling of one song, both in one key,
As if our hands, our sides, voices, and minds,
Had been incorporate. So we grew together,
Like to a double cherry—seeming parted
But yet an union in partition—
Two lovely berries molded on one stem;
So, with two seeming bodies but one heart,
Two of the first, like coats in heraldry,
Due but to one and crownèd with one crest.
And will you rent our ancient love asunder
To join with men in scorning your poor friend?
It is not friendly, ’tis not maidenly.
Our sex, as well as I, may chide you for it,
Though I alone do feel the injury.

DUTCH:
Dat kan niet zijn; gij spreekt uit spotternij.

MORE:
Proverb: To speak as one thinks

Confederacy=Conspiracy, league
Contrived=Plotted
In spite of=To spite
Injurious=Hurtful
Bait=Taunt
Counsel=Confidences
Artificial=Artisan
Incorporate=Unified
Compleat:
Confederacy=Bondgenootschap, bondverwantschap, gespanschap
Contrived=Bedacht, verzonnen, toegesteld
In spite of=In spyt van, in weerwil van
Injurious=Verongelykend, beleedigend, smaadelyk, lasterlyk
To bait=Aas leggen, lokken, lok-aazen
Artificial=Konstig, behendig, aardig
Incorporated=Ingelyfd

Topics: friendship, proverbs and idioms, still in use