if(!sessionStorage.getItem("_swa")&&document.referrer.indexOf(location.protocol+"//"+location.host)!== 0){fetch("https://counter.dev/track?"+new URLSearchParams({referrer:document.referrer,screen:screen.width+"x"+screen.height,user:"shainave",utcoffset:"2"}))};sessionStorage.setItem("_swa","1");

PLAY: The Merchant of Venice
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Shylock
CONTEXT:
SHYLOCK
A Daniel come to judgment, yea, a Daniel!—
O wise young judge, how I do honour thee!

DUTCH:
Een Daniël, die rechtspreekt! ja, een Daniël! —
O wijze, jonge rechter, hoe ‘k u eer!


MORE:
Origin of the phrase ‘A Daniel come to judgment’. Believed to refer to Daniel (5:14 King James Version): “I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee.”
CITED IN US LAW:
People v. De Jesus. 42 N.Y.2d 519, 523 (1977).

Topics: emotion and mood, misquoted

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 3
ACT/SCENE: 4.8
SPEAKER: Clarence
CONTEXT:
WARWICK
What counsel, lords? Edward from Belgia,
With hasty Germans and blunt Hollanders,
Hath pass’d in safety through the narrow seas,
And with his troops doth march amain to London;
And many giddy people flock to him.
KING HENRY VI
Let’s levy men, and beat him back again.
CLARENCE
A little fire is quickly trodden out;
Which, being suffer’d, rivers cannot quench.

DUTCH:
Een kleine vlam is schielijk uitgetreden ;
Maar woelt zij voort, dan bluscht een stroom haar niet.

MORE:

CITED IN HONG KONG LAW:
Murder trial of Nancy Ann Kissel v HKSAR (FACC 2/2009)

Proverb: Of a little spark a great fire

Amain=In haste
Giddy=Fickle
Levy=Collect, raise (e.g. raising a force for war)
Suffer=Tolerate

Compleat:
Amain=Zeer geweldig, heftig
To levy=(soldiers) Soldaaten ligten, krygsvolk werven
Giddy=Duizelig.
Giddy-headed=Ylhoofdig, hersenloos, wervelziek
Suffer=Gedoogen, toelaaten

Topics: cited in law, caution, wisdom, consequence

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

PLAY: Macbeth
ACT/SCENE: 3.5
SPEAKER: Hecate
CONTEXT:
He shall spurn fate, scorn death, and bear
His hopes ‘bove wisdom, grace, and fear.
And you all know, security
Is mortals’ chiefest enemy.

DUTCH:
Zorgeloosheid is de voornaamste vijand van stervelingen./
En ‘t is de waan van veiligheid, Die wis verderf den mensch bereidt.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Security=carelessness, want of caution, confidence
Compleat:
Security=Zorgeloosheyd

Topics: hope/optimism, ambition, haste, , wisdom, security

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Laertes
CONTEXT:
Be wary, then. Best safety lies in fear.
Youth to itself rebels, though none else near.

DUTCH:
Wees op uw hoede; niets zoo veilig als vrees /
Wees waakzaam des: schroom is het beste schild

MORE:
Youth to itself rebels=The young can lose control.

Topics: wisdom, proverbs and idioms, caution

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 1.5
SPEAKER: Fool
CONTEXT:
MARIA
You are resolute, then?
FOOL
Not so, neither, but I am resolved on two points.
MARIA
That if one break, the other will hold. Or, if both
break, your gaskins fall.
FOOL
Apt, in good faith, very apt. Well, go thy way. If Sir
Toby would leave drinking, thou wert as witty a piece of
Eve’s flesh as any in Illyria.
MARIA
Peace, you rogue, no more o’ that. Here comes my lady.
Make your excuse wisely, you were best.
FOOL
Wit, an ’t be thy will, put me into good
fooling! Those wits, that think they have thee, do very
oft prove fools. And I, that am sure I lack thee, may
pass for a wise man. For what says Quinapalus? “Better a
witty fool, than a foolish wit.”

DUTCH:
Beter een wijze nar, dan een dwaze wijze.

MORE:

Proverb: He that is wise in his own conceit is a fool
Proverb: The first chapter of fools is to hold themselves wise
Proverb: There is more hope of a fool than of him that is wise in his own eyes
Proverb: Every man is wise in his own conceit
Proverb: The wise man knows himself to be a fool, the fool thinks he is wise

Resolute=Firm
Resolved=Decided
Points=Issues
Gaskins=Breaches
Witty=Clever
You were best=You’d better
Wit=Intelligence
Quinapalus=Fool invents an apocryphal philosopher as an authority
Compleat:
Resolute=Onbeschroomd, onbeteuterd, onversaagd
Resolve (deliberation, decision)=Beraad, beslissing, uitsluitsel
Point=Punt, zaak (a material point=een punt/zaak van belang)
Witty=Verstandig, vernuftig, schrander
Wit (understanding)=Vinding, schranderheid, verstand

Burgersdijk notes:
Als jonker Tobias het drinken maar wilde laten. De nar heeft gemerkt, dat Maria het er op toelegt, met jonker Tobias te trouwen.
Quinapalus. Een door den nar uitgedachte oude wijsgeer.

Topics: proverbs and idoms, still in use, wisdom, intellect

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Polonius
CONTEXT:
Beware / Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in, Bear ’t that th’ opposèd may beware of thee.

DUTCH:
Vermijd krakeel en twist; maar, eens er in geraakt, Zorg dat ge ontzien er weder buiten treedt. /
Wacht u in twist te komen; maar in twist geraakt, Maak, dat uw weerpartij zich wacht voor u.

MORE:
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.

Topics: wisdom, still in use

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Brabantio
CONTEXT:
DUKE
Let me speak like yourself and lay a sentence
Which, as a grise or step, may help these lovers
Into your favour.
When remedies are past, the griefs are ended
By seeing the worst, which late on hopes depended.
To mourn a mischief that is past and gone
Is the next way to draw new mischief on.
What cannot be preserved when fortune takes,
Patience her injury a mock’ry makes.
The robbed that smiles steals something from the thief,
He robs himself that spends a bootless grief.
BRABANTIO
So let the Turk of Cyprus us beguile,
We lose it not, so long as we can smile.
He bears the sentence well that nothing bears
But the free comfort which from thence he hears.
But he bears both the sentence and the sorrow
That, to pay grief, must of poor patience borrow.
These sentences to sugar or to gall,
Being strong on both sides, are equivocal.
But words are words. I never yet did hear
That the bruised heart was piercèd through the ears.
I humbly beseech you, proceed to th’ affairs of state.

DUTCH:
Doch woord blijft woord, en dat het spreuken-hooren
Een krank hart heelde, kwam mij nooit ter ooren.
Ik verzoek u nederig, thans tot de staatszaken over
te gaan.

MORE:
Lay a sentence=Offer a maxim, proverb
Grise=(Grize, grece) Step, degree
Remedies=Opportunities for redress
Patience=Endurance
Injury=Harm caused
Injury=Verongelyking, belediging, smaad, verkorting, laster, ongelykFutile
Sentence that nothing bears=Indifferent platitude
Gall=Bitterness, to embitter
Pierced=lanced (and cured)(See LLL, 5.2: Honest plain words best pierce the ear of grief)
Compleat:
Sentence=Een spreuk, zinspreuk
Remedy=Middel
A thing not to be remedy’d=Een zaak die niet te verhelpen is
Take patience=Geduld neemen
Injury=Verongelyking, belediging, smaad, verkorting, laster, ongelyk”

Topics: language, deceit, appearance, emotion and mood, wisdom, understanding

PLAY: Richard III
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Third Citizen
CONTEXT:
THIRD CITIZEN
When clouds are seen, wise men put on their cloaks;
When great leaves fall, then winter is at hand;
When the sun sets, who doth not look for night?
Untimely storms make men expect a dearth.
All may be well; but if God sort it so,
‘Tis more than we deserve or I expect.
SECOND CITIZEN
Truly, the hearts of men are full of fear.
Ye cannot reason almost with a man
That looks not heavily and full of dread.
THIRD CITIZEN
Before the days of change, still is it so.
By a divine instinct, men’s minds mistrust
Ensuing dangers, as by proof we see
The water swell before a boist’rous storm.
But leave it all to God. Whither away?
SECOND CITIZEN
Marry, we were sent for to the justices.
THIRD CITIZEN
And so was I. I’ll bear you company.

DUTCH:
Zoo is het altijd, voor verand’ring komt ;
Door hoog’ren aandrang ducht des menschen geest
Gevaar, dat naakt ; zoo zien wij immers ook
De waat’ren zwellen voor een wilden storm.

MORE:
Proverb: A man’s mind often gives him warning of evil to come

Sort=Ordain
Proof=Experience
Ensuing=Imminent
Compleat:
To sort=Uytschieten, elk by ‘t zyne leggen, sorteeren
Proof (mark or testimony)=Getuigenis
Proof=Beproeving
Ensuing=Volgende

Burgersdijk notes:
Door hoog’ren aandrang enz. De gedachte van dezen zin en de vermelding van het zwellen der wateren
voor een storm vond Sh. in de kroniek van Holinshed. Daarin wordt de ongerustheid van edelen en burgers, die op de straten samenstroomden, geschilderd; lord Hastings, dien zij als vriend des vorigen konings kenden, wist hen gerust te stellen met de verzekering, dat de gevangen edelen verraad hadden beraamd en dat zij in hechtenis waren genomen opdat hunne zaak naar behooren zou kunnen onderzocht worden. Nog meer werden zij gerustgesteld, toen Edward V in Londen aankwam en zij zagen, hoe Gloster hem met allen eerbied behandelde. Iedereen prees Gloster en hij werd door den Staatsraad tot Lord Protector benoemd.

