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POLONIUS
55Yet here, Laertes? Aboard, aboard, for shame!
The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail
And you are stayed for. There, my blessing with thee.
And these few precepts in thy memory
Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
60Nor any unproportioned thought his act.
Be thou familiar but by no means vulgar.
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
65Of each new-hatched, unfledged comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in,
Bear ’t that th' opposèd may
beware of thee.
Give every man thy ear but few thy voice.
Take each man’s censure but reserve thy judgment.
70Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not expressed 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.
75Neither 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,
80Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell. My blessing season this in thee.
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POLONIUS
You’re still here? Shame on you—get on
board! The wind is filling your ship’s sail, and
they’re waiting for you. Here, I give you my blessing
again. And just try to remember a few rules of life.
Don’t say what you’re thinking, and
don’t be too quick to act on what you think. Be friendly
to people but don’t overdo it. Once you’ve
tested out your friends and found them trustworthy, hold onto them.
But don’t waste your time shaking hands with every new
guy you meet. Don’t be quick to pick a fight, but once
you’re in one, hold your own. Listen to many people, but
talk to few. Hear everyone’s opinion, but reserve your
judgment. Spend all you can afford on clothes, but make sure
they’re quality, not flashy, since clothes make the
man—which is doubly true in France. Don’t
borrow money and don’t lend it, since when you lend to a
friend, you often lose the friendship as well as the money, and
borrowing turns a person into a spendthrift. And, above all, be true
to yourself. Then you won’t be false to anybody else.
Good-bye, son. I hope my blessing will help you absorb what
I’ve said.
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