Yet here, Laertes! Aboard, aboard for shame!
The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail,
And you are stay'd for.
There ... my blessing with thee!
And these few precepts in thy memory
Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportion'd thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch'd, unfledg’d comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel but, being in,
Bear't that th' opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;
Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgement.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man;
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are of a most select and generous chief in that.
Neither a borrower, nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell; my blessing season this in thee!
-- William Shakespeare
Heard this piece of advice first in school..And then it was a mere documentation that you had to study to get those much wanted grades...It hadnt been that age when all this would have made real sense..
But recently when a friend FYIed this passage, with a "remember?" attached to it, i realised what an art this one was...
I go back to remembering when exactly this exchange took place..I can picture that scene in the dock yard...father standing amidst his cricle of friends and discussing issues...the son, out on his big voyage, cluttered by his excited friends...and then, its time to leave....reality bites the concerned father...and in that overflow...speaks his heart out....
Wow.!! Like i said a piece of art...Each line leaves me thinking...Years down, when i read it today, it maintains its relevance...A thought that every parent would want to pass on to their little ones, as they go out every day, on a journey called life...
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
Very true...For it is as much a mad act to let go of tried and trustworthy friends, as tough it is to find them.
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;
Sure...the world of today seems to lack listeners but is overflowing with ones with ideas to gush out at unwanted places....
Neither a borrower, nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
Another wise advice from a parent...A must remember for the young bloods of today...
And the prize winner....
To thine own self be true.!
That man is someone to have come up with such a paternal advice...at consider the fact that he was in his 20s when he wrote the whole play up...He was a miracle for sure....