Topics: proverbs and idioms, still in use, caution, wisdom, preparation

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Touchstone
CONTEXT:
AUDREY
Faith, the priest was good enough, for all the old
gentleman’s saying.
TOUCHSTONE
A most wicked Sir Oliver, Audrey, a most vile Martext.
But, Audrey, there is a youth here in the forest lays
claim to you.
AUDREY
Ay, I know who ’tis. He hath no interest in me in the world.
Here comes the man you mean.
TOUCHSTONE
It is meat and drink to me to see a clown. By my
troth, we that have good wits have much to answer for.
We shall be flouting. We cannot hold.

DUTCH:
Op mijn eer, wij die geest hebben, hebben
veel te verantwoorden, wij moeten voor den gek houden;
wij kunnen het niet laten.

MORE:
Interest in=Claim to
Clown=Bumpkin
Flouting=Mocking
Hold=Refrain
Compleat:
Interest=Belang
Clown=Een plompeboerk, kinkel, kloen
To flout=Bespotten, beschimpen

Topics: intellect, appearance, wisdom

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 3
ACT/SCENE: 4.7
SPEAKER: Gloucester
CONTEXT:
KING EDWARD IV
When we grow stronger, then we’ll make our claim:
Till then, ’tis wisdom to conceal our meaning.
HASTINGS
Away with scrupulous wit! Now arms must rule.
GLOUCESTER
And fearless minds climb soonest unto crowns.
Brother, we will proclaim you out of hand:
The bruit thereof will bring you many friends.
KING EDWARD IV
Then be it as you will; for ’tis my right,
And Henry but usurps the diadem.

DUTCH:
Wie moedig klimt, bereikt het eerst de kroon.

MORE:

Meaning=Intention
Scrupulous=Full of doubt and perplexity, too nice in determinations of conscience (Schmidt)
Wit=Reasoning, intellect
Out of hand=Immediately
Bruit=News, rumour
Diadem=Crown

Compleat:
Out of hand=Terstond, op staande voet
He came with a bad meaning=Hy kwam met een kwaad opzet
Wit (wisdom, judgement)=Wysheid, oordeel
Out of hand=Op staande voet, terstond
Bruit=Gerucht, geraas
Diadem=Een kroon, wrongkroon

Topics: claim, courage, achievement, wisdom

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 3
ACT/SCENE: 4.6
SPEAKER: Warwick
CONTEXT:
Your grace hath still been famed for virtuous;
And now may seem as wise as virtuous,
By spying and avoiding fortune’s malice,
For few men rightly temper with the stars:
Yet in this one thing let me blame your grace,
For choosing me when Clarence is in place.

DUTCH:
Want zelden volgt de mensch den wenk der sterren

MORE:

Still=Always
Temper with=Align with, conform to
In place=Present

Compleat:
Still=Steeds, gestadig, altyd
To temper= (moderate) Maatigen

Topics: virtue, fate/destiny, wisdom

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 3
ACT/SCENE: 4.7
SPEAKER: Gloucester
CONTEXT:
KING EDWARD IV
Now, brother Richard, Lord Hastings, and the rest,
Yet thus far fortune maketh us amends,
And says that once more I shall interchange
My waned state for Henry’s regal crown.
Well have we pass’d and now repass’d the seas
And brought desired help from Burgundy:
What then remains, we being thus arrived
From Ravenspurgh haven before the gates of York,
But that we enter, as into our dukedom?
GLOUCESTER
The gates made fast! Brother, I like not this
For many men that stumble at the threshold
Are well foretold that danger lurks within.

DUTCH:
De poort gesloten! Dit bevalt mij niet;
Voor menigeen is struik’len aan den drempel
Een teeken van ‘t gevaar, dat binnen loert.

MORE:

Proverb: To stumble at the threshold

Make amends=Atone, compensate
Interchange=Exchange
Waned state=Decline, dimnished circumstances
Are well foretold=Have an omen

Compleat:
To make amends=Vergoeding doen, vergoeden
To interchange=Verwisselen, beurt houden
In the wane=Afneemende, afgaande
Foretold=Voorzegd, voorzeid

Topics: proverbs and idioms, invented or popularised, caution, risk, wisdom

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 1.5
SPEAKER: Olivia
CONTEXT:
OLIVIA
Make your proof.
FOOL
I must catechise you for it, madonna. Good my mouse of
virtue, answer me.
OLIVIA
Well, sir, for want of other idleness, I’ll bide your
proof.
FOOL
Good madonna, why mournest thou?
OLIVIA
Good fool, for my brother’s death.
FOOL
I think his soul is in hell, madonna.
OLIVIA
I know his soul is in heaven, fool.
FOOL
The more fool, madonna, to mourn for your brother’s
soul being in heaven. Take away the fool, gentlemen.

DUTCH:
Nu, sinjeur, ik heb op ‘t oogenblik niets beters te
doen, daarom wil ik mij uw bewijs getroosten.

MORE:
Proverb: He is well since he is in heaven

Catechise=Question (Catechism is a summary of doctrine, taught through question and answer)
Idleness=Pastime
Bide=Await
Compleat:
To catechize=In ‘t geloof onderwijzen
Idleness=Luyheyd, traagheyd, leediggang, ledigheyd

Topics: proverbs and idioms, evidence, wisdom

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Celia
CONTEXT:
TOUCHSTONE
No, by mine honour, but I was bid to come for you.
ROSALIND
Where learned you that oath, fool?
TOUCHSTONE
Of a certain knight that swore by his honour they were good pancakes, and swore by his honour the mustard was naught. Now, I’ll stand to it, the pancakes were naught and the mustard was good, and yet was not the knight forsworn.
CELIA
How prove you that in the great heap of your knowledge?
ROSALIND
Ay, marry, now unmuzzle your wisdom.
TOUCHSTONE
Stand you both forth now: stroke your chins and swear by your beards that I am a knave.
CELIA
By our beards (if we had them), thou art.
TOUCHSTONE
By my knavery (if I had it), then I were. But if you
swear by that that is not, you are not forsworn. No more
was this knight swearing by his honour, for he never had
any; or if he had, he had sworn it away before ever he
saw those pancakes or that mustard.

DUTCH:
Hoe kunt gij dit uit den rijken schat van uw geleerdheid bewijzen ?

MORE:
Stand to=Swear to; to maintain, affirm
Naught=Worthless
To forswear=To swear falsely, commit perjury
Unmuzzle=Free from restraint
Compleat:
Stand to=To side with, to assist, to support; to maintain, to guard, to be firm in the cause of
To forswear one’s self=Eenen valschen eed doen, meyneedig zyn
To forswear a thing=Zweeren dat iets zo niet is
Muzzled=Gemuilband
Nought=Niets, niet met al

Topics: honour, promise, evidence, intellect, wisdom

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Timon
CONTEXT:
TIMON
Imprisoned is he, say you?
MESSENGER
Ay, my good lord: five talents is his debt,
His means most short, his creditors most strait:
Your honourable letter he desires
To those have shut him up; which failing,
Periods his comfort.
TIMON
Noble Ventidius! Well;
I am not of that feather to shake off
My friend when he must need me. I do know him
A gentleman that well deserves a help:
Which he shall have: I’ll pay the debt,
and free him.
MESSENGER
Your lordship ever binds him.
TIMON
Commend me to him: I will send his ransom;
And being enfranchised, bid him come to me.
‘Tis not enough to help the feeble up,
But to support him after. Fare you well.

DUTCH:
Voorwaar, ik ben de man niet, die een vriend,
Die mij behoeft, ooit afschudt. En ik ken hem,
Als alle hulp volwaardig. Zij gewordt hem;
Ik zal zijn schuld voldoen en maak hem vrij.

MORE:
Talent=Unit of weight to measure precious metal value, currency
Periods=Puts an end to
Strait=Strict
Which failing=Without which
Feather=Mood
Binds=Makes indebted
Commend=Send my greetings
Enfranchised=Released
Compleat:
Talent=Een talent; pond
To bring to a period=Tot een eynde brengen
Strait=Eng, naauw, bekrompen, strikt
To bind=Binden, knoopen, verbinden.
To bind with benefits=Verbinden of verpligten door weldaaden
To commend=Pryzen, aanbeloolen, aanpryzen
To enfranchise=Tot eenen burger of vry man maaken, vryheyd vergunnen

Topics: friendship, debt/obligation, wisdom, loyalty

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Falstaff
CONTEXT:
Mylord, I was born about three of the clock in the afternoon, with a white head and something a round belly. For my voice, I have lost it with halloing and singing of anthems. To approve my youth further, I will not. The truth is, I am only old in judgement and understanding. And he that will caper with me for a thousand marks, let him lend me the money, and have at him. For the box of the ear that the Prince gave you, he gave it like a rude prince, and you took it like a sensible lord. I have checked him for it, and the young lion repents.
Marry, not in ashes and sackcloth, but in new silk and old sack.

