April 22nd, 2018 → 6:44 am
“Look thou character.
Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor 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
Of each new-hatched, unfledged courage. 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 judgment.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not expressed in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man…
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.” – Hamlet
It’s Shakespeare’s birthday sometime this week (we don’t actually know the exact day), and in the interest of saluting the bard, I’m quoting some of his pithiest advice. There are some really good nuggets in there. Hard to pick a favorite, but… today maybe it’s… ‘Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.’
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art & Other
March 14th, 2018 → 5:43 am
“I must have saffron to colour the warden pies; mace; dates, none–
that’s out of my note; nutmegs, seven; a race or two of ginger, but that
I may beg; four pound of prunes, and as many of raisins o’th’ sun.” – Winter’s Tale
Happy Pi Day! It’s difficult to find Shakespeare quotes about math, so I decided to go with literal pies. A pie a day is about as good as pi every day.
February 12th, 2018 → 6:46 am
“Then westward ho!
Grace and good disposition attend your ladyship!” – Twelfth Night
‘Westward ho!’ was the cry of Thames watermen to attract westward bound passengers from London to Westminster. The phrase sounds so American to me, however. Westward ho, young man! Go West and make something of yourself!
I am not headed out West today, but I did finally return to my latest novel. Opened the dust-caked notes and began the long awaited edit of Draft #5. I purposely give myself space between drafts so as to let the material appear fresh again, but sometimes it’s hard. I’ve been wanting to get back to this for weeks now. I’m so excited!!
Filed under: Blog & Other & Self/My Life
January 27th, 2018 → 6:45 am
“Love sought is good, but given unsought is better.” – Twelfth Night
The chocolate is on all the shelves and reminders that Valentine’s Day is coming up are everywhere. It’s making me contemplate the nature of the love in my life. We all love differently; we certainly all express it differently. God help us sometimes, for loving too much.
January 15th, 2018 → 5:29 am
“The day shall not be up so soon as I
To try the fair adventure of tomorrow.” – King John
A new school semester begins this week. I approach it with eagerness and a sense of adventure!
Filed under: Blog & Other & Self/My Life
January 2nd, 2018 → 5:34 am
“Blessed are the peacemakers on earth.” – Henry VI, Part II
Here’s to a peaceful, happy new year. May we all work to make it one.
December 18th, 2017 → 6:51 am
“Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remembered.” – Hamlet
orisons – prayers
It may very well be that the only reason I’m not familiar with the word ‘orison’ is because I am secular. To be honest, I didn’t even really know what ‘fellowship’ was to evangelicals until Kayla Moore used it in describing her ‘Jew’ friends. But I know the word now, and could sure use more of them these days.
October 16th, 2017 → 6:10 am
“The poop was beaten gold.” – Antony and Cleopatra
‘Poop’ in no way means poop in this sentence; it refers to a short deck built over the main deck in an old sailing vessel. But if my seven year old son had been reading the text with me when I came across this sentence, he would have devolved into helpless laughter. So this morning’s post is for all of you seven year olds out there, with an appreciation of silly humor.
June 13th, 2017 → 5:57 am
“‘Tis strange. A threepence bowed would hire me,
Old as I am, to queen it.” – Henry VIII
So Shakespeare didn’t actually write the word “quean” here – meaning a prostitute or an ill-behaved girl – but my Shakespeare text (David Bevington, 4th edition) notes that speakers of this passage would imply “quean” where “queen” is written, in a kind of wink-wink to the audience. (“bowed” could also be pronounced as “bawd”). Now I’m wondering how many other times in Shakespeare when I see the word “queen,” might an actor pronounce it to imply prostitute!
(I’m also thinking how sad it is there is no parallel for “king.”)
May 10th, 2017 → 5:47 am
“I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done
than be one of the twenty to follow mine own teaching.” – The Merchant of Venice
Apparently yesterday was national teacher’s appreciation day, or Teachers’ Day. I didn’t realize this until a student reached out to me to thank me. I’m always so humbled by that. Especially as it is easier to be the teacher, than the student sometimes. Shakespeare clearly understood that.