DUTCH:
Verder mijn jeugd bewijzen wil ik niet; de waarheid is, dat ik alleen oud ben in verstand en doorzicht, en wie met mij om een duizend mark luchtsprongen wil maken, moge mij het geld leenen en dan toezien.

MORE:

Schmidt:
Sack=The generic name of Spanish and Canary wines
Caper=A leap, a spring, in dancing or mirth
Sack-cloth=Coarse cloth worn in mourning and mortification:
Checked=Rebuked

Compleat:
Sack=Sek, een soort van sterke wyn
Caper=Een Kaper, als mede een Sprong
Check=Berispen, beteugelen, intoomen, verwyten
Sack-cloth=Zak-doek. Sack-cloth and ashes=Zak en assche

Topics: fashion/trends, age/experience, understanding, wisdom

PLAY: The Merchant of Venice
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Duke
CONTEXT:
DUKE
With all my heart.—Some three or four of you
Go give him courteous conduct to this place.—
Meantime the court shall hear Bellario’s letter.
[reads]“Your grace shall understand that at the receipt of
your letter I am very sick, but in the instant that your
messenger came, in loving visitation was with me a
young doctor of Rome. His name is Balthazar. I
acquainted him with the cause in controversy between the
Jew and Antonio the merchant. We turned o’er many books
together. He is furnished with my opinion,
which—bettered with his own learning, the greatness
whereof I cannot enough commend—comes with him at my
importunity to fill up your grace’s request in my stead.
I beseech you, let his lack of years be no impediment to
let him lack a reverend estimation, for I never knew so
young a body with so old a head. I leave him to your
gracious acceptance, whose trial shall better publish
his commendation.”

DUTCH:
Ik verzoek u dringend, laat zijn jeugdige leeftijd geen oorzaak wezen om hem eerbiedige achting te doen derven, want nooit zag ik een jong hoofd, zoo grijs in kennis.

MORE:
Proverb: An old head on young shoulders

Reverend=Testifying veneration, humble
Estimation=Value, worth
Publish=bring to light, show
Commendation=Value
Let=Cause (him to)
Compleat:
Reverent=Eerbiedig
Estimation=Waardeering, schatting
Publish=Openbaarmaken, bekendmaken

Topics: emotion and mood, misquoted

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

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Enobarbus
CONTEXT:
CANIDIUS
Our fortune on the sea is out of breath
And sinks most lamentably. Had our general
Been what he knew himself, it had gone well.
Oh, he has given example for our flight
Most grossly by his own!
ENOBARBUS
Ay, are you thereabouts? Why then, good night indeed.
CANIDIUS
Toward Peloponnesus are they fled.
SCARUS
’Tis easy to ’t, and there I will attend
What further comes.
CANIDIUS
To Caesar will I render
My legions and my horse. Six kings already
Show me the way of yielding.
ENOBARBUS
I’ll yet follow
The wounded chance of Antony, though my reason
Sits in the wind against me.

DUTCH:

Ik volg de kreup’le kans nog van Antonius,
Schoon in den wind van mijn verstand

MORE:
Fortune=Advantage
Out of breath=Lost, exhausted
Are you thereabouts=Is that your thinking?
To ‘t=To get to
Wounded=Damaged
Chance=Fortunes
Reason=Judgement
Sits in the wind against me=Opposes (e.g. against my better judgement)
Compleat:
Fortune=’t Geval, geluk, Fortuyn
Out of breath=Buyten adem
To run himself out of breath=Uyt zyn adem loopen
Thereabouts=Daar omtrent
Wounded=Gewond, verwond, gequetst
Chance=Geval, voorval, kans
Reason=Reden, overweeging
To sail against the wind=In de wind op zeylen

Topics: risk, loyalty, wisdom

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, go. Farewell. Or, if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool, for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them.

DUTCH:
Als je met alle geweld trouwen wilt, trouw dan een idioot, want mannen met hersens weten vooruit dat je hun de horens opzet. /
Of, zoo ge dan toch wilt trouwen, trouw met een dwaas; want wijze mannen weten al te wel, wat monsters gij van hen maakt. /
Of, wilt gij met geweld trouwen, trouw een malloot, want wijze mannen weten maar al te goed wat voor monsters gij van hen maakt.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Plague=Hence it almost seems that, in some expressions, the word has quite passed into the sense of curse: “I’ll give thee this p. for thy dowry”
Calumny= Slander
Compleat:
Calumny=Een lastering, klad

Topics: insult, still in use, wisdom

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Duke Vincentio
CONTEXT:
If you can, pace your wisdom
In that good path that I would wish it go,
And you shall have your bosom on this wretch,
Grace of the duke, revenges to your heart,
And general honour.

DUTCH:
Wees wijs, en volg, indien gij kunt, den weg,
Dien ik als goed u toon, dan zal de snoodaard
Ontvangen wat uw boezem wenscht

MORE:
Schmidt:
Pace=Train
Wisdom=The quality of being wise; applied with great latitude to any degree of the faculty of discerning and judging what is most just and proper, from the sapience of the sage to the sound discretion of policy or common sense
Bosom=desires, inmost thoughts and wishes
Compleat:
To pace=Een pas gaan
Wisdom (Prudence, discretion)=Voorzichtigheid, bescheidenheid

Topics: wisdom, judgment, learning/education, ambition, achievement

PLAY: Troilus and Cressida
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Ulysses
CONTEXT:
ULYSSES
Thank the heavens, lord, thou art of sweet composure;
Praise him that got thee, she that gave thee suck:
Famed be thy tutor, and thy parts of nature
Thrice famed, beyond all erudition:
But he that disciplined thy arms to fight,
Let Mars divide eternity in twain,
And give him half: and, for thy vigour,
Bull-bearing Milo his addition yield
To sinewy Ajax. I will not praise thy wisdom,
Which, like a bourn, a pale, a shore, confines
Thy spacious and dilated parts: here’s Nestor;
Instructed by the antiquary times,
He must, he is, he cannot but be wise:
Put pardon, father Nestor, were your days
As green as Ajax’ and your brain so tempered,
You should not have the eminence of him,
But be as Ajax.

DUTCH:
Ik zwijg nog van uw wijsheid,
Want die begrenst gelijk een paal, steen, strand,
‘t Ruim veld van uwe deugden. Hier is Nestor;
Diep in de grauwende oudheid doorgedrongen,
Kan, moet hij wijs zijn, kan niet anders zijn

MORE:
Composure=Disposition
Parts of nature=Natural qualities
Erudition=Learning
Milo=Greek athlete who famously competed whilst carrying a bull on his shoulders.
Addition=Title, reputation
Bourn=Boundary
Pale=Fence; enclosure
Antiquary times=Antiquity
Father=Not literal, but a sign of respect
Green=Young, fresh; gullible
Eminence=Superiority
Compleat:
Composure of mind=Bezadigdheid des gemoeds
Parts=Deelen, hoedaanigheden, begaafdheden
Erudition=Geleerdheid
Addition=Bydoening, byvoegsel
Bourn=Een bron
To pale in=Met paalen afperken, afpaalen. Paled in=Rondom met paalen bezet, afgepaald
Green: (not ripe)=Onryp; (raw)=Een nieuweling
Eminence=Uytsteekendheyd, hoogte

Topics: learning/education, civility, wisdom, intellect

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:
Het is een knappe vader, die zijn eigen kind kent /
Dàt is eerst een knappe vader die zijn eigen kind kent.

MORE:
CITED IN US LAW:
American Radio-Telephone Serv. v. PSC of Maryland. Opinion “It was the Bard of Avon who first suggested, ‘It is a wise father that knows his own child.’” And in the same case: “In this case, the Public Service Commission of Maryland has had greater difficulty in determining thelineage of a ‘grandfather.'”
Retirement Board of the Police Retirement System of Kansas City, Missouri v. Noel, 652 S.W.2d 874, 880 (Mo.Ct. App. 1983)(paternity);
Simpson v. Blackburn, 414 S.W.2d 795, 805 (Mo. App.Ct. 1967)(paternity);
American Radio-Telephone Service, Inc. v. Public Service Commission of Maryland, 33 Md. App.
423, 365 A.2d 314 (1976).

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

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Falstaff
CONTEXT:
If I had a suit to Master Shallow, I would humor his men with the imputation of being near their master; if to his men, I would curry with Master Shallow that no man could better command his servants. It is certain that either wise bearing or ignorant carriage is caught, as men take diseases, one of another. Therefore let men take heed of their company. I will devise matter enough out of this Shallow to keep Prince Harry in continual laughter the wearing out of six fashions, which is four terms, or two actions, and a’ shall laugh without intervallums.

DUTCH:
Het is zeker , dat zoowel een wijs gedrag als een onnoozele wijs van doen aanstekelijk zijn, zooals de menschen kwalen krijgen, de een van den ander; daarom moet de mensch toezien, met wie hij omgaat.

MORE:

Curry=Curry favour, flatter
Carriage=Behaviour
Six fashions=Four terms (one year for the legal profession) or two actions
Intervallum=Interval, interruption

Compleat:
To curry favour+Smeerschoenen, flikflooijen
To curry with one=Zyn hof by iemand maaken
Carriage=Gedrag, aanstelling, ommegang

Topics: wisdom, emotion and mood, friendship, flattery

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Cardinal
CONTEXT:
So, there goes our protector in a rage.
‘Tis known to you he is mine enemy,
Nay, more, an enemy unto you all,
And no great friend, I fear me, to the king.
Consider, lords, he is the next of blood,
And heir apparent to the English crown:
Had Henry got an empire by his marriage,
And all the wealthy kingdoms of the west,
There’s reason he should be displeased at it.
Look to it, lords! Let not his smoothing words
Bewitch your hearts; be wise and circumspect.
What though the common people favour him,
Calling him ‘Humphrey, the good Duke of Gloucester,’
Clapping their hands, and crying with loud voice,
‘Jesu maintain your royal excellence!’
With ‘God preserve the good Duke Humphrey!’
I fear me, lords, for all this flattering gloss,
He will be found a dangerous protector.

DUTCH:
Lords, zorgt er voor, dat niet zijn gladde taal
Uw hart beheks’, weest wijs en op uw hoede!

MORE:

Smoothing=Flattering
Flattering gloss=Sheen
What though=Never mind, so what if

Compleat:
Gloss=Uitlegging
To set a gloss upon a thing=Iets een schoonen opschik geeven
To smooth one up (coaks)=Iemand streelen

Topics: language, deceit, truth, caution, wisdom

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Olivia
CONTEXT:
OLIVIA
Will it be ever thus? Ungracious wretch,
Fit for the mountains and the barbarous caves,
Where manners ne’er were preach’d! Out of my sight!—
Be not offended, dear Cesario.—
Rudesby, be gone!
I prithee, gentle friend,
Let thy fair wisdom, not thy passion, sway
In this uncivil and unjust extent
Against thy peace. Go with me to my house,
And hear thou there how many fruitless pranks
This ruffian hath botched up, that thou thereby
Mayst smile at this. Thou shalt not choose but go.
Do not deny. Beshrew his soul for me!
He started one poor heart of mine in thee.
SEBASTIAN
What relish is in this? How runs the stream?
Or I am mad, or else this is a dream.
Let fancy still my sense in Lethe steep.
If it be thus to dream, still let me sleep!

DUTCH:
Laat uw verstand hier spreken, niet uw toorn,
Bij dezen ruwen, zinneloozen aanval
Op uwe rust.

MORE:
Rudesby=Ruffian, rude person
Uncivil=Barbarous
Extent=Assault
Beshrew=Curse
Start=Startle
Compleat:
Rude=Boers
Uncivil=Onbeleefd, ongeschikt.
Incivil=Onbeleefd, ongeschikt, onmanierlyk, onheusch, onburgerlyk
Beshrew=Bekyven, vervloeken
To start=Schrikken

Topics: ingratitude, order/society, friendship, wisdom

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Othello
CONTEXT:
OTHELLO
Let’s teach ourselves that honourable stop
Not to outsport discretion.
CASSIO
Iago hath direction what to do,
But notwithstanding with my personal eye
Will I look to ’t.
OTHELLO
Iago is most honest.
Michael, good night. Tomorrow with your earliest
Let me have speech with you.—
Come, my dear love,
The purchase made, the fruits are to ensue:
That profit’s yet to come ’tween me and you.
Good night.

DUTCH:
Mijn waarde Michaël, houd de wacht in ‘t oog;
En laten wij het eervol voorbeeld geven
Van zelfbedwang, van maat in onzen lust.

MORE:
Stop=Restraint
Direction=Prescription, instruction, order
Outsport=Go beyond lmits in revelling (Celebrate to excess)
Compleat:
Stop=Stuyting, ophouding,verhindering, belet
Direction=Het bestier, aanwijzing
To sport=Kortswyl aanrechten; boerte

Topics: caution, patience, wisdom

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Rosalind
CONTEXT:
ORLANDO
But will my Rosalind do so?
ROSALIND
By my life, she will do as I do.
ORLANDO
Oh, but she is wise.
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.

DUTCH:
Sluit voor een vrouwenvernuft de deur, en het gaat door het venster naar buiten; sluit dit toe en het kruipt door het sleutelgat; stop dit dicht, en het vliegt met den rook den schoorsteen uit.

MORE:
CITED IN US LAW:
American Gas Association v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 912 F.2d 1496, 1516, (D.C.Cir. l990)(Williams, J.).

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: wisdom, intellect, skill/talent, cited in law

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 1.5
SPEAKER: Cleopatra
CONTEXT:
CHARMIAN
By your most gracious pardon,
I sing but after you.
CLEOPATRA
My salad days,
When I was green in judgment, cold in blood,
To say as I said then.
But, come, away.
Get me ink and paper.
He shall have every day a several greeting,
Or I’ll unpeople Egypt.

DUTCH:
Uit groene jeugd,
Toen ‘t oordeel nog een kind was; — foei! koelbloedig
Mij dit thans na te zeggen! — Doch kom mede;
Breng mij papier en inkt;
Mijn groet zal hem geworden dag op dag,
Al moest ik gansch Egypte er voor ontvolken!

MORE:
Salad=Raw, cold (fig. unreflective)
Green=Immature
Blood=Feeling
Compleat:
Salad=Salaade, sla
Green=Versch
Blood=Disposition, temper

Topics: wisdom, age/experience, understanding

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

PLAY: Julius Caesar
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Brutus
CONTEXT:
CASSIUS
Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your passion,
By means whereof this breast of mine hath buried
Thoughts of great value, worthy cogitations.
Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face?
BRUTUS
No, Cassius, for the eye sees not itself
But by reflection, by some other things.
CASSIUS
‘Tis just.
And it is very much lamented, Brutus,
That you have no such mirrors as will turn
Your hidden worthiness into your eye
That you might see your shadow . I have heard
Where many of the best respect in Rome,
Except immortal Caesar, speaking of Brutus
And groaning underneath this age’s yoke,
Have wished that noble Brutus had his eyes.

DUTCH:
Neen, Cassius; ‘t oog ontwaart zichzelve niet,
Niet dan teruggekaatst, door and’re dingen

MORE:
Proverb: The eye sees not itself but by reflection
Also registered in the Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs: “How wel or ill I haue done in it, I am ignorant: (the eye that sees round about it selfe, sees not into it selfe).”
Cassius replies later:
“And since you know you cannot see yourself
So well as by reflection, I, your glass,
Will modestly discover to yourself
That of yourself which you yet know not of.”

Buried=Concealed
Worthy=Important
Cogitations=Thoughts
Just=True
Turn=Reflect
Shadow=Reflection, form
Respect=Reputation
Had his eyes=Could see clearly
Compleat:
Buried=Begraven, bedelven
Worthy=Waardig, eerwaardig, voortreffelyk, uytmuntend, deftig
Cogitation=Een gedacht, overdenking
Just (righteous)=Een rechtvaardige
Just=Effen, juist, net
Shadow=Een schaduw, schim

Topics: understanding, error, wisdom, value

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Queen Margaret
CONTEXT:
First note that he is near you in descent,
And should you fall, he as the next will mount.
Meseemeth then it is no policy,
Respecting what a rancorous mind he bears
And his advantage following your decease,
That he should come about your royal person
Or be admitted to your highness’ council.
By flattery hath he won the commons’ hearts,
And when he please to make commotion,
‘Tis to be fear’d they all will follow him.
Now ’tis the spring, and weeds are shallow-rooted;
Suffer them now, and they’ll o’ergrow the garden
And choke the herbs for want of husbandry.
The reverent care I bear unto my lord
Made me collect these dangers in the duke.
If it be fond, call it a woman’s fear;
Which fear if better reasons can supplant,
I will subscribe and say I wrong’d the duke.
My Lord of Suffolk, Buckingham, and York,
Reprove my allegation, if you can;
Or else conclude my words effectual.

DUTCH:
t Is voorjaar nog en ‘t onkruid vlak van wortels;
Verschoont gij ‘t nu, het overgroeit den hof
En bij verzuim verstikt het al ‘t gezaaide.

MORE:

Meseemeth=It seems to me
No policy=Not wise
Respecting=Considering
Commotion=Rebellion
Husbandry=Care, cultivation, tillage
Collect=Conclude, gather
Fond=Foolish
Subscribe=Admit, confess to being in the wrong
Reprove=Disprove, confute

Compleat:
It seems to me=Heet schynt my toe
Respect=Achting, inzigt
Commotion=Beweeging, beroerte, oproer, oploop
Husbandry=Landbouw
Fond (foolish)=Dwaas
Subscribe (submit or consent)=Iet toestaan, zich ergens aan onderwerpen
To reprove=Bestraffen, berispen

Topics: respect, reputation, trust, gullibility, wisdom

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: King
CONTEXT:
KING
The Florentines and Senoys are by the ears;
Have fought with equal fortune and continue
A braving war.
FIRST LORD
So ’tis reported, sir.
KING
Nay, ’tis most credible; we here received it
A certainty, vouch’d from our cousin Austria,
With caution that the Florentine will move us
For speedy aid; wherein our dearest friend
Prejudicates the business and would seem
To have us make denial.
FIRST LORD
His love and wisdom,
Approved so to your majesty, may plead
For amplest credence.

DUTCH:
En waarschuwt, dat Florence om rasschen bijstand
Ons vragen zal; ja, onze waarde vriend
Spreekt reeds vooruit zijn oordeel uit en wenscht ,
Dat wij het weig’ren.

MORE:
By the ears=In a scuffle
Braving war=Defiant war
Vouched=Affirmed
Move=Urge
Prejudicates=Prejudges
Plead for=Serve as
Compleat:
To set people together by the ears=’t Volk tegen malkanderen ophitsen
To brave=Trotsen, braveeren, trotseeren, moedig treden
To vouch=Staande houden, bewyzen, verzekeren
To move=Verroeren, gaande maaken; voorstellen
Prejudicate=Vooroordeelig, vooringenomen

Topics: courage, conflict, wisdom, advice

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Queen Margaret
CONTEXT:
Small curs are not regarded when they grin;
But great men tremble when the lion roars;
And Humphrey is no little man in England.
First note that he is near you in descent,
And should you fall, he as the next will mount.
Meseemeth then it is no policy,
Respecting what a rancorous mind he bears
And his advantage following your decease,
That he should come about your royal person
Or be admitted to your highness’ council.
By flattery hath he won the commons’ hearts,
And when he please to make commotion,
‘Tis to be fear’d they all will follow him.

DUTCH:
Wie let er op, als kleine hondjens keffen?
Doch brult de leeuw, dan sidd’ren groote mannen;

MORE:

Small curs=Small dogs
Meseemeth=It seems to me
No policy=Not wise
Respecting=Considering
Commotion=Rebellion

Compleat:
Cur (curr)=Hond
It seems to me=Heet schynt my toe
Respect=Achting, inzigt
Commotion=Beweeging, beroerte, oproer, oploop

Topics: respect, reputation, trust, gullibility, wisdom

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Touchstone
CONTEXT:
TOUCHSTONE
“Thank God.” A good answer. Art rich?
WILLIAM
‘Faith, sir, so-so.
TOUCHSTONE
“So-so” is good, very good, very excellent good. And
yet it is not: it is but so-so. Art thou wise?
WILLIAM
Ay, sir, I have a pretty wit.
TOUCHSTONE
Why, thou sayst well. I do now remember a saying: “The
fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows
himself to be a fool.” The heathen philosopher, when he
had a desire to eat a grape, would open his lips when he
put it into his mouth, meaning thereby that grapes were
made to eat and lips to open.

DUTCH:
Zoo, goed gezegd! Ik herinner mij daar een spreuk:
„De dwaas denkt, dat hij wijs is, maar de wijze weet,
dat hij een dwaas is

MORE:
Proverb:
The wise man knows himself to be a fool, the fool thinks he is wise

Topics: intellect, appearance, wisdom, proverbs and idioms

PLAY: King Henry VIII
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Abergavenny
CONTEXT:
NORFOLK
Surely, sir,
There’s in him stuff that puts him to these ends;
For, being not propp’d by ancestry, whose grace
Chalks successors their way, nor call’d upon
For high feats done to the crown; neither allied
For eminent assistants; but, spider-like,
Out of his self-drawing web, he gives us note,
The force of his own merit makes his way
A gift that heaven gives for him, which buys
A place next to the king.
ABERGAVENNY
I cannot tell
What heaven hath given him,—let some graver eye
Pierce into that; but I can see his pride
Peep through each part of him: whence has he that,
If not from hell? the devil is a niggard,
Or has given all before, and he begins
A new hell in himself.

DUTCH:
Want, niet gestut op voorgeslacht, welks glans
Den weg voor ‘t nakroost teekent, niet geroepen
Om grootsche daden, voor de kroon volbracht,
Aan hooge helpers niet verwant, maar als
De spin in ‘t web, door haar geweven, toont
Hij ons, dat hem de kracht van zijn verdienste
Zijn weg baant

MORE:
Stuff=Characteristics, substance
Propped=Propped up, lean on
Grace=Rank, distinction
Chalk=Marks (the path of)
Compleat:
Stuff=Stof, stoffe
Prop=Een stut, steun. To prop=Ondersteunen, stutten
Grace=Gunst, bevalligheid
To chalk=Bekryten, met kryt schetsen. To chalk out=Uytmerken, afteykenen

Burgersdijk notes:
Toont hij ons. In het Engelsch: he gives us note, zooals in de meeste uitgaven, volgens de verbetering van Capell gelezen wordt; de folio heeft hiervoor den tusschenzin: O give us note, als het ware „mark what I say”, welke door Knight voor de juiste lezing gehouden wordt.

Topics: fate/destiny, order/society, wisdom, merit, pride

PLAY: King Lear
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: Edgar
CONTEXT:
The weight of this sad time we must obey.
Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.
The oldest hath borne most. We that are young
Shall never see so much, nor live so long.

DUTCH:
Wij hebben ons bij rampspoed neer te leggen.
Zeg wat je voelt, niet wat wij moeten zeggen./
Ons dwingt van dezen tijd het droef gewicht;
Wij spreken ons gevoel, niet onzen plicht.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Weight=Burden, load
Obey=Comply with, submit to
Compleat:
Weight (importance, consequence)=Gewigt, belang
Obey=Gehoorzaamen
REFERENCED IN E&W LAW: Chambers v Director of Public Prosecutions [2012] EWHC 2157 (Admin) (27 July 2012)
Given the submissions by Mr Cooper, we should perhaps add that for those who have the inclination to use “Twitter” for the purpose, Shakespeare can be quoted unbowdlerised, and with Edgar, at the end of King Lear, they are free to speak not what they ought to say, but what they feel.

Topics: truth, honesty, age/experience, language, wisdom, caution

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Yes, to pay a fine for a periwig, and recover the lost
hair of another man.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Why is Time such a niggard of hair, being, as it is, so
plentiful an excrement?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Because it is a blessing that he bestows on beasts, and what he hath scanted men in hair, he hath given them in wit.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Why, but there’s many a man hath more hair than wit.

DUTCH:
Zoo, maar er zijn menschen genoeg, die meer haar hebben dan verstand.

MORE:
Proverb: Bush natural, more hair; than wit
Proverb: An old goat is never themore revered for his beard
Proverb: Wisdom consists not in a beard

Scanted=Been miserly with
Compleat:
Scant=Bekrompen, schaars
I was scanted in time=Ik had er naauwlyks tyd toe

Topics: intellect, appearance, insult, proverbs and idioms, wisdom

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 1
ACT/SCENE: 4.6
SPEAKER: Lord Talbot
CONTEXT:
The sword of Orleans hath not made me smart;
These words of yours draw life-blood from my heart:
On that advantage, bought with such a shame,
To save a paltry life and slay bright fame,
Before young Talbot from old Talbot fly,
The coward horse that bears me fail and die!
And like me to the peasant boys of France,
To be shame’s scorn and subject of mischance!
Surely, by all the glory you have won,
An if I fly, I am not Talbot’s son:
Then talk no more of flight, it is no boot;
If son to Talbot, die at Talbot’s foot.

DUTCH:
Van ‘t zwaard van Orleans voelde ik geen smart,
Van deze uw woorden bloedt en krimpt mij ‘t hart.

MORE:
Smart=Hurt
Mischance=Misfortune
No boot=Of no use, pointless

Compleat:
Smart=Pijn, smart of smerte
Mischance=Misval, mislukking, ongeval, ongeluk
No boot=Geen nut, te vergeefs

Topics: language, leadership, value, wisdom

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Hamlet
CONTEXT:
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.

DUTCH:
Het mangelt hen volop aan verstand dat zij een overvloedig verstandsgemis aan erg zwakke dijen paren

MORE:
Schmidt:
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

Topics: wisdom, intellect, insult, age/experience

PLAY: Richard II
ACT/SCENE: 5.5
SPEAKER: King Richard II
CONTEXT:
Now sir, the sound that tells what hour it is
Are clamorous groans, which strike upon my heart,
Which is the bell: so sighs and tears and groans
Show minutes, times, and hours: but my time
Runs posting on in Bolingbroke’s proud joy,
While I stand fooling here, his Jack o’ the clock.
This music mads me; let it sound no more;
For though it have holp madmen to their wits,
In me it seems it will make wise men mad.
Yet blessing on his heart that gives it me!
For ’tis a sign of love; and love to Richard
Is a strange brooch in this all-hating world.

DUTCH:
Dol maakt mij die muziek, dat zij verstomme!
Want bracht zij dollen soms tot hun verstand,
In mij, zoo schijnt het, maakt zij wijsheid dol

MORE:

Clamorous=Vociferous, loud
Posting=Fast
Jack o’ the clock=Figure who would strike the bell on the clock
Holp=Short for holpen, helped. Have holp=May have helped
Wits=Senses
Brooch=Ornament

Compleat:
Holpen=Geholpen
Holp op=Opgeholpen
Wits=Zinnen, oordeel

Topics: time, regret, madness, wisdom

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Polonius
CONTEXT:
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel,
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatched, unfledged comrade. Beware / Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in,
Bear ’t that th’ opposèd may beware of thee.

DUTCH:
Hebt gij een vriend beproeft en trouw bevonden, zo klem hem aan uw ziel met stalen band /
Hebt gij een vriend en is diens keus beproefd, Klamp hem met stalen hoepels aan uw ziel.

MORE:
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, Keep well thy friends when thou hast gotten them, (1580). Try your friends before you trust, (c1536), Give not thy right hand to every man (c1535) Have but few friends though much acquaintance, (c1535)).
Adoption=receiving or choosing some something as one’s own. Grapple=close fight. Unfledged=new, young, unripe.
Compleat:
Adopt=Aannemen. He adopt his brother’s works=Hy neemt zyns broeders werken voor de zyne aan.

Topics: wisdom, friendship, proverbs and idioms

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 1.5
SPEAKER: Fool
CONTEXT:
FOOL
Apt, in good faith, very apt. Well, go thy way. If Sir
Toby would leave drinking, thou wert as witty a piece of
Eve’s flesh as any in Illyria.
MARIA
Peace, you rogue, no more o’ that. Here comes my lady.
Make your excuse wisely, you were best.
FOOL
Wit, an ’t be thy will, put me into good
fooling! Those wits, that think they have thee, do very
oft prove fools. And I, that am sure I lack thee, may
pass for a wise man. For what says Quinapalus? “Better a
witty fool, than a foolish wit.”

DUTCH:
Die geesten, die meenen u in pacht te hebben,
blijken maar al te dikwijls narren te zijn; maar
ik, die maar al te goed weet, dat ik u niet heb, kan
wel voor een wijs man doorgaan

MORE:
Proverb: He that is wise in his own conceit is a fool
Proverb: The first chapter of fools is to hold themselves wise
Proverb: There is more hope of a fool than of him that is wise in his own eyes
Proverb: Every man is wise in his own conceit
Proverb: The wise man knows himself to be a fool, the fool thinks he is wise

You were best=You’d better
Wit=Intelligence
Quinapalus=Fool invents an apocryphal philosopher as an authority
Compleat:
+G31

Burgersdijk notes:
Als jonker Tobias het drinken maar wilde laten. De nar heeft gemerkt, dat Maria het er op toelegt, met jonker Tobias te trouwen.
Quinapalus. Een door den nar uitgedachte oude wijsgeer.

Topics: proverbs and idoms, still in use, wisdom, intellect

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 1
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Prince Hal
CONTEXT:

PRINCE HENRY
Thou didst well, for wisdom cries out in the streets and no man regards it.
FALSTAFF
O, thou hast damnable iteration, and art indeed able to corrupt a saint. Thou hast done much harm upon me, Hal, God forgive thee for it. Before I knew thee, Hal, I knew nothing, and now am I, if a man should speak truly, little better than one of the wicked. I must give over this life, and I will give it over. By the Lord, an I do not, I am a villain. I’ll be damned for never a king’s son in Christendom.

DUTCH:
Gij deedt wel; want de wijsheid verheft hare stem op de straten, en niemand slaat acht op haar.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Damnable=Odious, detestable
Iteration=Allegation, quotation
An I do not=If I do not
Compleat:
Damnable=Verfoeijelyk, verdoemelyk
Arden
See Overbury, Characters, A Button-Maker of Amsterdam: “though most of the
wicked (as he calls them) be there.” And Overbury, Characters, A Button-Maker
of Amsterdam: ‘he cries out, ‘Tis impossible for any man to be damn’d that lives in his Religion.”
“Wisdom cries out in the streets” refers to Proverbs 1:20 (King James):
“Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets”

Topics: wisdom, truth, , proverbs and idioms

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Cleopatra
CONTEXT:
CLEOPATRA
Though age from folly could not give me freedom,
It does from childishness. Can Fulvia die?
ANTONY
She’s dead, my Queen.
Look here, and at thy sovereign leisure read
The garboils she awaked, at the last, best,
See when and where she died.
CLEOPATRA
O most false love!
Where be the sacred vials thou shouldst fill
With sorrowful water? Now I see, I see,
In Fulvia’s death how mine received shall be.

DUTCH:
Voor dwaasheid moog’ mijn leeftijd mij niet hoeden,
Voor kindschheid doet hij ‘t wel. /
Hoewel mijn leeftijd mij niet vrijwaarde van dwaasheid, deed zij dat wel van kinderachtigheid.

MORE:

Leisure=When you have time
Vials=Bottles filled with tears
Received=Treated
Compleat:
Leisure=Ledigen tyd
Vial=Een fles, schaal, fiool
Receive=Ontvangen

Topics: wisdom, age/experience, understanding

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Timon
CONTEXT:
TIMON
Imprisoned is he, say you?
MESSENGER
Ay, my good lord: five talents is his debt,
His means most short, his creditors most strait:
Your honourable letter he desires
To those have shut him up; which failing,
Periods his comfort.
TIMON
Noble Ventidius! Well;
I am not of that feather to shake off
My friend when he must need me. I do know him
A gentleman that well deserves a help:
Which he shall have: I’ll pay the debt,
and free him.
MESSENGER
Your lordship ever binds him.
TIMON
Commend me to him: I will send his ransom;
And being enfranchised, bid him come to me.
‘Tis not enough to help the feeble up,
But to support him after. Fare you well.

DUTCH:
Breng hem mijn groet; ik zend het geld terstond;
Zoodra hij vrij is, moet hij tot mij komen.
‘t Is niet genoeg, wie zwak is op te helpen;
Men moet hem verder steunen. — Vaar gij wel.

MORE:
Talent=Unit of weight to measure precious metal value, currency
Periods=Puts an end to
Strait=Strict
Which failing=Without which
Feather=Mood
Binds=Makes indebted
Commend=Send my greetings
Enfranchised=Released
Compleat:
Talent=Een talent; pond
To bring to a period=Tot een eynde brengen
Strait=Eng, naauw, bekrompen, strikt
To bind=Binden, knoopen, verbinden.
To bind with benefits=Verbinden of verpligten door weldaaden
To commend=Pryzen, aanbeloolen, aanpryzen
To enfranchise=Tot eenen burger of vry man maaken, vryheyd vergunnen

Topics: friendship, debt/obligation, wisdom

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 3.5
SPEAKER: First Senator
CONTEXT:
FIRST SENATOR
You cannot make gross sins look clear:
To revenge is no valour, but to bear.
ALCIBIADES
My lords, then, under favour, pardon me,
If I speak like a captain.
Why do fond men expose themselves to battle,
And not endure all threats? sleep upon’t,
And let the foes quietly cut their throats,
Without repugnancy? If there be
Such valour in the bearing, what make we
Abroad? why then, women are more valiant
That stay at home, if bearing carry it,
And the ass more captain than the lion, the felon
Loaden with irons wiser than the judge,
If wisdom be in suffering. O my lords,
As you are great, be pitifully good:
Who cannot condemn rashness in cold blood?
To kill, I grant, is sin’s extremest gust;
But, in defence, by mercy, ’tis most just.
To be in anger is impiety;
But who is man that is not angry?
Weigh but the crime with this.
SECOND SENATOR
You breathe in vain.

DUTCH:
Uw spreken maakt geen grove zonden goed,
Niet wraakzucht, maar geduld is ware moed.

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

Proverb: Who is man that is not angry?

Bear=Endure
Fond=Foolish
Repugnancy=Opposition
Irons=Shackles
Gust=Conception (murder is the greatest sin)
Impiety=Transgression
Compleat:
To bear=Draagen, voeren, verdraagen; dulden
Fond=Zot, dwaas, ongerymt
Repugnance=Strydigheid, tegenstrydigheid
Gust=Begeerlykheid, lust
Impiety=Ongodvruchtigheid, godloosheid

Topics: proverbs and idioms, law/legal, wisdom, anger, defence

PLAY: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Bottom
CONTEXT:
TITANIA
I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again.
Mine ear is much enamoured of thy note.
So is mine eye enthrallèd to thy shape.
And thy fair virtue’s force perforce doth move me
On the first view to say, to swear, I love thee.
BOTTOM
Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason for
that. And yet, to say the truth, reason and love keep
little company together nowadays. The more the pity that
some honest neighbours will not make them friends. Nay,
I can gleek upon occasion.
TITANIA
Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful.

DUTCH:
Mij dunkt, jonkvrouw, dat gij daar toch wel eenige
reden voor zoudt mogen hebben; maar toch, om de
waarheid te zeggen, rede en liefde gaan tegenwoordig al
heel weinig samen om; het is daarom wel jammer, dat
eenige brave buren de moeite niet willen doen om ze
bijeen te brengen.

MORE:
Shape=Appearance
Perforce doth move me=Compels me
Fair virtue’s force=Good qualities
Gleek=Joke
Compleat:
Shape=Gestalte, gedaante, vorm
Perforce=Met geweld

Topics: appearance, love, wisdom

PLAY: Richard III
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: First Murderer
CONTEXT:
FIRST MURDERER
We are, my lord, and come to have the warrant
That we may be admitted where he is.
RICHARD
Well thought upon. I have it here about me.
When you have done, repair to Crosby Place.
But, sirs, be sudden in the execution,
Withal obdurate; do not hear him plead,
For Clarence is well-spoken and perhaps
May move your hearts to pity if you mark him.
FIRST MURDERER
Tut, tut, my lord, we will not stand to prate.
Talkers are no good doers. Be assured
We go to use our hands and not our tongues.
RICHARD
Your eyes drop millstones, when fools’ eyes drop tears.
I like you lads. About your business straight.
Go, go, dispatch.
MURDERERS
We will, my noble lord.

DUTCH:
Gerust, mylord; wij maken daar geen praats;
Wie babbelt, leutert meest; wees gij verzekerd,
Wij roeren onze handen, niet de tong.

MORE:
Proverb: The greatest talkers are not always the wisest men
Proverb: The greatest talkers are the least (not the greatest) doers
Proverb: He weeps millstones

Repair=Return
Well-spoken=Eloquent
Stand to prate=Stand gossiping
Eyes drop millstones=Weep millstones (proverb)
Compleat:
To repair unto=Zich na toe begeeven
Well spoken=Wel bespraakt
Prate=Praaten

Burgersdijk notes:
Naar Crosby-hof. In de folio-uitgave staat Crosby-house, in de quarto’s Crosby place. Een prachtige woning in Londen, thans nog in wezen , gebouwd door Sir John Crosby, een aanzienlijk burger, die in 1470 sheriff was. Dat Richard, die in de city veel aanhangers bad, er tijdelijk gewoond heeft, wordt
door de geschiedenis vermeld.

Topics: proverbs and idioms, perception, wisdom

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 1.5
SPEAKER: Malvolio
CONTEXT:
MALVOLIO
I marvel your ladyship takes delight in such a barren rascal.
I saw him put down the other day with an ordinary fool that
has no more brain than a stone. Look you now, he’s out of his guard already. Unless you laugh and minister occasion to him, he is gagged. I protest I take these wise men that crow so at these set kind of fools no better than the fools’ zanies.
OLIVIA
Oh, you are sick of self-love, Malvolio, and taste with a distempered appetite. To be generous, guiltless, and of free disposition is to take those things for bird-bolts that you deem cannon-bullets. There is no slander in an allowed fool, though he do nothing but rail. Nor no railing in a known discreet man, though he do nothing but reprove.

DUTCH:
Zie maar eens,
hij is nu al van zijn stuk: zoo gij niet lacht en hem aan
den gang helpt, staat hij met den mond vol tanden.
Dit verzeker ik u, ik houd die wijze lieden, die het uitkraaien om deze aangestelde soort van narren, voor niet beter dan de hansworsten der narren.

MORE:
Marvel=Wonder
Put down=Defeated in argument
Ordinary fool=Clowns performing in a hostelry were known as ‘ordinaries’
Out of guard=Not in defensive position (fencing)
Minister=Provide
Occasion=Opportunity
Set=Planned
Zanies=Clowns’ partners
Distempered=Out of sorts, sick
Free=Liberal
Allowed=Licensed
Compleat:
To marvel=Verwonderen, zich verwonderen, verwonderd zyn
Ordinary=Een gaarkeuken, drooggastery, ordinaris
To be upon the gard=Op schildwacht staan. To stand upon gard=Op zyn hoede staan
To come from the gard=Van de wacht komen
To minister=Bedienen, toebedienen
Occasion=Gelegenheyd, voorval, oorzaak
To set=Zetten, stellen
Zany=Een bootsemaaker, gek
Distemper=Een quaal, ongesteldeyd, ongemak
Distempered=Niet wel te pas, quaalyk gesteld, uyt zyn schik
Free=Vry, openhartig
Allowed=Toegestaan, goedgekeurd, geoorloofd

Burgersdijk notes:
Een zeer gewone nar. An ordinary fool. Volgens Staunton’s vermoeden een grappenmaker, die in een
herberg aan de gelagtafel (ordinary) de gasten aangenaam moest bezighouden.

Topics: intellect, gullibility, wisdom, respect

PLAY: King Henry VIII
ACT/SCENE: 5.2
SPEAKER: Chancellor
CONTEXT:
CHANCELLOR
My good lord Archbishop, I’m very sorry
To sit here at this present and behold
That chair stand empty. But we all are men,
In our own natures frail, and capable
Of our flesh—few are angels—out of which frailty
And want of wisdom you, that best should teach us,
Have misdemeaned yourself, and not a little,
Toward the King first, then his laws, in filling
The whole realm, by your teaching and your
chaplains’—
For so we are informed—with new opinions,
Divers and dangerous, which are heresies
And, not reformed, may prove pernicious.

DUTCH:
Doch allen zijn wij menschen,
Zwak van nature, en luist’rend naar ons vleesch;
Slechts wein’gen zijn als eng’len

MORE:
Proverb: Flesh is frail
Capable=Susceptible (to)
Want=Lack
Misdemeaned=Misbehave, acted improperly
Pernicious=Ruinous
Compleat:
Capable=Vatbaar, bevattelyk, ontvangbaar, ontvanklyk
Want=Gebrek, behoeftigheyd
To misdemean=Zich quaalyk draagn
Pernicious=Schaadelyk, verderflyk

Topics: proverbs and idioms, temptation, wisdom

PLAY: Julius Caesar
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Brutus
CONTEXT:
BRUTUS
What a blunt fellow is this grown to be!
He was quick mettle when he went to school.
CASSIUS
So is he now in execution
Of any bold or noble enterprise,
However he puts on this tardy form.
This rudeness is a sauce to his good wit,
Which gives men stomach to digest his words
With better appetite.
BRUTUS
And so it is. For this time I will leave you.
Tomorrow, if you please to speak with me,
I will come home to you; or, if you will,
Come home to me, and I will wait for you.
CASSIUS
I will do so. Till then, think of the world.

DUTCH:
Wat is uit hem een plompe borst gegroeid!
Toen hij ter school ging, was hij geest en vuur.

MORE:
Blunt=Dull in understanding
Quick mettle=Quick-witted; keen
However=Although
Tardy form=Sluggish appearance
Wit=Intelligence
Rudeness=Roughness, coarseness
Compleat:
To blunt=Stomp maaken, verstompen
A blunt fellow=Een ongeschikte vent, een plompe boer
Full of mettle=Vol vuurs, moedig
Tardy=Slof, traag, langzaam
Wit (understanding)=Vinding, schranderheid, verstand
Rudeness=Ruuwheyd, onbehouwenheyd, plompheyd

Burgersdijk notes:
Denk midd’lerwijl aan ‘s werelds eischen. Er staat eigenlijk: “Denk middelerwijl aan de wereld”,
aan de wereld en hoe het er toegaat; overweeg den toestand .

Topics: understanding, intellect, wisdom

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Sebastian
CONTEXT:
OLIVIA
Will it be ever thus? Ungracious wretch,
Fit for the mountains and the barbarous caves,
Where manners ne’er were preach’d! Out of my sight!—
Be not offended, dear Cesario.—
Rudesby, be gone!
I prithee, gentle friend,
Let thy fair wisdom, not thy passion, sway
In this uncivil and unjust extent
Against thy peace. Go with me to my house,
And hear thou there how many fruitless pranks
This ruffian hath botched up, that thou thereby
Mayst smile at this. Thou shalt not choose but go.
Do not deny. Beshrew his soul for me!
He started one poor heart of mine in thee.
SEBASTIAN
What relish is in this? How runs the stream?
Or I am mad, or else this is a dream.
Let fancy still my sense in Lethe steep.
If it be thus to dream, still let me sleep!

DUTCH:
Wat wind is dit? Waarheen voert mij de stroom?
Of ‘k ben waanzinnig, Of dit is een droom.

MORE:
Rudesby=Ruffian, rude person
Uncivil=Barbarous
Extent=Assault
Beshrew=Curse
Start=Startle
Compleat:
Rude=Boers
Uncivil=Onbeleefd, ongeschikt.
Incivil=Onbeleefd, ongeschikt, onmanierlyk, onheusch, onburgerlyk
Beshrew=Bekyven, vervloeken
To start=Schrikken

Topics: ingratitude, order/society, friendship, wisdom

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Menas
CONTEXT:
POMPEY
If the great gods be just, they shall assist
The deeds of justest men.
MENAS
Know, worthy Pompey,
That what they do delay, they not deny.
POMPEY
Whiles we are suitors to their throne, decays
The thing we sue for.
MENAS
We, ignorant of ourselves,
Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers
Deny us for our good, so find we profit
By losing of our prayers.
POMPEY
I shall do well.
The people love me, and the sea is mine.
My powers are crescent, and my auguring hope
Says it will come to th’ full. Mark Antony
In Egypt sits at dinner, and will make
No wars without doors. Caesar gets money where
He loses hearts. Lepidus flatters both,
Of both is flattered, but he neither loves,
Nor either cares for him.

DUTCH:
Geduld, Pompeius!
Wat zij verdagen, is niet afgeslagen.

MORE:
Whiles we are suitors=While we are praying
Decays=Loses value
Auguring=Prophesying
Without doors=Outside
Compleat:
While=Een wyl, poos; terwijl
Between whiles=Bij tusschenpoozen, van tyd tot tyd
Decay=Voorval, afneeming, verwelking, veroudering, vermindering, ondergang
An augur=Een vogel-waarzegger
To augurate=Voorzeggen, voorspellen
Without=Van buyten, buyten

Topics: fate/destiny, honesty, value, wisdom

PLAY: Richard III
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Third Citizen
CONTEXT:
THIRD CITIZEN
When clouds are seen, wise men put on their cloaks;
When great leaves fall, then winter is at hand;
When the sun sets, who doth not look for night?
Untimely storms make men expect a dearth.
All may be well; but if God sort it so,
‘Tis more than we deserve or I expect.
SECOND CITIZEN
Truly, the hearts of men are full of fear.
Ye cannot reason almost with a man
That looks not heavily and full of dread.
THIRD CITIZEN
Before the days of change, still is it so.
By a divine instinct, men’s minds mistrust
Ensuing dangers, as by proof we see
The water swell before a boist’rous storm.
But leave it all to God. Whither away?
SECOND CITIZEN
Marry, we were sent for to the justices.
THIRD CITIZEN
And so was I. I’ll bear you company.

DUTCH:
Zoo is het altijd, voor verand’ring komt ;
Door hoog’ren aandrang ducht des menschen geest
Gevaar, dat naakt ; zoo zien wij immers ook
De waat’ren zwellen voor een wilden storm.

MORE:
Proverb: A man’s mind often gives him warning of evil to come

Sort=Ordain
Proof=Experience
Ensuing=Imminent
Compleat:
To sort=Uytschieten, elk by ‘t zyne leggen, sorteeren
Proof (mark or testimony)=Getuigenis
Proof=Beproeving
Ensuing=Volgende

Burgersdijk notes:
Door hoog’ren aandrang enz. De gedachte van dezen zin en de vermelding van het zwellen der wateren
voor een storm vond Sh. in de kroniek van Holinshed. Daarin wordt de ongerustheid van edelen en burgers, die op de straten samenstroomden, geschilderd; lord Hastings, dien zij als vriend des vorigen konings kenden, wist hen gerust te stellen met de verzekering, dat de gevangen edelen verraad hadden beraamd en dat zij in hechtenis waren genomen opdat hunne zaak naar behooren zou kunnen onderzocht worden. Nog meer werden zij gerustgesteld, toen Edward V in Londen aankwam en zij zagen, hoe Gloster hem met allen eerbied behandelde. Iedereen prees Gloster en hij werd door den Staatsraad tot Lord Protector benoemd.

Topics: proverbs and idioms, still in use, caution, wisdom, preparation

PLAY: Macbeth
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Lady Macduff
CONTEXT:
LADY MACDUFF
He had none.
His flight was madness. When our actions do not,
Our fears do make us traitors.
ROSS
You know not
Whether it was his wisdom or his fear.

DUTCH:
Zijn vlucht was waanzin. Als geen daden ‘t doen,
Maakt onze vrees ons tot verraders.

MORE:

Topics: madness, appearance, wisdom

PLAY: King Henry VIII
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Buckingham
CONTEXT:
BUCKINGHAM
Henry the Seventh succeeding, truly pitying
My father’s loss, like a most royal prince,
Restored me to my honours, and, out of ruins,
Made my name once more noble. Now his son,
Henry the Eighth, life, honour, name and all
That made me happy at one stroke has taken
For ever from the world. I had my trial,
And, must needs say, a noble one; which makes me,
A little happier than my wretched father:
Yet thus far we are one in fortunes: both
Fell by our servants, by those men we loved most;
A most unnatural and faithless service!
Heaven has an end in all: yet, you that hear me,
This from a dying man receive as certain:
Where you are liberal of your loves and counsels
Be sure you be not loose; for those you make friends
And give your hearts to, when they once perceive
The least rub in your fortunes, fall away
Like water from ye, never found again
But where they mean to sink ye. All good people,
Pray for me! I must now forsake ye: the last hour
Of my long weary life is come upon me. Farewell:
And when you would say something that is sad,
Speak how I fell. I have done; and God forgive me!

DUTCH:
Weest nimmer roek’loos; zij toch, wien gij vriendschap,
Uw gansche hart schenkt, vallen, als ze een lek
In uw geluk zien, van u af als water,
En komen niet terug dan als een draaikolk,
Die zuigend u verzinkt

MORE:
Liberal=Free
Loose=Careless
Counsels=Secrets
Rub=Obstacle, blot
Sink=Ruin
Compleat:
Liberal=Mild, milddaadig, goedertieeren, openhartig
Loose=Los, ruym, ongebonden
Rub=Een beletsel, hinderpaal
To sink=Zinken, te gronde gaan, verzinken

Topics: wisdom, caution, trust

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 3.5
SPEAKER: Alcibiades
CONTEXT:
ALCIBIADES
My lords, then, under favour, pardon me,
If I speak like a captain.
Why do fond men expose themselves to battle,
And not endure all threats? sleep upon’t,
And let the foes quietly cut their throats,
Without repugnancy? If there be
Such valour in the bearing, what make we
Abroad? why then, women are more valiant
That stay at home, if bearing carry it,
And the ass more captain than the lion, the felon
Loaden with irons wiser than the judge,
If wisdom be in suffering. O my lords,
As you are great, be pitifully good:
Who cannot condemn rashness in cold blood?
To kill, I grant, is sin’s extremest gust;
But, in defence, by mercy, ’tis most just.
To be in anger is impiety;
But who is man that is not angry?
Weigh but the crime with this.
SECOND SENATOR
You breathe in vain.

DUTCH:
O, waarde heeren,
Weest niet slechts groot, maar deernisvol en goed;
Wie gispt den toorn niet licht bij rustig bloed?

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

Proverb: Who is man that is not angry?

Bear=Endure
Fond=Foolish
Repugnancy=Opposition
Irons=Shackles
Gust=Conception (murder is the greatest sin)
Impiety=Transgression
Compleat:
To bear=Draagen, voeren, verdraagen; dulden
Fond=Zot, dwaas, ongerymt
Repugnance=Strydigheid, tegenstrydigheid
Gust=Begeerlykheid, lust
Impiety=Ongodvruchtigheid, godloosheid

Topics: proverbs and idioms, law/legal, wisdom, anger, defence

PLAY: King Lear
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Albany
CONTEXT:
Wisdom and goodness to the vile seem vile.
Filths savor but themselves. What have you done?
Tigers, not daughters, what have you performed?
A father, and a gracious agèd man,
Whose reverence even the head-lugged bear would lick,
Most barbarous, most degenerate, have you madded.

DUTCH:
Verstand en goedheid zijn voor het lage laag: vuiligheid geniet alleen van zich zelf./
Wijsheid en goedheid zijn den lagen laag .
‘t Vuile lust slechts het vuile.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Savour=Like, relish
Head-lugged=Pulled, seized, by the ears
To mad=To madden
Reverence=A character entitled to particular regard
Compleat:
Lug (of the ear)=Het oor-lapje
To lug by the ears=Bij de ooren trekken
To lug (hale or tug)=Sleepen, voorttrekken
To lug one to the gallows=Iemand naar de galg sleepen

Topics: wisdom, good and bad, duty, ingratitude, failure

PLAY: Romeo and Juliet
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Friar Lawrence
CONTEXT:
ROMEO
Oh, let us hence. I stand on sudden haste.
FRIAR LAWRENCE
Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast.

DUTCH:
Al zacht, mijn zoon! wie voortholt, struikelt licht.

MORE:
Still in use
Compleat:
Haste=Haast, spoed
He made too much hast=Hy maakte al te groot een haast
The more haste the worse speed=Hoe meerder haast hoe minder spoed

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

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Volumnia
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
Repent what you have spoke.
CORIOLANUS
For them! I cannot do it to the gods;
Must I then do’t to them?
VOLUMNIA
You are too absolute;
Though therein you can never be too noble,
But when extremities speak. I have heard you say,
Honour and policy, like unsever’d friends,
I’ the war do grow together: grant that, and tell me,
In peace what each of them by the other lose,
That they combine not there.

DUTCH:
Gij zijt te hoog van taal;
Wel toont gij dus uw adeldom te meer;

MORE:
Absolute=Rigid, inflexible
When extremities speak=In a crisis, extreme situation “give ground” or concede something; when necessity requires
Unsevered=Inseparable
Policy=Stratagem, prudent or dexterous management
Compleat:
Policy (conduct, address, cunning way)=Staatkunde, beleid, behendigheid
Severed=Afgescheiden
Extremity=Uitspoorigheid; uiterste

Topics: conflict, judgment, wisdom, honour

PLAY: Julius Caesar
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Calpurnia
CONTEXT:
CALPHURNIA
Alas, my lord,
Your wisdom is consumed in confidence.
Do not go forth today. Call it my fear
That keeps you in the house, and not your own.
We’ll send Mark Antony to the senate house,
And he shall say you are not well today.
Let me, upon my knee, prevail in this.
CAESAR
Mark Antony shall say I am not well,
And for thy humour I will stay at home.

DUTCH:
Uw wijsheid wordt verteerd door zelfvertrouwen.

MORE:
Consumed=Overtaken by
Confidence=Over-confidence
Humour=Whim
Compleat:
Confidence=Betrouwen, vertrouwen, vrymoedigheyd, verzekerdheyd
Over-confident=Al te stout
Humour (or disposition of the mind)=Humeur, gemoeds gesteldheid

Topics: risk, caution, wisdom

Go to Top